1st District Court of Appeal

The DeSantis administration has asked an appeals court to block challenges filed by five school boards against a Department of Health rule aimed at preventing student mask mandates.

Attorneys for a group of parents challenging the governor's executive order contend “immediate resolution” by the state's high court is needed because the school year is underway.

The Department of Education can resume efforts to impose financial penalties on the 13 school boards defying rules put in place by the governor's executive order.

The state claims the trial judge substituted his "own health policy preferences or risk assessments for those of the governor or, more importantly, the state health officer and surgeon general.”

The judge said actions like the governor's executive order on masks, typically should be upheld while working through court challenges: “But we're not in normal times, We're in a pandemic.”

Taking the case to the 1st District Court of Appeal in Tallahassee puts an automatic stay on the judge's ruling, which effectively means it would be put on hold while an appeal moves forward.

An appeals court has not ruled on the challenge to the county mask order and an attorney for the plaintiff filed a document suggesting the case is moot after a governor's order halting local restructions,

The plaintiffs have argued, at least in part, that the order violated a constitutional guarantee of “safe” and “secure” public education.

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