masks

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 Miami-Dade County School Board, the NAACP and other parties say the department did not have a legal basis for a rule aimed at preventing district mask mandates.

The board held the emergency meeting as cases and quarantines threatened school operations and staffing for bus routes.

In Sarasota County, actual case counts are almost four times higher than the district's COVID dashboard shows, according to school board Chair Shirley Brown.

How contagious is the variant? One doctor explains: With flu, if one infected person is exposed to a room of unvaccinated patients, two others will catch it. With delta, it will be seven.

Education Commissioner Richard Corcoran will “report his findings related to Alachua and Broward” during the meeting and “sanctions would follow if they’re found to be in violation of the mask mandate ban.”

Leon and Alachua officials decided to require parents to submit doctors’ notes for children to be exempt, drawing objections from the education commissioner. Broward officials could be next after a Tuesday vote.

The Board of Education will allow vouchers if parents feel their children are being bullied under a district’s COVID safety policies. Also, the Health Department gave parents the right to opt out of mandates.

As legal battles heat up, the Department of Education will consider expanding the "hope scholarship" to provide access to vouchers for families against mask mandates.

Hillsborough County School District officials talked about COVID-19 safety precautions — and expressed frustration with state restrictions — at a press conference Wednesday morning.