A legal battle over Gov. Ron DeSantis’ attempts to prevent school mask mandates will go ahead next week after a circuit judge refused to dismiss the case Thursday.
TALLAHASSEE (CBSMiami/NSF) – A legal battle over Gov. Ron DeSantis’ attempts to prevent school mask mandates will go ahead next week after a circuit judge refused to dismiss the case Thursday. Attorneys for a group of parents are challenging a July 30 executive order by DeSantis that seeks to prohibit county school boards from requiring students to wear masks. The lawsuit, in part, alleges that the executive order violates a section of the state Constitution that requires providing a “uniform, efficient, safe, secure and high quality system” of public schools. Leon County Circuit Judge John Cooper said Thursday that the attorneys “sufficiently” proved that the parents have standing to bring the case. He pointed to parents’ arguments that their children are too young to get vaccinated against COVID-19. Cooper also cited a heightened risk to children from the highly contagious delta variant of the coronavirus. “If you’re not vaccinated, and you are in a class that can catch it — which the allegation is that this COVID variant includes children — then without masking, distancing, other things, you’re deprived of an ability to protect yourself against COVID infection, in particular for younger, unvaccinated children,” Cooper said. Michael Abel, an attorney representing the state, contended that the governor and top education officials took into account the risks associated with the delta variant in crafting the executive order. DeSantis’ order resulted in a state health department rule that requires parents to be allowed to opt out of mask requirements.
