Governor Asa Hutchinson of Arkansas called a special session of the legislature to throw out the law he signed that forbade mask mandates. The legislature refused to do it. A judge acted and issued a preliminary injunction against the ban.
Florida offered vouchers to students forced to wear a mask. Parents sued the state for banning masks in public schools.
From the Washington Post:
In Arkansas, Gov. Asa Hutchinson (R) had signed the ban against mask mandates in April but later supported rolling it back for schools. He argued that allowing individual school districts to make this decision was a conservative approach that boosted local control.
Hutchinson called the legislature back for a special session to reconsider the law, but lawmakers declined to make changes. The governor told reporters Friday that he was disappointed in the legislature and criticized some who he described as having a “casual if not cavalier attitude toward this public health emergency and toward this remedy that I suggested to them.”
Hutchinson’s comments came after a judge temporarily blocked the state from enforcing the law. The governor said the judge had properly ruled that the law “is unconstitutional and an overreach of authority.”
Friday’s order, issued by Pulaski County Circuit Judge Tim Fox, ruled against the state on several grounds. The judge ruled that such intrusions into another branch of government’s actions amounted to an unconstitutional breach on the separation of powers. He also noted that while public schools were barred from mandating masks, private schools were not.
Tom Mars, attorney for two mothers who challenged the ban, noted that under the law, the court itself was prohibited from ordering those at the hearing to don masks — something that Fox himself had in fact ordered.
Back in Florida, opponents to DeSantis’s order have pointed to skyrocketing coronavirus cases in the state in recent weeks. Florida reported 22,783 new cases Thursday, the highest single-day count since the start of the pandemic in 2020.
Several districts have threatened to defy the order. Alachua County, where the University of Florida is located, is mandating masks for the first two weeks of school amid a rise in coronavirus cases. Two school custodians in the district had recently died of covid-19.
Broward County had imposed a mask mandate but put it on pause after DeSantis threatened to withhold state funding from districts that required masks. Now it has reversed itself again. Masks must be worn by everyone in Broward public schools, the school board decided this week.
DeSantis faced another challenge to his order Friday, as the parents of 15 children with disabilities who attend Florida public schools filed suit, saying his executive order barring mask mandates interfered with their rights under federal disability rights laws. The suit says the children are at severe health risk if they get covid-19 and want to be protected in schools every possible way, including with everyone wearing masks.
Under Friday’s action by the state board, children in districts with mandates could qualify for vouchers to attend private schools, though it was not clear how much money would be dedicated to the program or how many students might benefit.
The Florida state school board did not respond to a woman who spoke in the public comments section of the meeting to ask whether the vouchers would be available for students who want mask mandates and attend districts that do not require them.
The program, called the Hope Scholarship, normally is available to students who have been harassed or bullied in their public schools. Under the emergency order, the vouchers are available “when a school district’s COVID-19 health protocols, including masking, pose a health or educational danger to their child.”
“Florida offered vouchers to students forced to wear a mask.”
Ed reform lobby hard at work. Just delivering all kinds of positive benefits to public schools students everywhere.
Oh, did I say “public school students”? Never mind. They deliver absolutely nothing of value to public school students.
Sum total contribution of the ed reform to “public school students” this calendar year?
Private school vouchers, anti-mask fistfights at school board meetings, and new laws banning teaching about Malcom X – but only in public schools. The private schools they support and fund and promote are exempt from these wonderful contributions to public schools.
At what point do public schools cut this “movement” loose and admit it’s a net negative? Can we do a cost/benefit on the ed reform echo chamber and look at whether they offer any positive value at all to our students and schools?
Important clarification: the judge did not overturn the ban. He simply issued a preliminary injunction against the ban while the case winds its way through the court. It’s not clear when the court might take up the request that the law be permanently blocked… or if the law will be permanently blocked.
For Arizona citizens’ sake, let’s hope it takes that case years to wind through the courts. Even tho it’s just about the schools, they note the judge ignored the ban & required masks in his courtroom– sounds to me like the legislature banning a mask mandate for the judicial branch is another overreach & breach of the separation of powers. Perhaps the law is undermined enough by being under challenge that even state agencies will be brave enough to flout it for the good of their employees. It would be ironic if the only ones following this law ended up being the legislature that passed it.
If you thought the edc reform echo chamber were hard at work assisting public schools in recovery from the pandemic, think again:
“In short, state leaders have the opportunity to offer families expanded educational options at a time when support for school choice has exploded. The most promising tack is to augment the federal tax credit for any family that chooses to spend its funds on school tuition or another documented educational cost. A temporary 50-percent state match for families who use the funds to pay tuition could make the credit for many worth about as much as the voucher offered in leading school-choice states; a 100-percent match, funded with general Covid aid, could make it exceptionally large.”
They see it as a golden opportunity to push their lockstep agenda on privatization. Universal vouchers. We’re finally, finally at the end game of this 30 year long “movement” that exists exclusively to privatize public education and does no other work.
Why are public schools taking direction from these folks? They don’t work for your schools. They perform no productive work of any kind that is even relevant to students in public schools, let alone beneficial to them.
Is the mission of public schools to serve public school students? How does the ed reform mission to eradicate public schools and privatize the K-12 system align with that?
These are two completely different objectives. Is it any wonder public school students haven’t benefitted? It was never about them.
Must be awkward for the “liberal” ed reformers who opposed DeVos now that the ed reform echo chamber they’re all employed in is lobbying for universal federal vouchers.
Will they meekly go along with it like they’ve rubberstamped everything else, or will they finally, finally defend public education? My money is on “not”, which means public schools better break from it or perish.
How do you propose public schools “break from it” [ed reform]? They are on the receiving end of ed-reform legislation. The only way to turn the boat around is through public pressure. That will happen when it hurts them in the wallet bad enough. And in many of these states they’ve gone out of their way to undermine or delete locally-elected school boards. It might just take until people/ corporations are fleeing the state because of their lousy schools… or not.
Here’s an echo chamber article crowing about their privatization lobbying successes this year:
https://www.educationnext.org/school-choice-advances-in-states-advocates-describe-breakthrough-year/
Look for work they did to improve, strengthen or in any way support any public school student or public school, anywhere.
Nothing. Is it fair for public schools to ask what ed reform contributes to their schools? They purport to work on “public education”. If that excludes public schools I think that’s an important factor in whether we continue to take direction from them, pay them, etc. don’t you? Seems reasonable.
“Arne Duncan
Parents and children in Texas:
If the Texas Education Agency cares this little about your family’s health and safety, it probably doesn’t care much about your education either.
You deserve better
Demand better! ”
This is the best we’re going to get from the echo chamber. Some mild criticism that won’t upset any of their political allies on the Right in the “movement”. Must be upsetting to them, watching the “movement” they cheered on and promoted reach this point, where it’s now vehemently and blatantly anti public school- literally does nothing else other than attack public schools- but it was foreseeable.
“mild criticism that won’t upset any of their political allies…” That so well describes two decades of school invasions media.
DeSantis is appealing to his libertarian base with vouchers for “when a school district’s COVID-19 health protocols, including masking, pose a health or educational danger to their child.”
This is an example of the “stupid, arrogance” from yesterday’s post. How does masking seriously impede education?” Masks may be somewhat uncomfortable or inconvenient, but they may save students’ lives since school age children 5 to 11 are unvaccinated. The CDC recommends that these children wear masks in school. My eleven year old grandson started middle school in El Paso,Texas this year. Fortunately, most of the students are wearing masks. I hope they get the vaccine out to this group ASAP, even on an emergency basis.
A friend told me about her young grandson who wore a mask at school. The teacher asked why he was not wearing his glasses (sight is pretty bad). He responded that he could not see and wear a mask–so he chose the mask so he could go to school.
Too bad the adults did not have anti-fog spray and some of his courage.
Is this the same friend who told you about the welfare queen she saw at the grocery store? Or that Social Security would bring about the end of the free world?
I’ve never gotten anti-fog spray to work well. When I have to wear a mask, I just flip my glasses on top of my head and walk around semi-blind. It would be a disaster if I were a student in a classroom setting.
One day, decades from now, children will read of the pioneers who sacrificed and had to endure foggy glasses. It was a disaster!
It is interesting to see that commenters here are no longer worried enough about students becoming infected with coronavirus to call for schools to be remote in the fall. Students under 12 are in exactly the same position they were in last fall because the are not eligible for a vaccine. Has Emily Oster’s research convinced the folks here that masked students are unlikely to infect each other at a higher rate in school compared to the general infection rate? Has there been some other research that has convinced folks that it is safe for children to be in school this fall?
I can only speak for myself, TE, but I’m still lurching, trying to digest latest info [& I don’t consider Oster dashboard a comprehensive source]. It has only been 6 wks since delta began to ramp up. Only 10 days since we got disturbing stats from that large Provincetown cluster indicating high incidence of breakthrough cases. Don’t even know how to put that together with masked school in September, as there was much crowded outdoor and indoor maskless activity going on there. And now—yesterday 8/6– AmerPedAssoc reported 72k new ped cases last week, an unprecedented 84% jump from prior week. Pfizer expects data on age 5-11 studies in September; AmerPedAssoc is pushing FDA to dial back the safety follow-up from 6 to 2 months in order to start vaccinating under-12’s in late Fall.
A few days ago, our NJ town had 30 residents speaking at town council mtg against a mask mandate for September. I expect our district will go with a mask mandate– but this new info on ped cases may change the discussion.
Students under 12 are NOT in “exactly the same position they were in last fall because everyone 12 and above is eligible for a vaccine. This is something that is basic science — when people over 12 get vaccines, it actually helps protect the people who aren’t eligible.
Emily Oster may not understand this basic science when she was advocating for all schools to re-open immediately in the heat of the pandemic before vaccines were available but that is likely because she is an economist with a very unfortunate history of cherry picking data and making an enormous error in her doctoral thesis that she had to retract 3 years later although she had been informed about it her error by numerous experts who understood how wildly misleading her supposedly “evidence-based research” had been.
Right now, as someone interested in real evidence and not Emily Oster-type research, I assume that the delta variant will not be dangerous to unvaccinated children, although I don’t think we can be certain of that this early.
I certainly believe mask mandates are called for in schools, despite many Republicans believing they should not be.
NYCPSP,
The daily average case count in the US today is MUCH HIGHER than the daily case count anytime in the second wave, July through September of last year. You are right that those under 12 are not in not in the same position this year as last. They are at higher risk this year. The average daily COVID cases on August 7 of last year were 54,436 and yesterday the average daily COVID cases on August 7 of this year were 108,513, very close to double.
It is a risk versus reward scenario. There is a risk in unvaccinated young people returning to school. The major difference is that most of the adults in the schools will have had the vaccine, and they are the group that has a higher risk level than students. In Florida and Texas masks are optional for students, and that will put more people at risk.
My grandson is back in school. He wears a mask, and he has wipes for each desk at which he sits as he changes classes seven times each day. My son-in-law did not want his son to go back to school. My daughter and I knew that my grandson was climbing the walls from remote tedium. Both my daughter and son-in-law are fully vaccinated. My daughter and I felt that the risk was worth the reward, and my son-in-law reluctantly acquiesced. We eagerly await the vaccine for eleven year olds.
Emily Oster and Steven Levitt (Roland Fryer’s pal) – colleagues in the same cottage industry – buy from them at your own risk
Personally, I’m very worried about the variant, but the state has tied our hands. They will not fund our schools if the children aren’t in their seats. It’s the almighty $$$. Come on back to school, cram 35 kids in classrooms meant for 20, eating and playing together, no mandatory testing or vaccinations. Butterflies and rainbows. I’ll give it about 3 weeks. Hope I’m wrong.
If students are going back to in-person learning, the school districts should be planning on smaller classes or some part-time hybrid arrangement. Cramming kids in classrooms is a bad idea.
Retired Teacher,
I certainly agree that there are trade offs with having students attend classes in person this fall. There were also trade offs with students attending classes last fall. The orthodox option here was that it was simply too risky to have any students in the classroom last fall, and there was a great deal of concern about student’s health. This year there has been absolutely no discussion about students not attending class. I have to believe that the primary concern about in person classes was about the adults in the school, not the students. Now that the adults have been vaccinated, the risks from having students in school are perfectly acceptable.
TE, that is a mean-spirited comment. It is totally absurd to say that readers here are concerned about adults, not students. Last year, we knew a lot less about the virus than we do now. Last year, there were no vaccines available for anyone. Now adults and students 12 and over can be (and should be) vaccinated. Hopefully the vaccine for younger students will be available in the early fall. We know now the mitigation strategies that should be taken. Do you think that school should have resumed a year ago with no one vaccinated?
It is still the case that the daily infection rate is twice what it was last year. Surely we can agree that the risk of infection for an 11 year old child is likely higher today than it was a year ago because the daily rate of infection is twice what it was a year ago, yet there has been no discussion at all of remote classes.
I did ask if there is something new that changed people’s minds so that despite have twice the daily infection rate of last August, meeting in person would be safe for students now even though it was thought unsafe a year ago.
As for my post being mean spirited, I have learned that from the comments directed at me by the folks on your blog. At least I did not wish anyone for a painful and horrible death by COVID.
TE,
You are a bit of a pot stirrer aren’t you. You are not really wanting students to be home – you are just arguing for the sake of arguing.
I was IN PERSON, all day, 5 days a week – all year with my students last year. Their health, safety, happiness and growth was my top priority 24/7. Believe me – it was the same for all the teachers I work with. It was a very stressful year – but we did not let our students experience the stress.
And as I have said many time, we were able to be in person because we were able to provide a situation where students were distanced and parents made sure their children were masked. Not all school districts had that luxury.
Beachteach, you are exactly right. TE likes to provoke.
TE, your comment completely misrepresents my view and probably those of many others here.
Lies about. We need to get rid of niceties like “completely misrepresents. They lie because otherwise they’d have nothing to say.
Ron DeSantisism ( a variant of DeSadism): “And he [DeSantis] touted a new state rule, adopted on Friday, that will counter local school mask mandates by allowing parents to request private school vouchers if they feel that the requirements amount to “harassment.”” Totally nuts. Ron D. is not only sabotaging the public schools but also the health and welfare of Floridians with this new voucher scam. At long last, have you no shame, Gov. Ron? Nope, no shame, no morals, no scruples just blind ambition on the backs of FL residents.
Concern about the highly contagious Delta variant is resulting in some conservatives in Florida for whom anti-vaxxing was a “cause célèbre” to change their position. More conservatives are signing up to get vaccinated, and I hope it causes a backlash against DeSantis.
Another apt moniker making rounds of WaPo comment threads: Gov. DeathSentence
Joe, just one correction. DeSantisssssism is spelled with a snakelike hiss, in keeping with the character of ex Trump Mini Me and Most Clownish Flor-uh-duh man Ronald DeSanissssssss.
seems like lately the concept of being “totally nuts” takes precedent over actual governing: it’s as if the more ‘out there’ the governor is, the more he stokes his base
Traitor Trump’s elected and mindless MAGA minions (they are no longer Republicans even if they call themselves Republicans — because they are insane, power-hungry, unconstitutional, narcissistic psychopaths or sociopaths that worship at the altar of greed) that are antivaccine and anti-maskers are swimming upstream against a flood with more than 350 doses given already and 166 million fully vaccinated.
These GOP MAGA fools are catering to Trump’s lunatic mob and the traitor’s base currently represents about 6% of the population.
According to FiveThirtyEight, “Americans Are In Favor Of Vaccine Mandates. But Support Is Driven Mainly By Those Who Have Already Gotten The Jab.”
https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/americans-are-in-favor-of-vaccine-mandates-but-support-is-driven-mainly-by-those-who-have-already-gotten-the-jab/
And Newsweek reported, “83 Percent of Americans Support Wearing Masks, But Only Half Wear Them: Poll”
https://www.newsweek.com/83-percent-americans-support-wearing-masks-only-half-wear-them-poll-1563944
Reducing the “issue” to mask or not to mask, or to
vax or not to vax, seems to IGNORE what was
stated at the onset of ‘rona.
CUMMUNITY SPREAD is the “how”…
Are the folks in the UK, Israel, Chile, Cape Cod, or
other countries with high vaccination rates LYING
when they report:
COVID infections among the fully vaccinated are occuring.
Damning the jabless doesn’t negate community spread.
Before the vax, staying home, social distancing, avoiding public areas and crowded places, helped slow community
spread, BUT it got in the way of the community
spread of dollars. Can’t have that. Reopen, ignore
community spread, hurry up and get back to “normal”,
as if “normal” wasn’t the problem in the first place.
What about students who don’t want to wear shoes? Do they get a voucher, too?
And what about shirts? Do they also get a voucher?
Yes, I have to say to all the people who say they’re uncomfortable wearing masks, I’m glad you’re comfortable wearing pants.
LOL
NYCPSP, bravo!
I wouldn’t want my child to attend a school which DIDN’T mandate masks if I lived in an area with a high infection rate. I’m sure there are other parents who feel the same. What would happen if these parents refused to send their children to school until masks were mandated? Would a boycott change the dynamics?
What percentage of the population in Florida are anti-vax, anti-mask? I wonder if there will ever be a push back.
Not all conservatives are anti-vaxxers. Those opposed to vaccines are more likely to be evangelical Christians or libertarian extremists. Conservative college graduates are generally receptive to getting vaccinated. The federal government is requiring that all military personnel get vaccinated, and a many members of the military tend to be conservative. It is is tragic that some people like DeSantis are politicizing a public health crisis.
I, too, live in Flor-uh-duh. Just went to the grocery today (double masked). I would estimate that only half the grocery store’s employees and about 20 percent of the other shoppers were wearing masks. Many of those who were wearing masks, had them hanging below their noses.
DeSantos yelling that he supports parents right to make decisions for children.
I bet all these “Florida Men” have children. Does he trust their decision making abilities?
https://nypost.com/article/crazy-florida-man-headlines-that-made-the-meme
He needs to put on his big boy pants and lead to keep Florida residents safe – rather than pandering to libertarians.
oops – ** Desantis
That’s DeSatan or DeSantissssss.
Spear phishing, obviously. Do not click.
TPM, 8-6-2021
The school board of Bancombe County, N.C. (includes Asheville) voted 4-2 to mandate unvaccinated students wear masks. “The meeting attracted a pride of feral Trumpers” who opposed the decision, including Matthew Cawthorne. The article title, “Boy Congressman Insurrection-ing Again?”
Thanks for the great coverage!
Diane
I am a long time admirer of yours. I have voted Democrat for 50 years. I am active as rep for my NEA local. I disagree with your position on forced injections. The current policy is very dangerous. We are being played by very dark forces which our media has capitulated to.
I would like to share more of what i have learned if you are open to a dialogue.
In peace Sharleen
On Sat, Aug 7, 2021 at 10:01 AM Diane Ravitch’s blog wrote:
> dianeravitch posted: ” Governor Asa Hutchinson of Arkansas called a > special session of the legislature to throw out the law he signed that > forbade mask mandates. The legislature refused to do it. A judge acted and > overturned the ban. Florida offered vouchers to students fo” >
Sharleen-
I recommend a litmus test for those opposed to vaccination. Sign a waiver refusing medical care for Covid if you are infected. We can agree that medical workers shouldn’t be forced to take the risk that anti-vaxxers decided to take against medical advice? And, we can agree the vaccinated shouldn’t be forced to pay higher healthcare insurance premiums because of anti-vaxxers?
Show the courage of your conviction.
Where are these “forced injections”? I must have missed all the testimony and video about people being held down against their will as they were forcefully injected.
The only “very dark forces” to which we are being subjected is garbage like this.