NPR reports that Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is prepared to act against school districts that require their students to wear race masks, despite the fact that the coronavirus is surging in almost every county in the state.
A battle is brewing in Florida over whether students will have to wear masks when they return to the classroom this fall.
Several Florida school districts are keeping their mask mandates in place for the upcoming school year, despite an executive order by Gov. Ron DeSantis that leaves it up to parents to decide whether their children wear face coverings in school. School boards that don’t eliminate mask mandates could face the loss of state funding.
South Florida’s Broward County Public Schools, the second-largest district in Florida, cited safety as its top priority announcing the decision to maintain its mask requirement pending further guidance from the state as coronavirus cases surge in Florida.
The Sunshine State has seen a rash of new COVID-19 infections in recent weeks. On Saturday, it recorded 21,683 new coronavirus cases, its highest single-day total since the pandemic began.
But DeSantis, a Republican, said that because vaccines are now prevalent, the decision to mask students should be up to their parents — not the school district.
In other words, school districts that act to protect students and staff will be punished.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
It’s just amazing how little advocacy or work the ed reform echo chamber does on behalf of public schools or public school students.
The entire echo chamber is currently lobbying to protect federal funding for charter management organizations that are for-profit but not ONE of the ed reform orgs are supporting public schools in their efforts to do covid mitigations.
They’re afraid to break from the ed reformers on the Right. Remaining lockstep with the rest of the echo chamber and promoting charter schools and private school vouchers is much more important than advocating on behalf of the +/- 90% of students who attend public schools.
This “movement” returns NO VALUE to students who attend public schools. Public schools do a real disservice to their students by joining with the echo chamber. It’s a lousy investment. There’s no downside at all to public schools or public school students breaking with the ed reform echo chamber. They’re not doing anything for your students anyway. It wouldn’t even create a ripple in any public school if public schools cut em loose. They’re either irrelevant to our students and schools or actively harmful.
DeSantis is a would be dictator. He constantly tries to flex his state power. He has politicized mask wearing. Local decisions best serve the public in a pandemic. Not all parts of Florida are infected at the same rates. When it comes to school districts, DeSantis looks for any excuse to retaliate against school boards. He has already weakened their authority and eliminated the salaries that were attached to these political positions. He would like nothing better than to eliminate any local rule over education as his big education plans do not include public schools.
He wants to appear like a strong man to fuel his national ambitions. He tries to emulate the political path of Trump. He is the essence of arrogance and recklessness.
Here’s Jeb Bush reciting the echo chamber message on charter funding:
https://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/op-ed/article253321418.html
Not a word from Mr. Bush or any of the tens of others ed reform groups – these people who are supposedly full time paid advocates for public education- about public schools or public school students.
Public school students simply don’t exist in the ed reform “movement”. They do no productive work of any kind on behalf of our students.
The BLOAT in the charter/voucher lobby is interesting too- they add charter/lobbying groups and employees every year. They’re spending tens of millions of dollars paying full time charter/voucher promoters at this point. They have thousands of employees doing nothing else but promoting and marketing charters and vouchers.
The combined payroll of these charter/voucher lobbying groups must dwarf the salaries of the two national teacher unions leaders. Just the former US Dept of Ed Secretaries alone must be at least 2 million in salary.
His reply makes NO sense – “because vaccines are available the decision to mask is up to parents.” ?? Nonsensical. I just worry that he is going to be our next president.
Ronald McDoo-dah DeSSSSSantisssssssssss, now our foremost political clown and con man, having assumed the mantle of Jabba the Trump.
When DeSantis took a shot at Biden’s mask mandate, Biden was told by an aide. Biden’s response was ,” Gov. Who?” Then, he laughed..
A sadistic and murderous clown
As a result of decisions like this, kids will die. Dear Governor DeSantisssssss: Do you look forward to explaining THAT when you are running for President?
https://www.tampabay.com/news/health/2021/08/02/florida-leads-the-nation-in-kids-hospitalized-for-covid/
Note also that Flor-uh-dah, under DeSantissssssss’s direction, stopped reporting Covid hospitalizations and deaths by age group.
And, of course, DeSantissss’s buddies in law enforcement, guns drawn, raided the home of the fired state worker who dared to continue reporting Flor-uh-duh’s Covid stats.
This guy is a fascist.
One might well describe him as an opportunistic infection upon the body politic.
showing that you can’t be a fascist leader without the police at your beck and call….
Nope. That is absolutely essential, isn’t it Ciedie!
That’s why we owe so much to Generals Esper and Milley, who refused to allow Trump to sic the military on U.S. citizens, in direct violation of the Constitution.
Once again..
They are mandatory reporters and the Governor is placing children at medical risk.
A parent who denies a child vaccinations (the ‘regular ones”) (unless a religious exemption) cannot send their children to school and can be hotlined for negligence. How is this different?
Let’s see how bold the Boards and Superintendents are.
Tell the state to keep their money, let the parents know what will be cut asap, and see how they respond to the Governor.
DeSantis in Florida dictates to international cruise corporations that they can’t require passengers get vaccinations.
In Minnesota, a Canadian Corp. gave law enforcement $2. mil. to fund the policing of protests against the construction of its pipeline. (Motherboard).
Many elected officials don’t care about their American constituents.
In other other words, a fish rots from the head, and it’s
the head that calls the shots. If you want to “survive”
in “that” fish pond, you do what the rotten head tells
you to do.
Expecting “equality” to be a function of power, seems
to ignore a basic. Power demands inequality, in order
to exist.
Harry S. was known to advise: If you can’t stand the
heat, get out of the kitchen…
Given the rise in cases, national, state, and local unions should organize and encourage all teachers to wear masks going into this school year. Let’s start there. (I know, I know…the percentage of teachers in most districts even willing to get vaccinated is much lower than we could hope)
They would be willing to vaccinate if they were issued a termination slip at the start of the new school year for not having proof of vaccination. You have every right to not get vaccinated unless the state mandated it as a Public Health Emergency , at which point you do not. Your employer has every right to show you the door in most states for almost any reason. . Flori duh is one of those at will employment states.
I have a question. How much good will a mask do me if no one else around me is wearing one? I have searched for good information on this question. I cannot find any. Most information still suggests only a minimal protection, and no one addresses direrectly the question of being the lone masker.
Initially, the CDC suggested that masking was mainly beneficial to those around you and of minimal benefit to you. In this case, it seems questionable that masking would be efficacious to the single individual is a room full of the unmasked, given that the virus was being spread. Indeed, it seems logical to assume that a single individual might be concentrating more virus one his person by wearing a mask in that situation.
This is a pretty big issue with me, because I live in the land of Nomask, a Tolkien-like land where contamination seems to lurk in unimagined corners.
Nobody knows for sure how much protection masks provide. However, if you live in a rural area, I would try to steer clear of the maskless, even if vaccinated.
Roy Turrentine
That all depends on what type of mask. Originally Fauci said masks were not effective, as the Chinese mocked that position.
There were multiple studies that showed untrained people were not fitting masks properly touching surfaces or the mask and then bringing substances under the mask with their fingers and not removing them properly. Thus hand sanitizing frequently.
So with a shortage of 95 masks that protect you as well as other people, the priority was for medical professionals and first responders . Professionals who theoretically know procedures and risks.
Eye glasses, face shields or goggles also protect against aerosolized virus entering the eyes.
The problem is not the mask it is the people wearing them . An N95 respirator is not the easiest thing to breath through for hours at a time.
And keeping your hands away from your face is even more difficult.
https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/news-perspective/2012/04/lab-study-supports-use-n95-respirators-flu-protection
“An N95 respirator is not the easiest thing to breath through for hours at a time.”
But of course 6 year olds should be required to wear them for the entire school day, though.
Roy: The word from Fauci on masks protecting others but not yourself came down early in the pandemic when everyone was wearing cloth masks due to shortage of medical-grade masks. It was part of the advice for all to mask up, thus all protecting each other.
Medical personnel in close & regular physical contact with active covid cases protect themselves from infection with the N95 mask, which is readily available now. https://www.idsociety.org/covid-19-real-time-learning-network/infection-prevention/personal-protective-equipment-in-medical-settings/ They are ugly and mess my hair up, but I find them much easier to breathe with than cloth masks, because they are rigid and provide a large pocket for breathing that doesn’t move in as you inhale—plus they stay in place, tight around the edges.
KN95’s, manufactured to Chinese stds for the same purpose, were likewise authorized here for medical personnel as being far superior to surgical masks—but that was an emergency authorization, just revoked because the N95’s mfr’d to US stds are now in good supply. Finding one that isn’t a fake can be a challenge. Better-looking, doesn’t wreck hair [ear loops], just as easy to breathe in as the N95’s. The consensus is they’re fine for people who aren’t coming into physical contact with covid patients or doing medical procedures on them. If I were attending an indoor event where I couldn’t distance from people [which I don’t do], I’d use my N95’s.
FLERP!
A 6 year old sitting at a desk is not exerting enough energy to cause labored breathing. The teacher walking around the room is exerting barely enough energy. A construction worker in a hazardous dust environment or a nurse in an ICU a different story . They need breaks without the mask . Older teachers may experience discomfort , the kids would barely notice it .
Definitely agree there’s no need to be concerned about the children. They’re resilient and will be fine.
FLERP!,
That is exactly what the anti-maskers say. Let’s reopen schools just like they were before and ban masks because the children will be fine.
Children are being airlifted to other hospitals because all of the pediatric care beds in some COVID hotspots are full.
Every action that flattens the curve – including wearing masks – helps. I have seen preschools where 4 year olds were all wearing masks and none of them seemed to even notice them as they were running around acting like 4 year olds.
Wearing a mask is a good way to get schools to reopen and stay open, which I thought was your priority. I don’t understand what it is you want – I only know what makes you post snarky replies like requiring masks or closing schools when covid was rampant but there were no vaccines yet.
Don’t be ridiculous, Flerp. Have you actually worn an N95 mask? They are NOT difficult to breath through. That’s Marjorie Greene-level nuts, to claim that. Total disinformation
Bob, Joel is the one who wrote “[a]n N95 respirator is not the easiest thing to breath through for hours at a time.”
I actually do find N95s a bit difficult to breath through, if I’m wearing them for an extended period. I also find regular cloth or surgical masks a bit difficult to breath through for extended periods. That’s my experience, it is what it is. I can see this is touching a nerve here, so I won’t belabor it.
There was a good op ed in the NYT today: “We Studied One Million Students. This Is What We Learned About Masking.”
“We have learned a few things for certain: Although vaccination is the best way to prevent Covid-19, universal masking is a close second, and with masking in place, in-school learning is safe and more effective than remote instruction, regardless of community rates of infection.
Vaccination is the strongest method for preventing the ill effects of Covid, but students under 12 years of age are ineligible for the vaccines. Masking, then, is one of the best, most readily available methods to protect them from the disease, with universal masking being one of the most effective and efficient strategies for preventing SARS-CoV-2 transmission in schools.”
And, FYI, I noticed that the Duke University School of Medicine Researchers distinguished between “masking” and “UNIVERSAL masking”. It is the difference between masks being option and being mandated.
Bob,
When I have time I will look though your comments from a year ago, but perhaps it is simply best to ask you about them. Last July and August, were you advocating for elementary school students to meet in person but masked or where you advocating for them to be remote?
Bob Shepherd
Flerp! is correct . N95 respirators do reduce the flow of gasses in both directions . However unless you have impaired lungs they present no problem larger than a little discomfort.
The problem is not the N95 mask it is the lack of them especially in sizes that would fit a small child.
Flerp! is absurd willing to see 10s of thousands of children suffer from Covids effects rather than wear a mask that is a bit annoying. Depending on the state 1.5 to 3.5% of hospitalized cases are children.
0000000000000% of healthy people wearing a mask need hospitalization.
That should have read need hospitalization due to the mask .
OMG I just watched the Duke researcher who did the universal masking in schools study on PBS. He was asked why not just make mask-wearing encouraged but not mandated.
His brilliant answer: (I’m paraphrasing). Not having universal masking is like restricting peeing to only one section of a public pool.
Joel,
I know this is a radical proposal, but couldn’t we save 10’s of thousands of children from suffering from COVID infections by simply doing remote education this fall?
I am very vaccinatd, but I am surrounded by maskless students on a daily basis. Air purification is expensive, so I have not heard of any plans to try that. I have read that covid is airborne, so I worry about any behavior that concentrates the virus around me rather than just on surfaces. Unless I go through multiple masks a day, it seems to me that being the only masked person around is a liability
Are you teaching a full class each period? Can the students spread out or are they crammed into the space? Are there any opportunities to work outside? At the very least, you might want to consider wearing a face shield in addition to the mask.
The big spread now is in young people that are not vaccinated. They need to get vaccinated to protect themselves and others.
One of my classes has 30 students. Students spread out? Good joke. Outside? Hardly.
My question is whether a mask does me any good when I am virtually swimming in everyone else’s ecosystem.
If I were in your situation, and the school district is doing nothing to keep you safe, I would invest in my own hazmat suit with washable coveralls, about $150 dollars for the hood and respirator. Where’s the money that is supposed to be used to keep people safe in schools? If your students can sit in front of you sans mask, you should be able to wear a hazmat suit to class.
Roy: Is having a fan in the back of the room, pushing the classroom air out of a window feasible? If you are the one changing classrooms, then the fan idea is a non-starter. I used to bring a fan to school during the very hot days; it was not that loud and did not disturb the kids that much. Your face mask is better than nothing, keep wearing it. Just my 2 cents worth but wish you all the best. It’s amazing that the school district does not require the kids to wear masks in the classroom.
Roy Turrentine
How does your class compare to an emergency room (not an ICU) where nurses wear N95 masks or surgical masks and possibly a face shield to triage patients .
Roy, see my comment above. The N95 should be fine, & changing them more than once a day seems excessive. Your several groups (up to 30 at once, for an hour-ish each) are not going to spread nearly the viral load a nurse could get from coming into close regular physical contact with hospitalized covid cases over longer shifts than a school day—and this is the mask they use to protect themselves from infection. Just keep your hands off the mask [adjust if necessary by handling the straps; if you do that inadvertently, follow up with hand sanitizer.]
OTOH, if you want to be super safe & use hospital-type measures, you might consider changing to mask# 2 at lunchtime (or halfway thro your day). Get some breathable little brown paper lunch bags. Store mask#1 in a labelled bag [e.g. “Mon a.m.”) & rest it somewhere airy until next Mon. You can do this 5 times before discarding [per the emergency re-use measures medical personnel were using during shortages. Do it again with mask #2. In this way you can stretch 10 masks to last for 5 weeks of classes. [Total reqd for year 80]
Even the N95 takes some research (e.g. what is on cdc approved list): I scored one for you! Kimberly-Clark 53358 was not revoked 7/21 [like so many, as Chinese mfr’s came off the emerg-auth list]. They cost $1.11 each [50 for $55.48 at Amazon]. It’s a ‘pouch’ respirator, scored up to 75% more ‘breathable’ than the minimum reqd.
Last time I bought a box of surgical masks, it suggested on the box a percentage of efficacy. It was 90-something.
Well they’re certainly better than cloth masks. However I just read of a Dec 2020 study at some Boston hospital (or was it a UK hospital?) where they found the nurses in covid wards were getting 47% more infections than those in non-covid wards [all using surgical masks]. When they upgraded the covid nurses to N95’s (or its Brit equivalent), the case-count equalized between the two groups.
Reblogged this on What's Gneiss for Education and commented:
Only in America are adults punished for trying to keep children healthy.
I was told of an outcome forced by parents and teachers by a disability advocate in a small school district here in California (Rocklin USD). The school board was going to “let the children decide whether or not to wear masks” when going back to school, ignoring scientific safety protocols.
Parents and teachers raised a stink and the board must have been schooled themselves after their insurance company told them they would not pay any claims as a result of their ridiculous policy. Legal counsel then got involved and (we can assume) expressed the legal and financial peril the school board would be exposing the district to by their reluctance to follow the science. Needless to say, they decided on a mask mandate.
We all need to go directly to the insurance and legal representatives of the unwilling districts. Fight these idiots with pocketbook concerns and the mask mandates may soon fall into place.
Thanks for the info.
Looking for confirmation of this story online & can’t confirm it. Latest info I could find was as of 3-1/2 wks ago the district hadn’t made up its mind on a mask mandate. This is an important story if the district’s insurance company was able to shut down public outcry over possible mask mandate [I did see the School Board’s letter protesting both “quarantining of healthy children” and mask mandate].
It was posted on the facebook page of a friend of mine who is a special education advocate with family living in the district. I’ll ask if written confirmation available, but it may be backroom stuff that won’t be on public record if legal involved. I’ve known this trustworthy person for 15 years.
Very interesting! Thanks for the inside story.
Diane, did you do it intentionally? If so, good deal. If not, please leave it be. It makes my day. Good comic relief.
“NPR reports that Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is prepared to act against school districts that require their students to wear race masks ….”
Yes! If it’s a typo, it’s sadly appropriate!
hahahaha, I liked that too. The images it conjures up are hilarious. I’m sure there must be a philosophical or political joke to be made there but I’m getting cross-eyed already just from trying to make sense of the fast-changing news on racial & covid stuff!
Hitler killed children too. We have arrived at that horrific moment where political leaders -Republicans all, and not only Trump – treat children as expendable. This is the logical outcome of a cult masquerading as a party which has no principles or values except power and money.
DeSantis acts like a fascist, but he cannot pull off the menacing demeanor of Hitler or even Trump. With his nasal voice, he sounds more like Urkel from “Good Times” than a dictator. I expect him to say, “Did I do that?”
Weird how the giant ed reform lobby is apparently incapable of requesting that their ideological allies in these states stop harming public school children.
If they want kids in person in public schools why don’t they do the same lobbying they do for vouchers and charters and pressure the Florida governor?
Cannot dissent from the echo chamber. That’s forbidden, The Florida governor supports and promotes the privatization agenda so ed reform won’t intervene on his harming public schools.
Jeb Bush could lobby the Florida governor and ask that he stop with these ridiculous politically motivated proclamations. Why doesn’t he? Because the charter/voucher agenda trumps public school students. As long as DeSantis promotes ed reform’s politcal agenda no ed reformer will speak up.
I call foul. Ron DeathSentence seems to be assuming that voucher-privates are all 100% behind his mask-&-vaccine-only-if-you-wanna policy [so they’ll be the place anti-mask-vaxxers will go if their pubsch district dares flout his edicts]. Does FL monitor its voucher-privates for curriculum stds/ stds of teacher qualifications/ financial soundness/ anything? Um, no. So how would he even know how they’re dealing with covid safety? Corollary: they could be little bastions of covid safety & they’ll still get their $$ from DeathSentence cuz… they’re publicly-funded privates which is per his agenda. His covid-denial policy is just more posturing from this empty suit.
DeSantis is desperate to gain the loyalty of Trump’s loyalists so he is apparently struggling to outdo Trump.
#DeSantisThreatensChildren