Politics

Gov. Ron DeSantis signs order prohibiting schools from requiring students to wear masks

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Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Friday prohibited local school districts from requiring students to wear masks.

Gov. DeSantis said he disagreed with guidelines issued Tuesday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which recommends that all students in kindergarten through 12th grade wear coverings when they return to classrooms this fall. DeSantis signed an executive order Friday prohibiting school districts in his state from having a choice to set such a mandate.

“The federal government has no right to tell parents that in order for their kids to attend school in person, they must be forced to wear a mask all day, every day,” DeSantis said in a statement. “Many Florida schoolchildren have suffered under forced masking policies, and it is prudent to protect the ability of parents to make decisions regarding the wearing of masks by their children.”

Before signing the order, the governor told supporters at a Cape Coral restaurant that he and his wife have always opposed masks for their children. “I have young kids. My wife and I are not going to do the masks with the kids. We never have,” he said. “I want to see my kids smiling. I want them having fun.”

The Florida Education Association, which represents 150,000 public school employees, said DeSantis is wrongly enforcing a “one-size-fits-all” policy. “No matter if we live in urban South Florida, in the rural Panhandle or somewhere in-between, we all want our children to be healthy and safe,” according to a union statement.

About 48.7 percent of Florida’s population has been fully vaccinated, according to NBC’s vaccination tracker. That puts Florida slightly behind other large states like California (52.6), New York (56.9) and Pennsylvania (52.2) but ahead of Illinois (48.3) and Texas (43.7). Despite the surge in cases, DeSantis said mask mandates for school children would be meaningless anyway.

“Whatever you think of masks, you got to wear it properly. My kids ain’t going to wear that thing properly, you know that,” he told his laughing supporters. “Look if a parent really feels that this is something that’s important for their kid, we’re not stopping that. They absolutely have every right to equip their student with whatever types of masks that they want.”

ARTICLE: PAUL MURDOCH

MANAGING EDITOR: CARSON CHOATE
PHOTO CREDITS: YAHOO NEWS

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Paul Murdoch

Paul, 37, is from Scotland in the UK, but currently lives and works in Bangkok. Paul has worked in different industries such as telemarketing, retail, hospitality, farming, insurance, and teaching, where he works now. He teaches at an all-girls High School in Bangkok. “It’s a lot of work, but I love my job.” Paul has an active interest in politics. His reason for writing for FBA is to offer people the facts and allow them to make up their own minds. Whilst he believes opinion columns have their place, it is also important that people can have accurate news with no bias.

Paul, 37, is from Scotland in the UK, but currently lives and works in Bangkok. Paul has worked in different industries such as telemarketing, retail, hospitality, farming, insurance, and teaching, where he works now. He teaches at an all-girls High School in Bangkok. “It’s a lot of work, but I love my job.” Paul has an active interest in politics. His reason for writing for FBA is to offer people the facts and allow them to make up their own minds. Whilst he believes opinion columns have their place, it is also important that people can have accurate news with no bias.

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