Face Masks

Attorneys for the Department of Health said in a motion posted Monday that the school boards in Miami-Dade, Broward, Orange, Duval, Alachua and Leon counties do not have legal standing to challenge the rule.

The state keeps coming after school districts over mask mandates. School districts are going after the state in court. Plus, redrawing political districts across the state.

They are seeking an injunction against the executive order while an appeal of a lower-court ruling moves forward.

One superintendent asks the Board of Education to take his pay, too, but was refused. Others argued their strict mandates were needed to protect students.

Hillsborough and Sarasota are among three school districts that avoided being punished by recently changing their mask policies.

Before the Sarasota County School Board's repeal, masks were required if the positivity rate rose to about 10 percent, and optional if it fell below 8 percent for three consecutive days.

Two districts revised mask mandates to allow parental opt-outs, but others aren't backing down. Education Commission Richard Corcoran has now suggested pulling funds equal to federal grants awarded to cover the penalties of noncompliant boards.

The Hillsborough County School Board voted to remove the medical opt-out clause and give parents the choice of whether their children wear masks.

Gov. Ron DeSantis tweeted Attorney General Merrick Garland is "weaponizing" the Department of Justice and said he will defend Floridians' rights to free speech over his decision to prevent mask mandates in schools.

In requesting that a judge reconsider an earlier decision, an attorney for the parents who filed the lawsuit pointed, in part, to a revised Department of Health rule that eased restrictions on students who have been exposed to people with COVID-19.

The board is expected to get an update on nearly a dozen districts that are accused of violating the state's school mask rules.

Florida's largest public school union is decrying the state's new ruling that students who are exposed to COVID-19 can stay in school unless they develop symptoms. But some schools might be tempted to bend the rule.