Are mask-only classrooms a COVID solution or segregation? Parents, attorneys react

Would you prefer your child be in a mask-only classroom?

Thousands of Manatee County parents reacted to that question with a mix of hope, anger and apathy after the school district sent a survey to families earlier this month.

The online survey went out to approximately 18,000 parents and guardians who have children in Manatee’s public elementary schools, along with two people at the state level. Overall, the result was 2-1 in favor of having some mask-only classrooms.

Some of the responses also led to a new question: Where was the line between segregation and COVID-19 solutions?

Citing emergency rules at the state level, an attorney for the Florida Department of Education cautioned Manatee County schools to rethink a mask-only classroom, even though the measure would be optional.

However, several parents in Florida filed a lawsuit against the state, challenging its sweeping ban on mask rules.

A judge in Leon County then ruled on Friday that state law “does not support a statewide order or any action interfering with the constitutionally provided authority of local school districts to provide for the safety and health of children, based on the unique facts on the ground in a particular county.”

The ruling — which is subject to an appeal — could open a path to stricter mask rules and even mask-only classrooms in Manatee County.

Changes in the immediate future, however, are not expected.

“You hear so many different stories about COVID,” said Lindsie Walker, the mother of a local second-grader. “I personally don’t know anybody that’s had problems with it or gotten it, but I don’t want my child to be sick, whether it’s COVID, the flu, whatever.”

Walker was among 2,406 people who preferred their child be in a mask-only classroom, according to the survey results. They account for about 52% of the people who responded.

Another 1,249 people — or approximately 27% — said they preferred their child be in a classroom without masks. The remaining 979 families had no preference either way.

Are mask-only classrooms legal?

The survey offered insight into how strongly parents feel about mask use in schools. But as a legal battle continues at the state level, the fate of mask-only classrooms was uncertain in Manatee County.

According to legal counsel for the Florida Department of Education, the idea of a mask-only classroom was never a viable option.

Earlier this month, the Manatee County School District’s attorney, Mitchell Teitelbaum, made contact with Matthew Mears, an attorney for the state Department of Education. Teitelbaum summarized the conversation in an email to School Board members on Aug. 11.

“There was a detailed discussion on whether a school district, based upon parental choice and capacity, may offer mask-only classrooms,” he wrote.

The conversation, he said, revolved around two emergency rules issued by the Florida Department of Health and the state education department. Both rules followed an order by Gov. Ron DeSantis, who called on state agencies to “protect parents’ right to make decisions regarding masking of their children.”

One rule gives families the right to opt-out of mask mandates, while the other affords a Hope Scholarship to students who face “COVID-19 harassment” in their public school. Among other things, the rule defines harassment as mask requirements and “the separation or isolation of students.”

“Mr. Mears opined that the spirit and language of both orders was to avoid segregation of students based upon the decision whether or not to wear a mask,” Teitelbaum’s email continued.

Teitelbaum said an attorney for the Florida Association of District School Superintendents offered a similar opinion. And “segregation” was the same word used by families who attended recent School Board meetings and opposed the idea of a mask-only classroom.

According to Teitelbaum’s email on Aug. 11, both he and the Manatee School Board attorney, Stephen Dye, felt that a mask-only classroom was “not legally recommended.”

“It is very interesting to see the preference of the parents who responded,” Charlie Kennedy, the School Board chair, said at Tuesday’s meeting. “But, at this point, it’s not something we can enact on our campuses.”

It was unclear whether the idea would gain momentum after Friday’s ruling by the Leon County judge.

James Golden, the School Board’s vice chair, drafted the survey questions that later went out to elementary families. In an interview Friday, he said the judge’s ruling would no doubt face appeals, and that he wanted to see the outcome before making any changes at the local level.

“It probably doesn’t change anything immediately,” he said.

Disagreements on the data

Though the idea of a mask-only classroom remains in limbo, Golden said the survey offered valuable information — something he kept in mind during a recent vote.

Golden advocated for the survey in elementary schools, where students are too young for a COVID-19 vaccine. Out of three vaccines in the U.S., only one was available to youth ages 12 and older, while nothing was approved to cover the youngest students.

The survey, he said, offered a more complete picture of family preferences. Prior to the survey, a host of men and women — some with children in local schools and some without — attended board meetings and pushed against any form of a mask mandate.

“There are many more people who are not speaking out publicly about what should be done, or who favor a mask-only environment,” Golden said.

The 4,634 responses account for about 25% of all the families with a child in local elementary schools. And of those who gave a strong preference, far more agreed with a mask-only classroom over a no-mask classroom, he said.

That data informed his decision on Tuesday, when he voted in favor of extending the board’s mask mandate through Oct. 29, along with the opt-out clause for students and employees.

The opt-out provision was meant to follow state rules that enforce parent choice in regard to masks, though the need for that clause is now in question with Friday’s ruling.

Board members passed the extended mask mandate with a 3-2 vote Tuesday, when Gina Messenger and Chad Choate cast the dissenting votes. Gov. Ron DeSantis appointed Choate — a critic of mask mandates — to the Manatee School Board earlier this month.

And at Tuesday’s meeting, he said the survey offered “incomplete data.”

“We know that roughly 25% of the parents actually responded,” he said. “We don’t know what the other 75% of parents want. Are we to assume they don’t have a preference?”

In a recent interview, board member Golden said technology gaps and other obstacles might prevent a family from responding. Choate, speaking during Tuesday’s meeting, said a lack of response meant families had no interest in mask-only classrooms.

“I mean, maybe I’m reading that data wrong, but if my kids bring home something and I don’t ever report it back, that means I really didn’t care about what they brought home to give back to the school,” Choate said.

Results at every elementary school

Masks are recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Both said that face coverings were a valuable tool in the fight against COVID-19, which has led to more than 38 million positive cases and more than 631,000 deaths in the United States.

In Manatee County, the health department recorded at least 764 deaths and 53,514 cases since the pandemic began. Still, mask use in schools — especially among the youngest students — has led to fierce debates among local families.

The school district offered a breakdown of the survey responses at each campus, including the parents who favored and opposed a mask-only classroom. They include:

• Abel Elementary: 27 in favor and 10 against.
• Anna Maria Elementary: 23 in favor and 27 against.
• Ballard Elementary: 16 in favor and 1 against.
• Bashaw Elementary: 99 in favor and 22 against.
• Bayshore Elementary: 71 in favor and 12 against.
• Blackburn Elementary: 42 in favor and 12 against.
• Braden River Elementary: 93 in favor and 61 against.
• Daughtrey Elementary: 20 in favor and 9 against.
• Freedom Elementary: 72 in favor and 75 against.
• Gullett Elementary: 272 in favor and 164 against.
• Harvey Elementary: 111 in favor and 100 against.
• Johnson K-8 School: 85 in favor and 10 against.
• Kinnan Elementary: 45 in favor and 23 against.
• Manatee Elementary: 38 in favor and 8 against.
• McNeal Elementary: 135 in favor and 82 against.
• Miller Elementary: 72 in favor and 26 against.
• Mills Elementary: 112 in favor and 71 against.
• Moody Elementary: 36 in favor and 8 against.
• Myakka Elementary: 12 in favor and 32 against.
• Oneco Elementary: 35 in favor and 9 against.
• Palm View K-8 School: 38 in favor and 8 against.
• Palma Sola Elementary: 59 in favor and 28 against.
• Palmetto Elementary: 34 in favor and 19 against.
• Prine Elementary: 59 in favor and 20 against.
• Rogers Garden Elementary: 27 in favor and 1 against.
• Samoset Elementary: 35 in favor and 7 against.
• Sea Breeze Elementary: 60 in favor and 30 against.
• Stewart Elementary: 90 in favor and 54 against.
• Tara Elementary: 90 in favor and 67 against.
• Tillman Elementary: 38 in favor and 11 against.
• Williams Elementary: 119 in favor and 77 against.
• Willis Elementary: 218 in favor and 90 against.
• Witt Elementary: 123 in favor and 75 against.

There were only three schools where more parents were against mask-only classrooms than in favor of them: Anna Maria Elementary, Freedom Elementary and Myakka Elementary.

This story was originally published August 27, 2021 at 3:56 PM.