As student COVID cases reach new high in Manatee, the School Board extends mask rule

The Manatee County School Board has extended a mask mandate through late October as local schools break COVID-19 case records. That mandate still includes an opt-out option for students and employees, despite a push by one board member to tighten the rules.

The School Board approved its original mandate last week, setting an expiration date of Aug. 25. And on Tuesday night, as the board discussed a renewal, the school district added 226 new COVID-19 cases to its online dashboard.

There have now been 1,190 cases among students and employees since the start of classes on Aug. 10 — more cases in two weeks than all of last school year, when the district reported 1,119 cases over two semesters.

“I have a motion that I would like to present,” Chairman Charlie Kennedy said on Tuesday evening. “I’m not sure that I have three votes for this. I’m not even sure I have two votes for this, but I’m just going to put it out there.”

Without making an official motion, Kennedy floated the idea of including a mask requirement in the student dress code. The rule would only allow opt-outs for documented medical or exceptional student education (ESE) reasons.

In response, board attorney Stephen Dye said the move would violate an emergency rule authored by the Florida Department of Health, which called on schools to include an opt-out in their mask requirements. The rule followed a push by Gov. Ron DeSantis to make face coverings optional among students.

James Golden, the board’s vice chair, said he had no interest in facing a legal battle, nor was he interested in “getting around the governor” by embedding a mask mandate in the dress code.

Instead, Golden made a motion to extend the current mask mandate — including the opt out for students and district employees — through Oct. 29.

He then took a suggestion from board member Gina Messenger, adding to the motion and giving Superintendent Cynthia Saunders authority to end the mask requirement if Manatee County’s seven-day positivity rate drops to 8%.

The county’s last seven-day positivity rate was 17%, according to the Department of Health data reviewed by board members on Tuesday night.

Board members then voted 3-2, with Messenger and board member Chad Choate dissenting, to approve Golden’s motion and extend the mandate through October.

For some, the move fell short of protecting students, teachers and residents in Manatee County. Others decried the mandate, even with the opt out clause, calling it tyranny and government overreach.

Speaking during public comment, Elizabeth Danyluk said she had three children in local schools, and that nobody could force them to wear a mask.

“While I understand there was an opt-out provision, I still find it alarming that our School Board members have decided to make medical decisions for us, the parents,” she said. “We as Americans have a Constitution and a Bill of Rights that outlines and protects these God-given rights.”

In turn, high school student Evan Reid said it was “sick” to ignore the realities of COVID-19 and the benefits of masks.

“People come up here, they’ve talked about their freedom,” Reid said. “You have no freedom when you are on a ventilator.”

While the school district is encouraging people to wear masks and get vaccinated against COVID-19, students and employees can choose to avoid both after Tuesday’s board decision.

Opt-out forms are provided on paper and online. And as of noon Monday, local schools recorded 5,336 student opt-outs in traditional schools, though the number was expected to rise as more families communicate their preference in the coming days.

District spokesman Mike Barber confirmed on Tuesday that schools had no defined punishment for students who refuse a mask.

And according to an agreement between the district and the teachers union, the same is true for local educators.

“It is understood that no teacher or paraprofessional will be disciplined for his/her decision regarding wearing or not wearing a mask while at work,” the agreement states. “The district agrees to supply masks to those teachers and paraprofessionals who decide not to opt out of mask wearing.”