Pinellas Parents Take School Board To Task Over Lax Mask Rules

PINELLAS COUNTY, FL — Maintaining that their children's health is being politicized, Pinellas County parents say they don't want to wait for the appeal process to wade through the court system before the school district mandates masks in public schools.

With the number of coronavirus cases on the rise, they say the school board must mandate masks at public schools now.

As of Monday, 1,564 students and 422 staff members have tested positive for the coronavirus at Pinellas schools, and parents say that's way too many.

In addition to those testing positive, 4,953 students and employees are home in quarantine because they've been exposed to the coronavirus.

During the Pinellas County School Board meeting last week in Largo, a contingent of parents joined by members of the Pinellas County League of Women Voters held a rally outside the school district administration building. They urged the school board to follow the example of Hillsborough, Miami-Dade, Alachua and Broward counties in defying Gov. Ron DeSantis' July 30 executive order prohibiting school districts from mandating masks.

DeSantis' order came two days after Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Rochelle Walensky announced that the surge in coronavirus rates due to the delta variant prompted the CDC to reverse its recommendation on the wearing of masks indoors. Walensky said the CDC now recommends that all students wear masks in schools, particularly elementary school students age 11 and under who are ineligible to get the coronavirus vaccination.

DeSantis maintains that parents, not school or health officials, should decide if a student needs to wear a mask.

He threatened to withhold federal coronavirus relief funds, dock the salaries of school superintendents and remove elected school board members from office in districts that defy his order.

As a result, the Pinellas County School District opted to make the use of masks voluntary when the school year began Aug. 11, although the district sent a notice to parents "strongly recommending" that students wear masks in keeping with the CDC's new guidelines.

Meanwhile, on Aug. 6, a group of Florida parents sued the governor over his executive order. On Friday, Leon County Circuit Judge John C. Cooper ruled that DeSantis didn't have the authority to override the decision of school districts to make masks mandatory.

DeSantis announced Monday that he's appealing Cooper's ruling.

Among those concerned about the Pinellas School Board's reticence is Brad Rosenheim, who started a petition drive and email-writing campaign requesting that the school district make masks mandatory for at least 30 days and preferably 60 days. To date, 3,178 have signed the petition.

But the school board isn't scheduled to meet again until Sept. 14.

School district public information officer Isabel Mascarenas sent Patch the following district statement.

"The district understands that Judge John Cooper generally ruled in favor of the plaintiffs earlier in the court case in Tallahassee. However, Judge Cooper also stated that the ruling will not be final until it has been entered as a written order, which is expected to take place next week. The school district will review the order once it is issued."

Parents in favor of a mandatory mask rule are urging the board to hold an emergency meeting on the matter.

"We demand an emergency meeting of the Pinellas County School Board so that members can hear from the public concerning the need for mask mandates and go on record with their stance," Rosenheim said. "We need our elected officials to be brave and to listen to the residents of Pinellas County rather than the governor."

Rosenheim compared the current surge in the delta variant of the coronavirus, which is more contagious to children than the original alpha variant, to the school shooting crisis.

"If parents could have stopped any one of the many school shootings in the United States with several weeks' notice, there is no doubt we would have," he said. "We have had several weeks' notice about the spread of COVID-19 (delta variant), and yet our leaders have chosen inaction rather than seeking input and making a decision informed by both concerned parents and public health officials."

Health officials are also encouraging the parents of children age 12 and over to have their child vaccinated, noting that the greatest number of people contracting the delta variant are unvaccinated. The Food and Drug Administration has approved an emergency authorization to administer the Pfizer vaccine to children age 12 to 15.

However, there is currently no approved vaccination for children age 11 and under. Pinellas County has 2,315 children in prekindergarten, 35,502 children attending elementary schools and 1,905 attending schools with both elementary and middle school students.

However, the schools with the most positive cases of coronavirus among students in Pinellas County are high schools and middle schools:

• Osceola Fundamental High School - 46
• East Lake High School - 45
• Carwise Middle School - 43
• Pinellas Park Middle School - 40
• Seminole High School - 39
• Hollins High School - 34
• Pinellas Park High School - 33
• Palm Harbor University High School - 31
• Clearwater Fundamental Middle School - 28
• Osceola Middle School - 28
• Johns Hopkins Middle School - 27
• Largo High School - 27
• Largo Middle School 27
• St. Petersburg High School - 25

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