Covid-19 Ruling: A Florida judge passes the order against the statewide ban on school mask on Friday.
John C. Cooper, who’s a Leon County Judge stated that it all depends on school boards to create their own rules and regulations as long as they are narrowly tailored. He further stated that Florida’s governor doesn’t pass constitutional muster in this regard.
Cooper elaborated that he doesn’t mean to rule anything against governor’s order but simply wants to give leverage to local state bodies to make their own regulation against local mask mandates. He stressed the need for the state to simply allow various school districts to follow the right path with their own mask mandates.
This is what it emerged to be a new Covid-19 ruling, “The evidence demonstrates that face mask policies that follow CDC guidance are at this point in time reasonable and consistent with the best scientific and medical opinion and guidance in the country,” he said.
As per a report published on NBC Miami, Cooper is yet to sign the order on Monday. The ruling will become the order once it gets signed by him on Monday.
Meanwhile, the governor’s office registered its disappointment over the above decision. As per NBC Miami, the state is expected to appeal against the new ruling.
This is what Taryn Fenske, communications director for the governor’s office stated, “It’s not surprising that Judge Cooper would rule against parents’ rights and their ability to make the best educational and medical decisions for their family, but instead rule in favor of elected politicians,” she said.
“This covid-19 ruling was made with incoherent justifications, not based in science and facts,” She said.
In this particular case, as many as eight parents sued DeSantis, Richard Corcoran (educational commissioner) along with the Florida Board of Education for the decision of the statewide ban on masks in schools.
In the statement, they stated that executive order “endangered all Floridians,” chose to take rights from school boards along with violating the overall responsibility to “ensure a safe education environment for the students they oversee.”
On the other side, lawyers representing the governor argued that parents still have all the rights to securely manage the health of their wards. And this also includes their freedom to choose if they like to be masked in schools.
As per the Parents Bill of Rights that came into effect on July 1, it simply says that government by no means can infringe the basic fundamental rights of parents to up bring their children by giving them the best education, health care and mental health of a minor child.
This is what it said, “fundamental rights of a parent to direct the upbringing, education, health care and mental health of a minor child.”
Cooper in his ruling stated that the statute doesn’t actually support a statewide order as it’s liable to prevent various district bodies from ensuring the safety of their children. He further added that public schools always go ahead with their own mandates that happen to be more intrusive as compared to face masks including vaccinations for smallpox and other diseases.
Cooper said all local school boards already have their own due process. And this means that mask mandates can become legal only if they are “narrowly tailored” and “reasonable and necessary.”
“Schools can adopt policy dealing with health and education,” he stated. “And to the extent they may affect a parent’s right to control their children’s education or health, then it’s incumbent on the school board, if challenged in that policy, to demonstrate its reasonableness.”
Source(s):
webmd.com/lung/news/20210827/florida-judge-rules-against-school-mask-ban
nbcmiami.com/news/local/schools-and-covid/florida-judge-rules-school-districts-can-impose-mandatory-mask-mandates/2538847/
