2 Florida school districts plan to keep mask mandates in place and are exploring legal action after the state withheld board members' salaries

People demonstrate at an emergency meeting of the Brevard County, Florida School Board in Viera to discuss whether face masks in local schools should be mandatory. — People demonstrate at an emergency meeting of the Brevard County, Florida School Board on Monday to discuss whether face masks in local schools should be mandatory.
Paul Hennessy/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images

Alachua and Broward counties said they plan to keep school mask mandates despite pushback.
Both school districts said they are exploring legal action.
The Florida Department of Education said it has withheld board members' salaries in the two counties.
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Two Florida school districts said Tuesday that they plan on keeping school mask mandates in place after the state withheld board members' salaries on Monday.

Alachua and Broward counties said they have consulted with legal experts and are working to file a lawsuit, ABC News reported on Tuesday.

This follows a circuit court judge's decision on Friday that Florida schools can require masks, ruling that Gov. Ron DeSantis' executive order banning school mask mandates was an overstep of his authority and unconstitutional.

The Florida Department of Education argues that the counties' mask mandates violate an emergency ruling protecting "parents' right to make decisions regarding masking of their children in relation to COVID-19."

Both counties require a doctor's note in order for parents to exempt their child from the mandate.

"The health and the safety of our students, teachers, and staff continues to be our highest priority. As such, we will continue to mandate the mask," Broward County Public Schools interim Superintendent Dr. Vickie Cartwright said.

She added that the district's data has shown masks are helping minimize the spread of the virus.

"It is totally disrespectful for the governor and education commissioner to move forward with withholding school board members' salaries because they voted for a mask mandate in Broward County Public Schools," Broward Teachers Union President Anna Fusco told Insider.

"Their behavior is reckless and is an affront to the decent school board members who are doing everything they can to minimize the transmission of the virus and its Delta variant. What tragedy will it take for the governor to stop playing his games?"

Florida is seeing a spike in COVID-19 cases among children, with more than 26,000 cases among those under 12 in the week ending Aug. 26, Insider's Vanessa Gu reported.

According to Broward County Public School's COVID-19 dashboard, positive cases tested among employees and students across the district have decreased from 74 on the first day of school to 11 new cases as of this Monday.

The Alachua County Public School's COVID-19 data shows new cases initially increased during the first three weeks of class. During the week of August 22, a total of 271 students and staff tested positive for the virus. Since this Sunday, 51 new cases have been recorded.

"We're going to fight to protect parent's rights to make health care decisions for their children. They know what is best for their children," Florida's Commissioner of Education Richard Corcoran said in a statement. "What's unacceptable is the politicians who have raised their right hands and pledged, under oath, to uphold the Constitution but are not doing so. Simply said, elected officials cannot pick and choose what laws they want to follow."

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