Despite Court Ruling, Pasco To Keep Masks Voluntary In Schools

PASCO COUNTY, FL — Following a circuit court's ruling Friday concluding that Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis' order banning school mask mandates is unconstitutional, the Pasco County School District released a statement saying masks will remain optional at Pasco County public schools.

"We are aware that Leon County Circuit Judge John C. Cooper has determined that Gov. DeSantis’ order banning mask mandates is unconstitutional," school district spokesman Stephen Hegarty said. "At this time the ruling has no impact on Pasco County Schools’ mask-optional policy."

He noted that DeSantis' order giving parents the right to choose whether their student will wear a mask remains in effect until the court submits its final ruling.

However, Hegarty said the school district is waiting to see if the ruling is upheld. The governor is expected to appeal the court's decision.

Until then, masks remain optional for both students and staff at Pasco County schools.

The Pasco County School Board isn't scheduled to meet again until Tuesday, Sept. 7 at 9:30 a.m. There's no word on whether the court's ruling will be added to the agenda of that meeting.

On Thursday, 222 students and 39 employees in Pasco County public schools tested positive for the coronavirus.

Since school began Aug. 10, there have been 2,088 cases among students and 446 among staff.

However, in a recent letter to parents, the district said the number of cases being reported on the school district's website may not be accurate.

"Due to the extremely high number of positive cases this year, we are changing how we report our data on the COVID-19 Daily Report. This year, given the increase in cases, the health department and our school district have been unable to fully process every daily case, resulting in delays in reporting," wrote the school district. "As the backlog has grown, the daily report has not been providing an accurate picture."

Rather than devoting man-hours to updating the daily COVID-19 numbers, the school district said "our time and resources are focused on verified positive cases among our students and staff, and on ensuring that they are not in school, and that they know what to do next in terms of health care, instructional options, and their safe return to school or work."

Additionally, the district said it is changing how it handles students and staff who have been exposed to the coronavirus as of Aug. 20.

"Those numbers, previously reported as 'impacted' will no longer appear in the daily report," the district said. "We will notify parents/guardians that someone in their student’s class tested positive. The students will not be required to quarantine if they are healthy with no COVID-like symptoms. Instead, we will inform parents that if their student exhibits symptoms they should remain at home, and they should consider getting tested."

At the start of the school year, the district decided to remove the burden of notifying parents of positive cases from the individual schools and have district staff take over that responsibility.

"However, given the significant increase in the number of positive cases compared to last year, this responsibility has now returned to the schools to ensure that parents/guardians receive notifications as soon as possible regarding the potential exposure of their child to a COVID-positive individual."

Following DeSantis' July 30 executive order prohibiting school districts from mandating face masks for students, Florida families filed suit against the governor in response to an overwhelming number of students contracting the coronavirus due to the introduction of the delta variant, which impacts children to a greater degree than the original alpha variant of the coronavirus.

Despite threats from DeSantis to withhold federal coronavirus relief funds, dock the salaries of superintendents and school board members, and remove school board members from their seats if they defied his order, at least four school districts, including Hillsborough County, voted to defy his order and mandate masks at schools.

Pasco County is among the school districts that opted to heed DeSantis' order and make masks voluntary.

See related stories:

• Families Defeat Gov. Ron DeSantis Over FL School Mask Lawsuit
• COVID-19 Rates Prompt Pasco Superintendent To Plead For Masks
• CDC Recommends Mask In All Schools; DeSantis Will Fight Mandate
• DeSantis To School Boards: You Better Not Mandate Masking Kids