Sarasota Principal Accepts Religious Face Mask Exemptions: Video

Updated: 1:55 p.m., Wednesday

SARASOTA, FL — A video shared in a local Facebook group shows a Sarasota County Schools elementary school principal accepting religious exemption forms for the district’s face mask policy and letting unmasked students into the school.

The Sarasota County School Board approved a temporary mask mandate in a 3-2 vote during an emergency meeting Aug. 20 because of the rising number of COVID-19 cases in the region.

Although there is no parent opt-out provision, families can receive an exemption with a medical waiver or if wearing a face mask wouldn’t be consistent with a student’s Individualized Education Plan.

The school district has received between 1,700 and 2,000 medical exemptions out of more than 40,000 students and staff since the mask mandate was approved, Kelsey Whealy, media relations specialist, said.

In the video, which was shared to a Facebook page called “Stop the Spread, SRQ” Tuesday, Tatum Ridge Elementary School’s Principal Barry Dunn discusses religious exemptions with about a dozen parents and students.

It’s not clear who recorded the video or when it was filmed, but Craig Maniglia, the district’s director of communications and community relations, said Dunn received the religious exemptions Monday, the day the mask policy went into full effect.

“You turn in a form to us, and you let us know, state those reasons, whatever your religion is, why you want this exemption, whatever that may be,” Dunn said.

He said he would submit any religious exemptions that he received to Dr. Brandon Johnson, the district’s executive director of elementary schools, and the school board’s attorney would review them “to determine whether that’s gonna be allowed or not.”

Dunn said, “In the meantime, (the students) can come in without a mask on.”

He added, “That doesn’t mean they’re going to accept that form.”

Maniglia said that the 15 religious exemptions Dunn receive Monday are still under review by the district’s attorney.

He added that Dunn was following Sarasota County Schools’ policy on religious exemptions.

The children whose parents submitted these religious exemption requests Monday are still attending school unmasked, Maniglia said.

Moms for Liberty’s Sarasota County chapter shared a template for a religious exemption form on its Facebook page Monday. It’s not known if this is the form that parents at Tatum Ridge were submitting to Dunn.

On Tuesday, Sarasota County Schools updated the medical exemption policy for its face mask mandate. Only certain doctors under Florida statutes can certify the district’s updated mask exemption forms to prevent "abuse" of the medical opt-out provision, Superintendent Brennan Asplen said in an email to parents and guardians.

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This update to the medical exemption comes after reports of a chiropractor in Venice examining and signing medical exemption forms for dozens of children attending Sarasota County Schools.