Masks No Longer Required In Sarasota County Schools After Board Vote Tuesday: Report

SARASOTA COUNTY, FL — The Sarasota County School Board unanimously voted to repeal the school district’s emergency mask mandate for students, teachers and visitors at its Tuesday night meeting.

In accordance with the mask mandate, the district previously made masks optional for students, teachers and staff Sept. 30 when Sarasota County’s positivity rate fell below 8 percent for three consecutive days.

The district also lifted its temporary suspension of field trips and non-essential visitors and volunteers on campuses Friday.

The temporary 90-day mask mandate approved by the Sarasota County School Board in August was supposed to remain in effect until Nov. 23. The mandate called for masks to be reinstated if the positivity rate in the county went above 10 percent.

Superintendent Brennan Asplen said the district’s mask policy “has fulfilled its purpose” before asking the board to consider repealing it, according to the Sarasota Herald-Tribune. He also noted the district’s ongoing legal battles

Sarasota County is one of 11 districts to defy Gov. Ron DeSantis’ order banning mask mandates in Florida public schools. The state has withheld school board salaries in Broward and Alachua counties and has threatened to do so in Sarasota and other counties.

President Joe Biden’s administration has offered to provide funding to the Florida school districts who had money pulled by the state over mask mandates. In response, Florida’s has threatened to keep even more money — equal to the federal funding — from these districts, the Tallahassee Democrat reported.

Related Stories:

• Suspension Of Field Trips, Visitors Lifted By School District
• Masks Optional In Sarasota Schools Following Low Positivity Rates
• Parent Angry About Mask Mandate Puts School In Lockdown: Police
• Lincoln Project Video On Masks, Vaccines Stars Sarasota Candidate
• Sarasota Schools Mask Mandate With No Opt Out Approved
• School Face Mask Lawsuit Dropped In Sarasota County

According to the Suncoast News Network, Sarasota County board member Bridget Ziegler said, “I’m glad to see us rescind this. I don’t want to spend any more money on legal battles and I do believe we would be facing that as well.”

Board chair, Shirley Brown, said the district needs to continue monitoring COVID-19 numbers in the community and suggested more “surgical” actions that could be taken in the future to keep the number of cases in the schools low, including separating students who are quarantined, reports said.