School Mask Exemption Updated, Only Certain Doctors Can Sign Them

SARASOTA COUNTY, FL — Sarasota County Schools has tweaked the medical exemption portion of its districtwide emergency mask mandate, which was a response to rising COVID-19 cases in the region and throughout Florida.

The district’s policy requires all students, employees, visitors and vendors to wear face masks at schools and on buses. There is a medical opt-out provision for students who qualify.

Starting Wednesday, only the district’s updated medical exception form will be accepted “so that we can be consistent in our consideration of whether medical reasons warrant individuals to be exempt from the policy and to prevent abuse,” Superintendent Dr. Brennan Asplen wrote in an email to parents Tuesday.

The district is also specifying which types of doctors can certify these exemptions forms.

“The school district will accept such medical certification regarding whether an individual is exempt from the emergency face mask policy only from medical doctors licensed under Chapter 458, Florida Statutes; osteopathic physicians licensed under Chapter 459, Florida Statutes; or advanced registered nurse practitioners licensed under Chapter 464, Florida Statutes,” the superintendent wrote.

This is consistent with Florida Statute 1003.22(5)(b) and Subsection 2(c) of the recently enacted Florida Department of Health Emergency Rule 64DER21-12, Asplen added.

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.

Dr. Dan Busch with Twin Palms Chiropractic in Venice told WWSB that “the people that (he) will sign exemptions for are the people that qualify for conditions within (his) scope of practice.”

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He said he’s only signing exemptions for children with “a valid legitimate condition that would warrant a mask exemption.”

Busch also told WFLA that his signing the exemption forms has nothing to do with politics.

“This is not a political thing. I am not an anti-mask person or an anti-vax person, but I am a pro-freedom, pro-choice person,” he said.