Hillsborough School Board Makes Face Mask Optional After Coronavirus Rates Decrease

TAMPA, FL — Faced with threats from Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis to withhold federal coronavirus recovery funds from school districts that require students to wear masks, the Hillsborough County School Board voted Tuesday to remove the condition requiring students to have a medical exemption if they do not wear a mask at school.

With the removal of the requirement for a medical exemption signed by a physician, the county's school mask mandate reverted to the same rule for face coverings it had when the school year began Aug. 10.

Alarmed at a rising coronavirus rate in Hillsborough County schools when the school year began, the Hillsborough County School Board was among a half dozen Florida school districts that voted to go against DeSantis' executive order forbidding school districts from mandating masks. DeSantis said that decision should be up to parents.

DeSantis threatened to dock the salaries of school board members, withhold federal Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief funds and even remove school board members who defied his executive order.

Tuesday's decision to remove the medical opt-out from the school district's rule requiring students and staff to wear masks essentially took the teeth out of the policy and made the use of masks optional.

However, it got the Hillsborough County School District off the hook for sanctions by the Florida Department of Education for violating the governor's mandate to let parents decide whether students should wear masks.

The school board's 6-1 decision to default back to the original mask mandate it approved before the medical opt-out requirement on Aug. 18 wasn't made lightly. Dozens of parents for and against mask mandates lined up to give their opinions before the school board closed public comment.

Ultimately, the deciding factor for the majority of school board members was the significant decrease in the number of coronavirus cases in the schools during the past two weeks. At the beginning of the school year, the district had a coronavirus positivity rate of 20 percent. That's now dropped to 8 percent.

To give school administrators, teachers and staff a day to implement the new policy, it will become effective Thursday.

Parents who do not want their students to wear masks will be required to fill out an online opt-out form, even if they filled one out at the beginning of the school year.

See related stories:

• 30 More Days Of Masks Required At Hillsborough County Schools
• Hillsborough Board Defies Governor's Order Against Mask Mandate
• More Than 8,400 Hillsborough Students In Isolation Or Quarantine
• U.S. Education Secretary To Support Schools With Mask Mandates
• CDC Recommends Mask In All Schools; DeSantis Will Fight Mandate
• DeSantis To School Boards: You Better Not Mandate Masking Kids
• Parents Set For FL Mask Mandate Showdown As 1st School Day Nears