Sarasota becomes the first Republican-leaning county in Florida to defy Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ ban on mask mandates in schools, Politico reports.
After a tense five hour long meeting on Friday Sarasota County school officials voted 3-2 to require students to wear masks.
In doing so, Sarasota becomes the first GOP-county to defy state laws banning mask mandates. Residents and parents were not happy. They told the board they were “disgusted” by their decision which some called “medical tyranny,” according to Politico.
Miami-Dade, Broward, Hillsborough, Palm Beach and Alachua counties have defied DeSantis’ order and implemented similar rules.
As of Friday, 247 students and 62 teachers tested positive for COVID-19 in Sarasota. Another 497 students and 19 staff members, are in quarantine.
“My fear is that if we do not do this, if we do not put some teeth into this, do not stand up for this and our right to make that decision, we will be making the wrong decision,” board member Jane Goodwin said.
Sarasota schools superintendent Brennan Asplen advised the board to allow students to opt out of wearing masks, while Bridget Ziegler was worried about breaking with DeSantis and risk being sanctioned by the state.
“I’m highly concerned that we would be adopting something that many on this board have recognized is against the law,” Ziegler said.
DeSantis had threatened to cut funding to school districts that defy his mask ban order. On Friday, the state board gave school leaders in Broward and Alachua counties 48 hours to reverse their mask mandate, or risk cuts to funding to their districts equal to the salaries of the board members who voted to support a mask mandate.
The Biden administration has offered to pay the salaries of the school board members who lose state funds by defying Gov. DeSantis’ ban on local K-12 mask mandates.
