A member on the school board of the seventh largest school district in the country blasted Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis for his handling of the COVID crisis in the state. The official referred to DeSantis as the “mad king” whose approach has caused “panic” and “chaos” for school staff and parents in the district.
“Our governor is the mad king of the COVID era. It feels like a nightmare I can’t wake up from,” Jessica Vaughn a member of the Hillsborough County School Board since 2020 told Insider.
DeSantis signed an executive order banning masks weeks before schools were set to reopen and threatened to withhold funding to school district that defy his order.
Vaughn said the ban left school district officials with very limited options on how to return children to the classroom safely, and “hysterical” parents worrying about their child’s safety in schools.
“You have panicked parents, people who feel, ‘what are my choices: either sending my child into a potentially threatening, dangerous environment where they could get very sick or bring home sickness, or not send them to school?'” she said.
According to Insider, ‘the school wasn’t considering a mask mandate, but in the past few weeks the more transmissible Delta variant, which is causing a huge spike in infections among children, changed everything.’
Parents have begged the board to defy DeSantis’ order and mandate masks. But, the superintendent said the district cannot afford to lose funding from the state.
After the first week of school, more than 5, 500 students were under isolation or quarantine orders after a positive test or exposure to the virus, and nearly 500 people – students and teachers – reported they had tested positive for COVID-19.
District officials have scheduled an emergency board meeting for Wednesday to discuss the COVID outbreak thus far this school year and to explore “the best way to mitigate against the spread of the virus, up to and including mandatory face coverings for all students and staff.”
