![\"\"](\"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/DESANTIS-1024x576.jpg\")
<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\nCircuit Judge John Cooper approved a request by lawyers for parents suing DeSantis over masks, endorsing their position that keeping the ban in place would create a potential health risk in schools.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Throwing out the automatic stay of his earlier order is unusual, Cooper conceded. But he added, \u201cWe\u2019re not in normal times. We\u2019re in a pandemic.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n DeSantis had ordered that counties allow parents to have their children simply opt-out of mask requirements. <\/p>\n\n\n\n But Cooper ruled that school boards are empowered to mandate that all students wear face-coverings unless they obtain a medical exception.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n As Covid-19 cases continue to soar, 11 Florida counties have defied the governor by requiring masks, with only medical exemptions. Education Commissioner Richard Corcoran has notified Broward and Alachua counties that school board salaries are being withheld because of their stand, and has sent letters warning the other counties they face similar punishment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Cooper\u2019s ruling Wednesday would also stop the salary penalty from being imposed. DeSantis is likely to appeal Cooper\u2019s action to the 1st District Court of Appeal, which is reviewing his earlier ruling on the mandatory mask ban.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Cooper\u2019s mask ruling concluded ruled that the governor overreached his authority, misinterpreted state law, and ignored scientific evidence in issuing the mask prohibition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The judge said DeSantis was wrong in determining that the state\u2019s new \u201cParents\u2019 Bill of Rights,\u201d law prohibited school districts from enacting limits like masks \u2013 the provision on which he based his order.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe have a variant that\u2019s more infectious, and more dangerous to children than the one we had last year,\u201d Cooper said. \u201cI don\u2019t know of any case where a court had to deal with a non-disputed pandemic situation, with threats to young children who had at least, based on the evidence, arguably have no way to avoid this but stay home and isolate themselves. I think everybody agrees, that\u2019s not good for them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Cooper in his earlier hearing on DeSantis\u2019 order that demanded parents get an opt-out for their children, pointed out the state policy clashed with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, whose guidance calls for everyone in K-12 schools to wear a mask regardless of their vaccination status.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The CDC\u2019s recommendation came as the virulent Delta variant of the virus began infecting millions across the globe, regardless of age. But a July roundtable organized by DeSantis just before he issued his mandatory mask ban featured a psychologist calling face-coverings \u201cchild abuse\u201d and what Cooper called a misinterpretation of scientific research into the benefits of masks at schools.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The request for lifting the automatic stay of his ruling striking down the mask order came from parents from a half-dozen Florida counties who had sued the governor saying his ban violates the state constitution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The constitution not only requires a \u201csafe\u201d public school system, but also gives school boards the power to operate, control and supervise schools within their districts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The lawsuit by parents from Miami-Dade, Broward, Palm Beach, Hillsborough, Pinellas and Alachua counties argued that DeSantis \u201cwrongfully assumes that state authorities can better determine the local health risks and educational needs of students and teachers.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n A recent Quinnipiac University poll of Florida voters showed 51% disapproving of the governor\u2019s response to Covid-19, with 46% in support. His handling of public schools drew a similar response, with 51% of poll responders disapproving and 44% approving.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A Leon County judge Wednesday blocked Gov. Ron DeSantis\u2019 ban on mandatory masks at schools from remaining in effect while he appeals an earlier ruling that struck down his order. Circuit… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":47471,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[57,32],"tags":[655],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50401"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=50401"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50401\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":50403,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50401\/revisions\/50403"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/47471"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=50401"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=50401"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=50401"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/Circuit-Judge-John-Cooper.png\")