Are your schools requiring masks?

Well, a court has ruled that Fort Worth Isd’s mask mandate is unlawful because of the governor’s order. Meanwhile, the 5th Circuit CoA has upheld Dallas County’s mask mandate.

Tarrant County declined to issue a mask mandate.

So, it looks like, when school starts Monday masks are required in Dallas, but not next door in Ft. Worth.

Abbott vows to take it to the Supreme Court 😵‍💫

The entirely Republican state supreme court, which has a history of siding with him on stuff like this. Yay.

Harris County also won its suit, but again, these will all end up before the state SC and Abbott will walk away smiling.

I'm so over this place.

Well, it just happened.

Supreme Court overturned the 5th.

There’s no mask mandate in Dallas County. Now we see if the schools take up the fight.


ETA: it’s an emergency order, pending a hearing
So the SC is saying you can’t enforce a mask mandate when school starts tomorrow, we’ll let you know after the hearing what our final answer is, wtf. So, they didn’t overturn it (that is technically the wrong word). I’m reading conflicting reports of what the court order says.
No one is going to know what the hell the rule is when they drop kids off to school in the morning.

Ugh my son has been to school for two days. Today the school called because bus lines are cancelled for a week and close contacts quarantined for 10 days. But still no masks.

I posted this above and then on August 13th at 3pm our administration sent out an email that masks indoors would be required until at least the end of August.  Less than 24 hours later the Board of Trustees sent a follow up saying they are optional.  All 3 of my kids in school are in elementary so too young to vaxx and young enough not to remember to wear one if their peers aren't.  Luckily our teachers will still be wearing and encouraging so at least I can count on that.  And because we're a private religion based school, they can basically do what they want.

My daughter's university is requiring students to receive their second covid shot by August 2nd. They are requiring masks indoors because the county is requiring that.

Our school district is not requiring masks. The school board believes the parents that say masks are not working and make it hard for kids to breathe. So glad we are done with this school district! They claim to be a top STEM school but obviously they don't understand basic science.

No mask mandates in SC. Schools started today for 2 of the districts in our area, and the 3rd starts on Wednesday. We're homeschoolers, but I have friends (both teachers and parents) who are so stressed out about this, and rightfully so.

Well a localish school district just voted to go against the state mandate and parents can opt out of the mask mandate . This isn’t going to end well.

Large local district just announced mask mandate for all students, staff, and visitors. I think our smaller district will follow suit, but we don't start until next Tuesday. Still lots of time for decision making.

We had our first day of in-service today. Found out a couple of interesting bits of info - one, admin will deal with any mask refusals and the kid will be removed immediately. And two, our new superintendent initially told the principals on Friday that we’d be starting virtually. The principals pushed back - we have littles who haven’t been in the classroom at all since March 2020 and they want to at least have them face to face for a while if possible.

I was shocked. Defying Abbott on masks is one thing; being willing to start the year virtual is something else entirely.

It feels so weird to be planning for a “normal” year, with all this going on.

Our school year in Oregon was so crazy last year, the schedule essentially changed in some way every 6 weeks! As a sub with a child with disabilities, I worked very little as I needed to be home! I got my vaccine in Jan/Feb. DS is a sophomore, and was told at the end of the year, IF he got the vaccine then he wouldn't be required to wear a mask. He is vaccinated as of this summer. Now the governor has decided all school aged kids will wear masks.

I will not jump in the fray as to whether they really make a difference, as a science teacher with biotech training and true understanding of the science I don't want to get started.

With the vaccine . . . NONE of our vaccine are 100% effective for any of the diseases, but due to herd immunity many diseases have been removed from our lives. The vaccines that use mRNA are not turning us into guinea pigs . . . it is 20 year old research that has gone into their development, it is only the "warp speed" name that has scared many people. Poor, poor communication. Just as an aside my DS had pretty significant reactions to "normal vaccines", even Singrix (he had shingles at 13, chicken pox or varicella as a toddler in Russia). Swollen leg for his 5 year old vaccines, huge reaction, to everything since with very swollen arm, warm to touch, sore. But with his Pfizer, nothing! OK, explain that!

My kids are all out of school so I don't get any direct updates, just what I see in the news. There's coverage of at least 5 or 6 different districts on my local news. Of those, only one is a definite "masks are required for everyone." The others have adopted "it's not mandatory, but strongly encouraged." There's talk among parents in our district pushing for mandatory masks. In a different group, there's two people on opposite sides spouting off their arguments for and against masks. One is using the usual insults from the right-wing. The other has resorted to shaming and guilt tripping the parents who won't put a mask on their kid because they won't listen to science. All of them are saying masks are required on their buses. I think that's coming from the state though. 

Several teachers I know are gathering masks for themselves and for students who want them. I've given them a bunch that I had made because I had the material. 

This whole thing is nuts. 

I chose other because we’re in Catholic school in Southern California. Our school was able to operate in-person, full-time last year with a waiver. The Diocese mandated stricter rules than what was required to receive the waiver, which included masks at all times even outside except when eating. This school year they don’t have to operate under such strict conditions because they aren’t open under the waiver. Last year our school (pre-k through 8th) only had 11 reported cases and none traced back to the school. So our school is following the same strict measures through the 1st of the year and then they will reevaluate. Their reasons to stick to mandatory masks? THEY WORKED!!