Network Schools – Wayne Gerseny to https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2022/04/03/magazine/thomas-piketty-interview u w B l.html?h I’ll smid=url-share the Is for

FL Governor Ron DeSantis, a 2024 Presidential hopeful, is defiantly supporting, promoting, and enforcing anti-masking legislation in the face of the highest incidence of Covid cases in the country. As a result of his insistence that schools NOT mandate masks, four county districts in the State are defiantly pushing back. The result of the pushback is a win-win for the Governor: his “tough stance” makes him a hero to the pro-Trump libertarians and the continuing conflict between him and the “education establishment” guarantees lots of national coverage which will only increase his name recognition on the national stage. It also has another happy by-product for him and those in the GOP who want nothing more than the demise of “government schools”: 

Amid the news that school districts are flouting DeSantis’s order, state education officials are planning to meet on Friday to discuss a proposal that would allow families to use private school vouchers to transfer their children out of schools that mandate mask-wearing. 

 

The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) accused the governor of using the pandemic to further his “relentless efforts to privatize education and destroy public schools,” while endangering the lives of children and teachers.

 

“Now that students are required to return to school in person, prohibiting mask mandates is an action of the state that affirmatively puts them in danger and shows deliberate indifference to the excessive risks to their health and safety,” said Bacardi Jackson, managing attorney of the SPLC’s children’s rights practice.

 

“It is another example of DeSantis’ dictatorial propensities that ignore the requirements of the Constitution and usurp the authority of local elected officials and policymakers to do what is in the best interests of their constituents,” Jackson added.