佛罗里达州阿拉卡华县学校董事会主席莱埃塔·麦克尼利已经看到新冠肺炎(新型冠状病毒肺炎)摇滚她的地区。根据该地区周三发布的一份声明，在几天内，两名员工死于该病毒，十多名员工检测呈阳性，另有80多名员工被要求隔离。
“这种激增无疑造成了一个问题，”麦克尼利周四告诉美国广播公司新闻。“我们非常依赖员工来帮助我们的系统平稳运行。”
该病毒已经严重破坏了该地区，以至于学校董事会周二一致投票，要求学生在8月10日开始的学年的前两周戴口罩。
这样的投票通常不会引起注意——因为根据疾病控制和预防中心的指导，全国各地区都要求学生遮住脸——但就在几天前，长期反对严格冠状病毒措施的罗恩·德桑蒂斯州长发布了一项行政命令，旨在将口罩决定权留给家长，给各地区戴上手铐。
该命令指示国家卫生和教育部门通过保护“父母权利”的规则...为他们未成年的孩子做出医疗保健决定”，并给教育专员开绿灯，拒绝向不遵守规定的地区拨款。
麦克尼利看到订单后怒不可遏。“我认为这是令人震惊和荒谬的，他甚至会在这一点上暗示他不想让学生戴面具，”她说。
围绕口罩要求的辩论正值冠状病毒的三角洲变种在佛罗里达州肆虐。
周四，佛罗里达州医院协会报告称，有12，500名患者因新冠肺炎病住院，这标志着大流行的新高。根据疾控中心的说法，该州现在每天报告17，000例新病例。
德桑蒂斯的行政命令似乎吓坏了一些地区，至少暂时如此。
周一，此前投票要求学生戴口罩的布劳沃德县学区改变了立场，在一份声明中表示，“打算遵守州长最新的行政命令。”
但周三，该县再次转向，表示将等待“进一步指导”，然后再就口罩做出最终决定。与此同时，它说，这将要求学生戴口罩。
在杰克逊维尔的家乡杜瓦尔县，学校董事会没有强制要求戴口罩，而是在周二投票，如果父母不想让他们的孩子戴口罩，他们可以选择不戴。
然而，学区不会要求家长提供选择退出的理由。
杜瓦尔县学校董事会女主席伊丽莎白·安德森(Elizabeth Anderson)在提供给美国广播公司新闻(ABC News)的一份声明中表示:“董事会周二晚上的紧急政策决定，在我们对学生和教职员工的安全和福利的根深蒂固的责任与充分尊重州长命令下家长的选择之间，创造了最佳平衡。
与此同时，麦克尼利对削减要求学生戴口罩的地区的资金的威胁感到担忧。
“这是一个巨大的问题，”她说。“扣留资金会非常非常有影响。”
然而，法律专家表示，实施口罩强制令的地区没有亏损的危险，至少目前没有。
“行政命令本身实际上对学区没有任何影响。它指导卫生部和教育部制定规则，”在哥伦比亚大学工作的州和地方政府专家理查德·布里夫特告诉美国广播公司新闻。
“当这些规则产生时，它们大概会对当地学区要求掩蔽的能力施加一些限制——这似乎肯定是一个想法，”布里夫特继续说道。“但行政命令本身只是说，‘你们应该去写规则。这些规则应该考虑到佛罗里达州父母的权利它甚至没有字面上说他们必须禁止口罩。"
德桑蒂斯的新闻秘书克里斯蒂娜·普肖(Christina Pushaw)承认，该命令本身缺乏阻止地方口罩授权的权力，但她告诉美国广播公司新闻，该州正在敲定规则，以满足该命令的建议。
“我们预计规则将于本周最终确定，”普肖说。
“我们希望该州的每一位家长都能选择”他们的孩子在学校是否戴口罩，她补充道。
周四，佛罗里达州教育部宣布，将于周五召开紧急会议，讨论一项措施，即如果父母所在的学区实施口罩强制令，他们可以将孩子转到另一个学区。
佛罗里达州国务院网站上对这次会议的描述暗示，这种转移将在希望奖学金下被允许，佛罗里达州教育部网站称，该计划允许“受到欺负、骚扰、攻击[和/或]威胁的学生”...转到另一所公立学校或注册一所经批准的私立学校。”
周四晚上，当美国广播公司新闻部通过电子邮件询问该部门的一名代表是否认为戴口罩是一种欺凌或攻击时，该部门没有回应。
DeSantis and school districts clash over masks as COVID-19 cases skyrocket in Florida
Leanetta McNealy, who chairs the school board in Alachua County, Florida, has seenCOVID-19rock her district. In the span of several days, two employees died from the virus, over a dozen tested positive for it and more than 80 others were asked to quarantine, according to a statement from the district released Wednesday.
"This surge has certainly created a problem," McNealy told ABC News on Thursday. "We depend on our employees so much to help our system run smoothly."
The virus has so crippled the district that the school board voted unanimously Tuesday to require masks for students for the first two weeks of the school year, which begins Aug. 10.
Such a vote wouldn't normally draw attention -- since districts nationwide are requiring students to cover their faces, based on guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention -- but it came just days after Gov. Ron DeSantis, long an opponent of stringent coronavirus measures, issued an executive order aimed at leaving mask decisions up to parents, handcuffing districts.
The order directs the state health and education departments to adopt rules protecting "parents' rights ... to make health care decisions for their minor children," and gives the education commissioner the green light to deny money to districts that don't comply.
McNealy fumed when she read the order. "I thought it was appalling and absurd that he would even suggest at this point that he would not want to have students masked," she said.
The debate around mask requirements comes as the delta variant of the coronavirus wreaks havoc in Florida.
On Thursday, the Florida Hospital Association reported 12,500 patients were hospitalized with COVID-19, marking a new pandemic high.According to the CDC, the state is now reporting 17,000 new cases per day.
DeSantis' executive order appeared to spook some districts, at least temporarily.
On Monday, the Broward County school district, which had previously voted to require masks for students, backtracked, saying in a statement that it "intends to comply with the Governor's latest Executive Order."
But on Wednesday, the county pivoted again, saying it would wait for "further guidance" before making a final decision on masks. In the meantime, it said, it would require students to wear face coverings.
In Duval County, home to Jacksonville, the school board stopped short of mandating masks, voting instead on Tuesday to have parents opt out their child if they do not want them wearing one.
The district, however, will not require parents to provide a reason for opting out.
"The Board's emergency policy decision Tuesday night creates the best balance between our deeply held responsibility for the safety and welfare of students and staff while fully respecting parental choice under the Governor's order," Duval County School Board Chairwoman Elizabeth Anderson said in a statement provided to ABC News.
McNealy, meanwhile, is concerned about the threat to cut money from districts that require masks for students.
"That is a huge problem," she said. "To withhold funds would be very, very impactful."
Legal experts, however, say districts that impose mask mandates are not in jeopardy of losing money, at least not yet.
"The executive order on its own doesn't actually do anything to school districts. It directs the Department of Health and Department of Education to write rules," Richard Briffault, an expert on state and local government who works at Columbia University, told ABC News.
"When those rules get produced, they will presumably put some limits on the ability of local school districts to require masking -- that certainly seems to be the idea," Briffault continued. "But the executive order itself just says, 'You guys should go off and write rules. And these rules should take into account the rights of Florida parents.' It doesn't even literally say that they have to ban masks."
Christina Pushaw, DeSantis' press secretary, acknowledged that the order lacks the power to prevent local mask mandates by itself, but she told ABC News that the state is finalizing rules to meet the recommendations of the order.
"We expect the rules to be finalized this week," Pushaw said.
"We expect every parent in the state to be able to choose" whether their child wears a mask in school, she added.
On Thursday, the Florida Department of Education announced that an emergency meeting will be held Friday to discuss a measure that would allow parents to transfer their child to another school district if their own district implements a mask mandate.
A description of the meeting on the Florida Department of State's website implied that such transfers would be permitted under the Hope Scholarship, a program that the Florida Department of Education's website says allows students "who have been bullied, harassed, assaulted, [and/or] threatened ... to transfer to another public school or enroll in an approved private school."
A representative with the department did not respond when asked by ABC News via email Thursday night whether it views a mask requirement as a form of bullying or assault.
