JACKSONVILLE, Fla — Parents, doctors and advocates in Duval County are calling for a mask mandate in Duval schools. Currently, kids can opt-out of wearing a mask, but there are already 221 employees and students with COVID-19 since the start of school one week ago.
Once you go inside the Duval County school district building, you’ll be asked to put a mask on. Everyone in the workshop was wearing a mask. That’s what parents and advocates are asking for at their kids' schools.
A dad who says he’s a data analyst, a mom sighing with fear and doctors stood in front of the board Tuesday morning pleading for them to act now and enact a mask mandate.
“To protect everyone and make it easier on the teachers and on the kids, we just need a mask mandate," Agata Gardner, a parent, said. "That’s just very simple. Everyone needs a mask."
This is not Agata Gardner’s first board meeting. She says she came two weeks ago, vaccinated and wearing a mask, but surrounded by people who weren’t.
Gardner said she got COVID, but fortunately didn’t spread it to her family. Gardner says masks only work if everyone wears one.
"We’re in the throws of a pandemic and people are dying. This is not a joke," Gardner said. "This is not something to be taken lightly. This is such a simple precautionary measure that we know works.”
Parent Megan Schutte waited more than an hour to tell the board why she wants a mask mandate.
“You still want them to be children. You want them to play with their friends. You want them to be able to go to school and to be able to socialize," Schutte said. "I saw the impacts on our two kids when they were doing Duval Homeroom because we felt that was the safest option for our children at that time. So I want him to be able to do those things, but I need him to be able to do those things safely.”
As for a digital option, Superintendent Dr. Diana Green says there would need to be an executive order to bring back Duval Homeroom, however the district has sign-ups opening for their virtual school.
