Broward Schools continue on with mask mandate even as school board salaries will be withheld

Coral Springs, Florida – Interim Broward Schools Superintendent Vickie Cartwright fired back Tuesday that the district will continue on with the mandate, a day after Florida education commissioner Richard Corcoran announced salaries of Broward County school board members will be withheld for mandating masks in schools.

“We will continue mandating the masks knowing that our quarantining data is demonstrating that the use of the masks is minimizing the spread of Covid-19,” she said during a special board meeting.

This comes after Leon County Circuit Judge John C. Cooper’s decision against Gov. Ron DeSantis’s executive order saying that mask mandates are unconstitutional.

Corcoran’s order impacts board members in Broward County, as well as those in Alachua County, which were the first to impose strict mask mandates against DeSantis’ order.

“We’re going to fight to protect parent’s rights to make health care decisions for their children, Corcoran said in a statement. “They know what is best for their children. What’s unacceptable is the politicians who have raised their right hands and pledged, under oath, to uphold the Constitution but are not doing so. Simply said, elected officials cannot pick and choose what laws they want to follow.”

According to Judge Cooper, with parents of students in school districts who had contended the state’s Constitution requires keeping children safe and secure, and masks are helping to do that during the pandemic. The Florida Department of Education said it would appeal.