ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. – Orange County Public Schools is facing a deadline to comply with the state’s COVID-19 mask mandate.
At a Thursday meeting, the State Board of Education found them not in compliance.
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Orange County Public Schools said their 48 hours to comply starts when they receive a letter from the Florida Department of Education, and the district said they’ve not received any correspondence yet.
Today, the president of Orange County teachers union, Wendy Doromal, said she’s hoping the district will hold their ground.
“I’d like to see them stick to their guns, to say that the health and the safety of our students, and our employees, is paramount,” Doromal said.
News 6 asked OCPS if the district plans to comply.
“At this time, nothing has changed in the school district regarding face masks,” said Michael Ollendorff, their media relations manager, in an e-mail.
Doromal said the majority of teachers are a proponent of masks. She also added that she’d like to see the mandate stay, since not all children are eligible to be vaccinated.
“If you have a rogue government that has a political agenda, it’s your responsibility, primarily, to protect each student and each employee, so I would hope that that’s what they would do,” Doromal said.
We also asked OCPS if they have scheduled any meetings to discuss their plan of action, and the district said they had no meetings Friday, and none scheduled for the weekend.