HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY, Fla. – Hillsborough County is home to one of a growing number of Florida school districts imposing a mask mandate in its classrooms because of skyrocketing COVID-19 cases in its schools.
The school district did so in defiance of Gov. Ron DeSantis’ order banning mask mandates that don’t give parents the option to opt-out or require doctor’s note to do so.
Though many Florida schools have been in session for barely two weeks, COVID-19 cases are spiraling out of control. In the Tampa area, an overwhelming number of students and staff are under coronavirus quarantine or isolation, over 10,000 the first week. After a highly charged debate, the Hillsborough County School Board decided it had no choice but to impose a mask mandate for a month.
“We just got to continue to focus on the success our children and create the safest environment every single day so that we can really navigate through COVID-19,” Hillsborough County Schools Superintendent Addison Davis said Monday on “The Morning Show.”
Davis used to be the head of Clay County schools before he left for Hillsborough last year. He told News4Jax he didn’t want to get into a political fight with Tallahassee but said the safety of the children in the area’s public schools is the priority.
“We’ve got to move the conversation outside of adults and really focus on children,” said Davis. “You know for me it’s about working collectively with Tallahassee, working collectively with our board in order to make informed decisions. But unfortunately, this is the world in which we live.”
“We’ve got to navigate through it so we can find a solid position that really educates Tallahassee, educates our community and they feel peace (with the) decision which we’ve made.”
A hearing is underway in Leon County Circuit Court to decide whether to block enforcement of the governor’s order banning schools from imposing masks unless parents can opt out of those requirements.
Meantime the state has officially threatened to withhold school funding from Alachua and Broward counties unless their respective school boards overturned their school mask mandates.
So far, Davis says Hillsborough has not received word from Tallahassee that the state will withhold funding from its schools.
“You know, hopefully, we can work and protect our organization financially so we’ve just focused on children,” Davis said.
Davis acknowledged the financial challenges the district faces and says knowing the Biden Administration promises the Board of Education on the federal level will move to offset any cuts helps ease the area’s worries a bit.
“You know, yes, our district is, facing some real financial challenges,” Davis said. “And last year with the pandemic it really exacerbated things. So we must work really diligently to swing past a $100 million deficit,” he added.
“The federal government coming in to be able to help us financially (would help.) We hope not to get to that. We hope we can just continue to work in the best interest of children and work collectively with Tallahassee to ensure that no penalties will be sanctioned, especially during this 30 day period related to make masks mandatory within our school district,” Davis said.
The mask mandate is in effect in Hillsborough County schools for 30 days, after which the board will reevaluate the situation.