ORLANDO, Fla. — A new week, and the same old wrangling about masks in schools.
But there's yet another twist in the saga. Two of them, in fact.
What You Need To Know
- As 13 Florida school boards enforce mask mandates, two are seeing salary suspensions for board members
- Last week: Court of Appeals says Florida can enforce ban on school mask mandates
- RELATED: Orange County, OCPS to offer COVID-19 testing in all schools by December
Thirteen Florida school boards enforcing mask mandates and two of them, Alachua and Broward counties, are seeing salary suspensions for board members as a result.
And Florida Department of Education Commissioner Richard Corcoran is looking into expanding that to other districts.
The back-and-forth legal battles all stem from a lawsuit filed by parents arguing the governor doesn't have the authority to ban a mask mandate in schools.
Leon County Judge John Cooper ruled in favor of the parents late last month and put a hold on the governor's order - but on Friday - a three-judge panel of the First Circuit Court of Appeal removed the hold.
Meanwhile in Central Florida, Orange County Public Schools will need to remove its mask mandate otherwise, its' school board members can face penalties.
On top of all that, there's another legal battle as the U-S Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights says Florida could be violating federal laws in place to protect students with disabilities by banning a mask mandate.
Last week , Orange County Public Schools confirmed almost 500 new student coronavirus cases.
Today, that mask mandate remains in place, despite the latest court order.