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MIAMI, Florida – Claiming discrimination against students with disabilities, parents and students from four counties in Tampa Bay and central Florida have joined a lawsuit challenging Gov. Ron DeSantis’ executive order banning Florida school districts from ” require students to wear masks.
What would you like to know
- 27 plaintiffs listed in lawsuit challenging DeSantis order banning school mask requirements
- Lawsuit claims discrimination and ‘illegal barrier’ for students with disabilities
- Suit suggests that the governor’s order prevents them from returning to school safely, including
The lawsuit says children with disabilities remain at high risk for COVID-19 and suggests that DeSantis’ order prevents them from safely returning to school and integrating with other students.
The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida on Friday, lists 27 plaintiffs, including five in Hillsborough County, four in Pasco County, two in Orange County and two in Orange County. Volusia. The lawsuit identifies many plaintiffs as parents of children with disabilities and others as students with disabilities.
He also appoints plaintiffs in Broward, Palm Beach, Miami-Dade and Alachua counties.
The lawsuit alleges that, by its executive order, DeSantis “placed an illegal barrier for students with disabilities that prevents our state’s most vulnerable students from returning to public schools.”
“Students with disabilities who cannot return safely to brick-and-mortar schools due to persistent health issues are excluded from the public school system in violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, ”the lawsuit alleges.
Among 12 defendants, the lawsuit names DeSantis, the Florida Department of Education, the Orange County School Board, the Hillsborough County School Board, the Pasco County School Board and the Volusia County School Board.
Like all but a few in Florida, these school boards have declared masks optional for students this coming school year, per the DeSantis ordinance. But on Friday, Orange County public schools said they would require masks but allow parents to opt out of the requirement, according to a new decision from the Florida Department of Health.
The lawsuit comes as schools in Florida prepare to open next week and COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations continue to rise statewide.
The lawsuit cites the governor’s threat to suspend state funding to non-compliant school boards. He indicates that DeSantis does not have the authority to make such threats to districts that protect “the health and rights of students with disabilities to be in an integrated learning environment.”
Children with disabilities “have the right to learn and interact with all other children, to receive the same education as all other children, and to do so while being safe and coming home as safe and sound as possible. “, says the trial.
It also states that the children of the plaintiffs “are at a higher risk of serious illness or death from COVID-19 and will not attend public school due to the higher risk of serious illness or death.”
“By refusing to allow school districts to implement mask warrants, Governor DeSantis has placed an illegal barrier for students with disabilities that prevents our state’s most vulnerable students from returning to public schools,” the government said. trial.
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