Palm Beach County School Board sides with state’s latest quarantine policy in meeting that separated people without masks

The school system is one of many in the state that has a mask mandate, defying Gov. Ron DeSantis, who said decisions about covering the face should be left to parents.

The state announced a revised policy on Wednesday that will allow asymptomatic children exposed to Covid-19 to return to school if a parent or guardian prefers.

“Some parents may be less comfortable sending their child back to school after being exposed, and therefore the new rule allows these parents to keep their children at home for a period of time, and the new rule also allows to parents who are more comfortable letting their healthy child return to school, ”said Dr. Joe Ladapo, Florida’s new surgeon general and secretary of the Department of Health.

The board said it sided with the state’s “symptom-based approach” to quarantine.

“There is a new general surgeon and he has changed the decision tree, so now we have changed our policy to meet the decision tree of the new general surgeon,” said school board president Frank Barbieri.

Most of the meeting participants spoke out against a mask warrant.

One person arrived with his young daughter wearing a mask that said, “This is a monitoring device.

One person said he was refused entry to the meeting because of his signage. He carried a sign “finance the school board” around his neck. He said he was told that signage was not allowed inside.

The first speakers, most of whom wore masks, sharply criticized the council for the term.