TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WTXL) — Over two dozen people protested in front of Florida's Historic Capitol, many holding signs that support Governor Ron DeSantis and his ban on mask mandates in schools and want the school district to leave mask decisions up to parents.
Leon County Schools say the mask requirements are only temporary and are still looking at Labor Day to re-evaluate the current situation.
However, the protesting parents still believe that their rights are being infringed on and want the school district to immediately drop the requirements.
"Parents have the right to choose medical freedom for their children," said Alesha Waller who protested at the Capitol. "It's not anyone else's decision and it is within our constitutional rights to do that."
At LCS there are currently 440 cases of COVID-19 and over 1,200 students are quarantined. In order to keep their students safe, LCS will stay the course with their current plan: medical opt outs only for student's pre-k through 8th grade and parental opt outs for high school kids.
Dr. Cox says they'll continue to protect their most vulnerable students who can't yet get the vaccine with the current mask protocols.
"It has not been good to be out of school," said Dr. Cox. "Even though we're not going to allow the students who have not met our criteria to sit in a class without a mask, we're still going to provide to them the best we can with curriculum and instruction."
Governor DeSantis' office says they will be appealing the ruling from the Leon County judge.
