Orange County School Board to hold vote on if masks should be optional

ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. - The Orange County School Board announced on Thursday that they will hold a vote on making masks optional for the upcoming school year.

They said that the vote will be held on July 13, 2021. The public will be allowed to make comments. If a ‘yes’ vote goes through, the new policy will take effect on August 2, 2021.

FOX 35 reporter Dave Puglisi was at the Orange County School Board meeting Thursday as they considered the policy that would make masks optional for the 2021- 2022 school year. He said that things got heated. In fact, they had to take recess twice just to settle down the crowd. One of those times because many were not wearing a mask, which went against the meeting rules.

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Once the room was settled, people began filling down to the mic to give their opinion on the proposal. Some of those opposed to the policy told FOX 35 that their issue is that the board has the ability to re-implement masking if the CDC or other government entities advise so.

"Parents should be the one to decide whether or not their child wears a mask or not," said Willie Montague. "Not a school board."

Other parents like Judi Hayes believe children under the age of 12 should still have to wear masks until vaccinations are available for them. Her youngest son has Down Syndrome, making him highly susceptible to the virus. She had to quit her job to home school him.

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"Without that accommodation, we just won’t have kids with disabilities in school and that’s not acceptable," said Hayes. 

The school board will take what they have heard and decide whether or not to make any changes to their current policy.

Watch FOX 35 Orlando for the latest Central Florida news.