Lake County schools adopt targeted face mask rules

Joe Burbank/Orlando Sentinel
A pro-mask parent of a Lake County student holds up a brochure during the school board meeting in Tavares, Thursday, September 9, 2021. Board members are debating a new policy that would mandate face masks, with a parent opt out, at all Lake public schools where 5% or more of students test positive for COVID-19. A Florida circuit judge on Wednesday ruled against Gov. Ron DeSantis's administration for a second time over the banning of school mask mandates. (Joe Burbank/Orlando Sentinel)
Joe Burbank/Orlando Sentinel
Vance Jochim, a longtime community activist in Tavares who is opposed to a mask-mandate for students, addresses the Lake County School Board during a meeting, Thursday, September 9, 2021. Board members are debating a new policy that would mandate face masks, with a parent opt out, at all Lake public schools where 5% or more of students test positive for COVID-19. A Florida circuit judge on Wednesday ruled against Gov. Ron DeSantis's administration for a second time over the banning of school mask mandates. (Joe Burbank/Orlando Sentinel)
Joe Burbank/Orlando Sentinel
Parents of Lake County students hold signs outside the Lake County School Board meeting in Tavares, Thursday, September 9, 2021. The school board is debating a new policy that mandates face masks, with a parent opt out, at schools where 5% or more of students test positive for COVID-19. A Florida circuit judge on Wednesday ruled against Gov. Ron DeSantis's administration for a second time over the banning of school mask mandates. (Joe Burbank/Orlando Sentinel)
Joe Burbank/Orlando Sentinel
A pro-mask parent of a Lake County student holds up a brochure during the school board meeting in Tavares, Thursday, September 9, 2021. Board members are debating a new policy that would mandate face masks, with a parent opt out, at all Lake public schools where 5% or more of students test positive for COVID-19. A Florida circuit judge on Wednesday ruled against Gov. Ron DeSantis's administration for a second time over the banning of school mask mandates. (Joe Burbank/Orlando Sentinel)
Joe Burbank/Orlando Sentinel
An anti-mask parent of a Lake County student holds up a sign during the school board meeting in Tavares, Thursday, September 9, 2021. Board members are debating a new policy that would mandate face masks, with a parent opt out, at all Lake public schools where 5% or more of students test positive for COVID-19. A Florida circuit judge on Wednesday ruled against Gov. Ron DeSantis's administration for a second time over the banning of school mask mandates. (Joe Burbank/Orlando Sentinel)
Joe Burbank/Orlando Sentinel
Parents of Lake County students hold signs outside the Lake County School Board meeting in Tavares, Thursday, September 9, 2021. The school board is debating a new policy that mandates face masks, with a parent opt out, at schools where 5% or more of students test positive for COVID-19. A Florida circuit judge on Wednesday ruled against Gov. Ron DeSantis's administration for a second time over the banning of school mask mandates. (Joe Burbank/Orlando Sentinel)
Joe Burbank/Orlando Sentinel
A parent of a Lake County student holds up a sign during the school board meeting in Tavares, Thursday, September 9, 2021. Board members are debating a new policy that would mandate face masks, with a parent opt out, at all Lake public schools where 5% or more of students test positive for COVID-19. A Florida circuit judge on Wednesday ruled against Gov. Ron DeSantis's administration for a second time over the banning of school mask mandates. (Joe Burbank/Orlando Sentinel)
Joe Burbank/Orlando Sentinel
Parents of Lake County students hold signs outside the Lake County School Board meeting in Tavares, Thursday, September 9, 2021. The school board is debating a new policy that mandates face masks, with a parent opt out, at schools where 5% or more of students test positive for COVID-19. A Florida circuit judge on Wednesday ruled against Gov. Ron DeSantis's administration for a second time over the banning of school mask mandates. (Joe Burbank/Orlando Sentinel)
Joe Burbank/Orlando Sentinel
A pro-mask parent of a Lake County student holds up a brochure during the school board meeting in Tavares, Thursday, September 9, 2021. Board members are debating a new policy that would mandate face masks, with a parent opt out, at all Lake public schools where 5% or more of students test positive for COVID-19. A Florida circuit judge on Wednesday ruled against Gov. Ron DeSantis's administration for a second time over the banning of school mask mandates. (Joe Burbank/Orlando Sentinel)
Joe Burbank/Orlando Sentinel
Parents of Lake County students hold signs outside the Lake County School Board meeting in Tavares, Thursday, September 9, 2021. The school board is debating a new policy that mandates face masks, with a parent opt out, at schools where 5% or more of students test positive for COVID-19. A Florida circuit judge on Wednesday ruled against Gov. Ron DeSantis's administration for a second time over the banning of school mask mandates. (Joe Burbank/Orlando Sentinel)

By Leslie Postal | lpostal@orlandosentinel.com | Orlando Sentinel

PUBLISHED: September 9, 2021 at 2:29 p.m. | UPDATED: September 9, 2021 at 8:22 p.m.

Lake County students at schools where 5% or more of the children test positive for COVID-19 will need to wear face masks unless their parents opt them out, the school board decided Thursday, after a heated meeting.

Though Lake’s new policy does not mandate masks, it still prompted the intense arguments that have marked face mask debates at school board meetings across Florida. The meeting was a continuation of an hours-long meeting on the same topic a week ago that ended without a vote.

Under the new rules, masks are required for at least 14 days at schools where 5% or more of students test positive for the virus. Parents can opt-out their children, however, with a written note or a notation made on the child’s online school account.

Eight out of 42 traditional Lake schools qualify for the new rules based on data calculated last week. Umatilla Elementary School topped the list of eight with the highest percentage of students who tested positive, nearly 8.4%.

The other schools that will require masks based on last week’s data are Eustis Middle School, Treadway Elementary, Seminole Springs Elementary School, Lake Hills School, Sorrento Elementary School, Umatilla Middle School and Tavares Elementary School.

Ahead of the board’s vote Thursday, some parents told board members any mask rules infringe on personal freedom and parents’ rights, earning cheers and applause from the mostly anti-mask crowd.

“I gave birth to my children, not the government,” said a woman wearing a purple t-shirt that read, “Parents Choice.”

“It’s my fundamental right to choose what’s best for my family,” she added. “We do not co-parent with you, the school board or the government.”

Others urged the board to take stronger action and told members refusing to impose a broader mask mandate jeopardized the health of students, staff and community members.

Lake schools started the 2021-22 school year with a mask-optional policy that remains in effect for most schools.

Districtwide, Lake schools reported 594 students who tested positive for COVID-19 last week and 3,423 who had to quarantine because they were exposed to someone who was positive.

Superintendent Diane Kornegay and her staff called the new policy “a risk-based, data-driven system that allows for a targeted rather than a sweeping approach.”

Kornegay proposed the board adopt a mandate — with a medical exemption, not a parental opt-out — for schools in the “red,” or at the 5% threshold. The board deleted that proposal, however, in part because the legal standing of school mask mandates remains uncertain in Florida as some school boards and parents battle Gov. Ron DeSantis over his ban on such mandates.

The Orange, Brevard and Volusia county school boards imposed mandates, arguing they acted legally because they had a duty to protect their students and staff as COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations surged. Those districts provide a medical exemption but otherwise mandate that all students wear masks at school.

The Seminole County school district requires masks but allows parents to opt their children out.

Lake board member Kristi Burns, who’d pushed her colleagues unsuccessfully for stricter mask rules, called the new policy a “Band-Aid” but added, “I think it’s the best thing our board will do.”

Burns said she heard from many parents and medical professionals who wanted stronger mask rules as the delta variant spread in Florida.

“Children are getting seriously ill and dying from COVID-19,” Burn said, noting both the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the American Academy of Pediatrics recommend everyone in K-12 schools wear face masks.

Those recommendations were made because the delta variant is highly contagious and because many children aren’t eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine, which is approved only for those 12 and older.

“I’m sorry I couldn’t give your children more,” she said, adding that masks were a “preventative measure” that worked best if everyone wore them.

But board Chairman Bill Mathias said the board was taking action by examining data at each school, categorizing the problem based on the percentage of students positive and then requiring masks at those above 5%.

But, he added, “We’re still going to preserve parents’ right to opt-out, what is wrong with that?”

lpostal@orlandosentinel.com