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One Texas school district is using a change in its dress code to attempt to sidestep Gov. Greg Abbott’s executive order banning mask mandates in public schools.
During an emergency board meeting Tuesday evening, Paris ISD — a 3,800-student district located 100 miles northeast of Dallas — amended its employee and student handbooks, adding masks as part of the school’s dress code “to address health issues in light of [the] pandemic.”
“The board believes the dress code can be used to mitigate communicable health issues, and therefore has amended the PISD dress code to protect our students and employees,” the district said in a press release. “The Texas governor does not have the authority to usurp the board of trustees’ exclusive power and duty to govern and oversee the management of the public schools of the district.”
Gov. Greg Abbott issued an executive order that prohibits public entities — including school districts — from mandating the use of masks. But as COVID-19 cases surge amid the more contagious delta variant, school leaders are challenging the order.
Texas health officials reported over 24,000 new cases on Tuesday, with over 12,000 current hospitalizations related to the virus.
Disability Rights Texas filed the first federal lawsuit over the order on Tuesday, alleging that it order puts students with disabilities at risk.
Meanwhile, the order is facing challenges in Texas courts.
Tuesday night, Fort Worth ISD voted to join a lawsuit with other school districts aimed at allowing them to have control over implementing a mask mandate.
Officials in Dallas and Bexar counties tried to implement a mask mandate but that was halted by a temporary restraining order issued by the Texas Supreme Court. However, another temporary restraining order issued Sunday by a Travis County judge appears to give districts more leeway in making their own decision regarding a mask mandate.
Paris ISD officials contend that nothing in Abbott’s order addresses the wide latitude trustees are granted in the Texas Education Code, specifically Chapter 11, which sets out rules for local governance of school districts.
“Nothing in the Governor’s Executive Order 38 states he has suspended Chapter 11 of the Texas Education Code, and therefore the board has elected to amend its dress code consistent with its statutory authority,” the district’s statement read.
Paris joins a handful of districts throughout Texas who are moving forward with mask mandates, despite objections and legal action by the state’s attorney general, Ken Paxton. In Dallas County, both Dallas and Richardson ISDs have kept mask requirements in place.
According to The Paris News’ Klark Byrd, after an hour-plus-long meeting, trustees approved the move on a 5-1 vote. The move would be temporary, with the board revisiting the dress code changes each month.