In an announcement on its website, the Education Department said policies that ban mask mandates could amount to discrimination if they lead to unsafe conditions that prevent students from attending school. He added that states banning mask mandates are “needlessly placing students, families and educators at risk.”The agency’s Office for Civil Rights can issue a range of sanctions up to a total loss of federal education funding in cases of civil rights violations. Ron DeSantis has pressed ahead with a ban on school mask requirements, and the state’s education officials are now weighing whether to withhold salaries of some superintendents that have defied the order. In other states that have barred mandates, leaders say it should be up to families to decide. Protesters who oppose mask mandates have taken to state and local school board meetings in recent weeks, in some cases derailing the meetings.

Source: thestar August 18, 2021 23:48 UTC