A petition drive is underway in an attempt to get the St. Johns County school board to require everyone to wear face masks in school buildings for the fall semester.
The change.org petition cites spikes in cases and hospitalizations, as well as recommendations by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the American Academy of Pediatrics that all students should wear masks — especially because vaccinations are not yet approved for children under 12.
It asks board members whether they’d risk their lives by spending eight hours a day in schools if they were neither masked nor vaccinated.
Meanwhile, an executive order by Governor Ron DeSantis is aimed at preventing local school districts from enacting mask mandates for kids. Noncompliance with the order could mean a loss of state funding.
Still, the petition has gathered nearly 500 signatures in 3 days.
St. Johns County students head back to class Monday, August 16th.
Contact reporter Cyd Hoskinson at choskinson@wjct.org, 904-358-6351 and on Twitter at @cydwjctnews.
