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Biden Directs Education Secretary to Take On GOP Governors Blocking School Mask Mandates
Biden Directs Education Secretary to Take On GOP Governors Blocking School Mask Mandates
By Lauren Camera | Aug. 18, 2021, at 5:50 p.m.
President Joe Biden said he's directing the country's top education official to use the full weight of the White House against governors who are blocking school leaders from implementing mask mandates. "I'm directing the secretary of education, an educator himself, to take additional steps to protect our children," Biden said Wednesday. "This includes using all of his oversight authorities and legal action, if appropriate, against governors who are trying to block and intimidate local school officials and educators."
The announcement comes as a handful of Republican governors are trying to block school districts from requiring students and school staff to wear masks – and a growing number of school leaders defy them. "I've said, as I said before: If you aren't going to fight COVID-19, at least get out of the way of everyone else who's trying," Biden said. "We're not going to sit by as governors try to block and intimidate educators protecting our children."
Last week, Cardona announced plans to make federal aid from the most recent coronavirus relief package available to school superintendents, educators and school board members who face financial penalties for challenging executive orders and state laws by mandating masks.
In letters sent to Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, Cardona said he was "deeply concerned" by the governors' continued efforts to bar district leaders from implementing mask mandates, including a threat from DeSantis that he planned to revoke state funding and dock the salaries of educators who defied his executive order.
Read more: https://www.usnews.com/news/national-news/articles/2021-08-18/biden-directs-education-secretary-to-take-on-gop-governors-blocking-school-mask-mandates
By Lauren Camera | Aug. 18, 2021, at 5:50 p.m.
President Joe Biden said he's directing the country's top education official to use the full weight of the White House against governors who are blocking school leaders from implementing mask mandates. "I'm directing the secretary of education, an educator himself, to take additional steps to protect our children," Biden said Wednesday. "This includes using all of his oversight authorities and legal action, if appropriate, against governors who are trying to block and intimidate local school officials and educators."
The announcement comes as a handful of Republican governors are trying to block school districts from requiring students and school staff to wear masks – and a growing number of school leaders defy them. "I've said, as I said before: If you aren't going to fight COVID-19, at least get out of the way of everyone else who's trying," Biden said. "We're not going to sit by as governors try to block and intimidate educators protecting our children."
Last week, Cardona announced plans to make federal aid from the most recent coronavirus relief package available to school superintendents, educators and school board members who face financial penalties for challenging executive orders and state laws by mandating masks.
In letters sent to Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, Cardona said he was "deeply concerned" by the governors' continued efforts to bar district leaders from implementing mask mandates, including a threat from DeSantis that he planned to revoke state funding and dock the salaries of educators who defied his executive order.
Read more: https://www.usnews.com/news/national-news/articles/2021-08-18/biden-directs-education-secretary-to-take-on-gop-governors-blocking-school-mask-mandates
According to the NYT -
White House will use a federal civil rights office to deter states from banning masks in classrooms.
By Sheryl Gay Stolberg and Erica L. Green
Aug. 18, 2021Updated 8:53 p.m. ET
President Biden stepped up his fight with Republican governors who are blocking local school districts from requiring masks, directing the Education Department on Wednesday to use its civil-rights enforcement arm to take possible legal action in those states.
Mr. Biden said he directed his education secretary, Miguel Cardona, “to take additional steps to protect our children,” including against governors who he said were “setting a dangerous tone” by issuing executive orders banning masks mandates and threatening to penalize school officials who defy them.
(snip)
Invoking the Education Department’s civil rights enforcement arm marks a turning point in the Biden administration’s effort to get as many students as possible back in classrooms this fall, and the urgency felt nationwide about blunting the impact of a pandemic has wreaked havoc on students’ educational careers since March 2020.
Under the 1964 Civil Rights Act, the department can initiate its own investigations into districts, if state policies and actions rise to potential violations of students’ civil rights. Some parents and advocates complain prohibiting masks is, in effect, a civil rights violation because it denies a student a right to an education by putting them in harm’s way in school.
(snip)
More: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/18/us/politics/biden-masks-schools-civil-rights.html
By Sheryl Gay Stolberg and Erica L. Green
Aug. 18, 2021Updated 8:53 p.m. ET
President Biden stepped up his fight with Republican governors who are blocking local school districts from requiring masks, directing the Education Department on Wednesday to use its civil-rights enforcement arm to take possible legal action in those states.
Mr. Biden said he directed his education secretary, Miguel Cardona, “to take additional steps to protect our children,” including against governors who he said were “setting a dangerous tone” by issuing executive orders banning masks mandates and threatening to penalize school officials who defy them.
(snip)
Invoking the Education Department’s civil rights enforcement arm marks a turning point in the Biden administration’s effort to get as many students as possible back in classrooms this fall, and the urgency felt nationwide about blunting the impact of a pandemic has wreaked havoc on students’ educational careers since March 2020.
Under the 1964 Civil Rights Act, the department can initiate its own investigations into districts, if state policies and actions rise to potential violations of students’ civil rights. Some parents and advocates complain prohibiting masks is, in effect, a civil rights violation because it denies a student a right to an education by putting them in harm’s way in school.
(snip)
More: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/18/us/politics/biden-masks-schools-civil-rights.html
6 replies
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And all us, really! 
