Dr.
Diana Greene
Superintendent
1701 Prudential Drive | Jacksonville, FL 32207
904.390.2115 | Fax 904.390.2586
GreeneD@duvalschools.org | www.duvalschools.org
September 1, 2021
Commissioner Richard Corcoran
Florida Department of Education
325 W. Gaines St.
Tallahassee, FL 32399-0400
Dear Commissioner Corcoran,
This letter is in response to your August 27, 2021 demand for a written response
documenting how the Duval County School Board (DCSB) is complying with Florida
Department of Health Emergency Rule 64DER21-12. As an initial matter, the DCSB is
in compliance with the Rule.
The DCSB passed its own Emergency Rule regarding face coverings (the “Mask
Policy”) in light of dangerous and startling health conditions in its school district and the
local community. The DCSB first considered a mask policy at its August 3, 2021,
meeting. Since school had not yet started, the DCSB implemented a mask policy that it
felt would sufficiently balance the safety of students with parents’ ability to opt students
out of wearing masks. The policy strongly encouraged students to wear masks but
allowed parent and guardians to opt students out of wearing a mask for any reason.
However, once school started on August 10, 2021, additional facts and evidence came to
light such that it became clear that allowing unconstrained opt-outs presented a clear and
present danger to staff and students. It was then decided to revisit the mask issue at the
Board’s August 23, 2021, meeting.
At the August 23, 2021, meeting, the DCSB enacted its current Mask Policy
requiring all students to wear masks (with an opt-out described more fully below)
because there were over 800 COVID-19 cases within the District after the first ten days
of school. This number represented over 30% of total cases from the entire 2020-2021
school year. After three weeks of school, there are over 1600 COVID-19 cases in the
District which represents 65% of the total cases from last year. Moreover, eleven
District employees have died of COVID-19 related complications since the beginning of
the 2020-2021 school year.
In addition, the Duval County Health Department (DCHD) is unable to complete
contact tracing on all of the positive cases arising in the District. As of August 23, 2021,
the DCHD had only been able to close out 106 of the 895 cases. Cases which have been
closed out are those where the DCHD has been able to complete contract tracing to
ensure students and staff who have been exposed to COVID-19 are properly notified of
their exposure. Therefore, a significant number of students and staff who were and are
being exposed to COVID-19 are not being quarantined, which further contributes to the
rampant spread of COVID-19.
There was abundant testimony at prior meetings and workshops of the DCSB as
well as at the DCSB’s August 23, 2021, meeting 1 about the critical and compelling need
for students and staff to wear masks in an effort to reduce the spread of COVID-19.
Representatives from the Duval County Health Department, physicians from the local
pediatric hospital, and many other licensed health care workers were adamant about the
need for everyone to wear face coverings while inside a school or administrative
building. In the face of such testimony and the rapid and widespread increase in
infections, the DCSB was compelled to take action to protect the health of students and
staff and create the best opportunity for our children to continue in-person education this
1
The following physicians testified and answered questions from the Board at the
August 23, 2021 meeting:
Dr. Mobeen Rathore
o Chair, Infection Prevention and Control Committee, Baptist Health System
o Hospital Epidemiologist and Chief, Pediatric Infectious Diseases and
Immunology, Wolfson Children’s Hospital
Dr. Sunil Joshi
o President, Duval County Medical Society Foundation
Ernesto “Tito” Rubio, MPH
o Interim Administrator/Health Officer Duval County
Dr. Jeffery Goldhagen
o Prof. Community Hospice of Northeast FL/Neviaser Family Professor in Pediatric
Palliative Care Dept. of Pediatrics
o Chief Div. of Community and Societal Pediatrics
o Program Director, Community and Societal Pediatrics Fellowship – UF Health
Jacksonville
EVERY SCHOOL. EVERY CLASSROOM. EVERY STUDENT. EVERY DAY.
school year. The DCSB is not relying solely on masks to help prevent the spread of
COVID-19; it is implementing a multi-layered approach to providing all feasible
COVID-19 mitigation measures.
It was not and is not the intent of the DCSB to violate any lawful rule of the
Board of Education or the Department of Health. Indeed, the DCSB’s Mask Policy
complies with the Department of Health’s Emergency Rule. As your letter
appropriately states, that rule requires an option for “a parent or legal guardian of the
student to opt-out the student from wearing a face covering or mask,” and the DSCP
Mask Policy does exactly this. Paragraph 2 of the Mask Policy provides for “Opt-
out/Exemptions.” As the Emergency Rule requires, this paragraph provides a method
for parents to opt students out of wearing a mask with a medical certification from a
licensed health care provider that the student has a medical, physical, or psychological
condition that prevents the student from being able to safely wear a face covering. The
opt-out form is one page and requires only two signatures; it is not onerous. The DOH
rule does not state the opt-out must be unlimited, or otherwise prevent schools from
establishing parameters for the opt-out.
In a further effort to use reasonable and necessary actions that are narrowly
tailored to further its compelling state interest, the DCSB also provided a generous lead
time for parents and guardians to opt-out before the Mask Policy goes into effect. The
Mask Policy was approved by the DCSB on August 23, 2021, but it does not go into
effect until September 7, 2021. This provided parents and guardians two weeks to
obtain the necessary signatures to opt out if appropriate.
In addition, the Mask Policy is temporary in nature. It is only in effect for ninety
days and can be automatically suspended by the Superintendent without Board approval
should certain health data points be met. The data points will be determined in
consultation with the Florida Department of Health and local physicians based on
transmission rate in the community. These measures and the ones cited above comply
with both the Emergency Rule and the Parents’ Bill of Rights. DCSB is committed to
providing safe and in-person education this school year.
Sincerely,
Dr. Diana L. Greene Board Chair Elizabeth Andersen
EVERY SCHOOL. EVERY CLASSROOM. EVERY STUDENT. EVERY DAY.
