Plano ISD approves temporary mask mandate, with exceptions, at emergency meeting

Tensions were high as parents and community members pushed for and against face coverings.

Masks will be temporarily required inside Plano schools, trustees voted Monday after a tense emergency board meeting.

Plano ISD’s mask mandate will begin Thursday and last until Sept. 24 -- or until there’s movement in the ongoing legal battles between local governments and Gov. Greg Abbott, who issued an executive order banning mask mandates.

The trustees’ decision allows for exceptions to the mask mandate, including for medical or philosophical reasons. The 6-1 vote came after several hours of discussions with legal counsel in closed session and passionate pleas from parents during public comment.

“We are in a surge situation that we can not ignore,” board president David Stolle said before the vote.

School districts across the state held meetings Monday where families came to speak out on mask mandates, both imploring officials to reinstate them and begging leaders to keep them optional.

Several districts -- including Dallas and Richardson -- are defying Abbott by requiring masks in school, as a spike of COVID-19 cases driven by the highly contagious delta variant coincides with the start of the new school year.

Roughly 90 parents and community members testified during Plano’s emergency meeting before trustees went into closed session.

Even before the Plano meeting began, tensions were high. People in support of a mask mandate stood on one side of the building, imploring families to follow Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidance that recommends universal masking in schools. They said it was necessary to keep all children safe, especially those too young to receive the vaccine. More than half of public school students are under 12 years old.

“Protect our kids until they can be vaccinated,” said Julie Jennings, the mother of an immunocompromised 5-year-old and a 9-year-old.

On the other side, parents chanted, “What do we want? Choice,” and shouted that families should be able to make their own decisions about whether children wear masks to school.

Meghan Vecchio said her sons were miserable last year when they had to wear masks each day. One of her children “cried every Sunday night before returning to school,” she said, urging the board to follow Abbott’s order and leave the choice up to parents.

One man mocked those who were pro-mask, jeering at them for not standing six-feet apart while outdoors. Others said they couldn’t hear their points from under a mask, while another jokingly suggested a woman wear three masks. Those who wanted a mask mandate were called “sheep.”

Plano parents will have to fill out an online form explaining why they want a mask exception for either medical, religious or philosophical reasons.

As the Rev. Kayla Coffee-Prose watched the meeting unfold, it amazed her “the different worlds we occupy.” Speakers on both sides of the issue held up data they argued would back up their argument.

“We’re split,” Coffee-Prose said, “we’re just so split.”

She said her congregation also struggled with what to do about mask mandates. She knows not everyone is in agreement that they should be required. But her 10-year-old daughter can’t get vaccinated yet and she needs to be in school.

“Public health measures require us all to work together. This is more than personal responsibility or individual choice,” Coffee-Prose said. “We are all part of the same community. We are responsible to one another. We have to put the well-being of the community first, and in this case, that means requiring masks.”

Still, Dawn Smith, the mother of a Plano high schooler, said it’s important to respect families’ sense of choice.

“It goes beyond a mask mandate,” she said. “It goes to: It’s our kids, and we have to decide what’s best for them.

School boards across Texas are at the center of a bitter and highly politicized fight over mask mandates. Attorney General Ken Paxton has pledged to sue the school districts who move ahead with requiring masks.

In Southlake, parents crowded the Carroll ISD meeting Monday night. During the public comment portion of their meeting, some speakers said it sent the wrong message to students for the district to flout the governor’s orders and that masks hurt their children’s educational experience.

But healthcare workers also stood up to tell stories of crowded hospitals and rising case counts, encouraging the trustees to bring back masks in line with public health guidance.

Coppell ISD trustees discussed the governor’s order in closed session for less than an hour before preparing to listen to dozens of speakers who signed up to discuss the issue. But the board had no plans to address the district’s stance on mask policies at Monday’s meeting, board president Nichole Bentley clarified.

Coppell does not currently require masks. In a recent email to parents, Superintendent Brad Hunt said he believes in the freedom to choose about masks.

In Plano, the new mandate is contingent on further guidance “as a result of ongoing state and federal litigation or legislative action.” It’s also possible the Legislature takes up the issue during its special session.

Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins is locked in a legal fight with the state over his decision to impose a local mask mandate for businesses and schools. Though the Texas Supreme Court temporarily restricted his order, Jenkins amended it to remove penalties for businesses.

Collin County Judge Chris Hill said he has no plans to issue an order requiring masks.

A Travis County judge issued a separate order that temporarily blocks Abbott from prohibiting mask mandates in public schools, which some districts are using as the legal basis for continuing to enforce their own mask mandate. The Texas Supreme Court has kept it in place for now.

Meanwhile, Disability Rights Texas recently escalated the legal battle, filing a federal lawsuit against Abbott, alleging his order unfairly harms children with disabilities.

The Texas Education Agency’s most recent health guidance for schools notes that the ban on mask mandates is not being enforced because of an ongoing legal battle.

Jenna Royal, a lawyer representing families suing over the governor’s mandate, said because of recent court action, Plano trustees’ hands are “no longer tied” by Abbott.

The Plano school district has recorded more than 200 COVID-19 cases among students and staff as of Friday, with dozens more over the weekend. The first day of school was Aug. 11. More students have tested positive so far this year than during the district’s previous peak.

More than 50,000 students enrolled in Plano schools last year.

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