The U.S. Department of Education is targeting five states — including South Carolina — that are prohibiting mask mandates.
The department’s Office for Civil Rights opened an investigation to determine if prohibitions against indoor mask mandates discriminate against students with disabilities because of a heightened risk of severe illness because banning masks prevents them from safely accessing face-to-face education.
The other states involved are Iowa, Oklahoma, Tennessee and Utah.
U.S. Education Secretary Miguel Cardona said he is hearing from parents across the country.
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“It’s simply unacceptable that state leaders are putting politics over the health and education of the students they took an oath to serve,” said Cardona. “The Department will fight to protect every student’s right to access in-person learning safely and the rights of local educators to put in place policies that allow all students to return to the classroom full-time in-person safely this fall.”
OCR is concerned mask restrictions “may be preventing schools… from meeting their legal obligations not to discriminate based on disability and from providing an equal educational opportunity to students with disabilities who are at heightened risk of severe illness from COVID-19,” the letter states.
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Superintendent Molly Spearman acknowledged she has received the letter from the federal education department, noting the prohibition was not enacted by her department. It is a proviso the state legislature included in the 2021-2022 appropriations bill.
The written response from Spearman said she “has repeatedly implored the legislature to reconsider Proviso 1.108 and allow local school boards to make decisions affecting the health and well-being of the students they serve. The SCDE is particularly sensitive to the law’s effect on South Carolina’s most vulnerable students and are acutely aware of the difficult decisions many families are facing concerning a return to in-person instruction.”
The statement said several legal challenges against the proviso have been filed and Spearman is waiting on resolutions of those cases.
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OCR is investigating if the states are complying with the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, Section 504 which guarantees qualified students with disabilities in elementary and secondary schools’ access to appropriate education alongside students without disabilities. The investigations will also determine if the mask mandate prohibitions violate the Americans with Disabilities Act.
The federal education department’s OCR regional offices will begin collecting data from each of the five states over the coming weeks.
The federal educations department’s full statement is available here.
Dana Lynn McIntyre is a Staff Reporter with The Augusta Press. You can reach her at dana@theaugustapress.com.
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