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After struggling with remote school, hybrid school, socially distanced classrooms, parent-led learning and every other educational adaptation that came to be once COVID-19 turned the world upside down in March 2020, parents were finally feeling hopeful about kids returning to school this fall.
Vaccinations were rising. Infections were dropping. The kids seemed alright. Then came Delta, tempering all back-to-school optimism. Since the new variant emerged, we’ve seen a surge in COVID cases, even among children — pediatric COVID patients are beinghospitalized at a higher ratethan ever before — as well as a deepening of political and moral divisions.
Aschool board meetingin Tennessee was interrupted when anti-mask demonstrators hurled verbal abuse at doctors and nurses speaking in support of a mask mandate, and then went on to threaten them outside the building as they tried to leave. Ameeting in Louisianawas adjourned when anti-mask protestors chanted and refused to comply with indoor masking. Governors in Texas and Florida have banned schools from imposing mask mandates, while districts in those states are finding ways around the bans or defying them outright.
Who has the final say on issues like mask mandates and vaccine requirements? How can parents know their rights when it comes to safety in schools? Experts say it depends on what’s happening in your particular state, city, county or school district.
Here, Jennifer L. Piatt, deputy director of the western region office of theNetwork for Public Health Lawand her colleague, senior consultant Leila Barraza, answer tricky legal questions facing schools and parents as kids head back to school.
Can public schools require students to be vaccinated against COVID? And now that the Pfizer vaccine has received full FDA approval, could that change a school’s ability to require the shot?
Barraza:“All 50 states require some vaccination for schools. And there are existing exemptions to those laws — the majority of states allow for religious exemptions; six do not. We have seen states, such as Arkansas, say that COVID-19 vaccination cannot be a condition for school. Arizona also had some legislation this past legislative session related to a restriction on schools requiring COVID-19 vaccination for in-person learning.”
Piatt:“But some of those state laws do specifically target the emergency use authorization status of a vaccination. So that could change things.”
Piatt:“This is the million-dollar question. Generally speaking, when you talk about the divide of governance, the federal government and the state governments have their spheres, but the state government and local governments don’t necessarily have those sort of spheres. In some states, the state can set the bar and localities have to go with that. But these laws are challengeable. In Arkansas a district court struck down a mask mandate on equal protection grounds, because it banned mask mandates in public schools, but not in private schools. These battles are being fought as we speak.”
Some districts or states are allowing parents to file religious exemptions to opt out of a school mask mandate. Are religious exemptions constitutionally protected?
Piatt:“We are not aware of any constitutional enshrinement of mask objections based in the freedom of religion. What I have come across is a sort of conflation of provisions in the Civil Rights Act. Title VII of the Civil Rights Act applies to employers and essentially says that employers need to provide accommodations for people with religious objections. Title II of the Civil Rights Act says that there can’t be discrimination on religion in places of public accommodation, which could include things like public schools. Title VII requires accommodation. Title II says nothing about requiring accommodation.”
Does a parent have the right to know whether their child’s teacher is vaccinated?
Barraza:“There is no legal right I’m aware of for a parent to know a teacher’s vaccination status. You could just ask, but a teacher could refuse to answer.”
Some parents are concerned about sending their masked kids to school with children who are unmasked and unvaccinated. If a masked/vaccinated child gets COVID, and they’ve been in a classroom with kids who are unmasked and unvaccinated, would the parents of that child have a case against the school, or the state, for not requiring a mask mandate?
Barraza:“Some states have passed COVID-19 liability protection bills. Mainly for businesses, but some include schools as well. So again, that would depend if that law exists in that state.”
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If you’re in a school without a mask mandate, do you have the right as a parent to demand that the school provide accommodations — a different room or table — to separate your masked child from unmasked classmates?
Piatt:“We have started to see challenges to mask mandate bans on the basis of the Americans with Disabilities Act, or other disability-based protections. Essentially, these are parents of children with disabilities, who are arguing that these bans are prohibiting their children from the protections that they need to have an equal education and the equal education opportunity. We have not seen the results of these cases yet but we are watching very closely.”
Could results of a case like that apply to kids who are not disabled but whose parents are concerned for their health?
Piatt:“It would depend on how the court eventually rules in that case. It could be a broader ruling, but it depends on the specific relief granted in the case.”
Why does all of this seem so confusing?
Piatt:“These arguments are emerging as we’re watching. The legal landscape has been changing over the course of this pandemic. States have changed laws, governors have issued executive orders to change the way that we’re seeing things. We are all watching this play out in real time.”
For more on COVID in the classroom, pick up this week’s issue of PEOPLE, on newsstands Friday.
source: people.com
