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Orange County school leaders vote to make masks optional, with conditions

ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — Orange County school leaders voted Tuesday to make face masks optional for students, teachers and staff members in the fall.

Mask rules have been a controversial issue, with parents protesting and even disrupting meetings.

The school board heard a wide range of opinions from people on both sides of the debate, but personal choice and fatigue won the day.

‘Basically back to square one’: Cases going up, vaccinations going down in Orange County

If one of your main responsibilities is to ensure the best learning environment for our kids, then forced masks should never be part of our school protocol again,” one resident said.

“It has to be an option for the parents whether they want their kids to wear a mask,” another parent of an Orange County student said.

During a workshop last month, many parents expressed their desire that masks be made optional for students.

Before Tuesday’s vote, every Central Florida school district except Orange County had already decided to make masks optional.

READ: Gov. DeSantis announces $106 million initiative to boost Florida civics education

Gov. Ron DeSantis, who has long been against mask mandates, said he stands with parents wanting the requirements removed.

“I think it’s very unfair for some of the youngest kids, who are the least susceptible, least likely to spread it, they have the mitigation imposed on them more severely than a lot of adults do,” DeSantis said.

Not all parents are in favor of removing the mask requirements.

Some parents want to keep the mask mandate in place, citing concerns for immunocompromised children and the Delta variant.

READ: Orange County COVID-19 positivity rate on the rise, mayor recommends masks inside crowded places

Their school board’s decision Tuesday includes the option to re-impose a mandate depending on how COVID cases trend over the next few weeks.

“I reserve the right to come back and revisit the data every single day,” Board Chair Teresa Jacobs said during Tuesday’s meeting.

The first day of school in Orange County is Aug. 10.

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Cierra Putman

Cierra Putman, WFTV.com

Cierra Putman flew south to join Eyewitness News in July 2016.

Matt Reeser

Matt Reeser, WFTV.com

Matt Reeser joined WFTV in 1998 as a news photographer and has worked for television stations in Kentucky and West Virginia.