Michael Hinojosa, the district’s superintendent, said at a news conference on Monday to announce the mandate that the vast majority of his students and teachers were already wearing masks.Īsked why he wanted to impose a mandate when it seemed that people were taking the precaution on their own, Mr. Abbott on Monday evening released a statement describing steps Texas would take to curb the spread of the coronavirus, which didn’t mention masks. “Every Texan has a right to choose for themselves and their children whether they will wear masks, open their businesses, or get vaccinated.” Abbott has stood firm against calls to reimpose safety precautions, insisting that “we must rely on personal responsibility, not government mandates,” a spokeswoman for the governor said in a recent statement. While Texas is reporting about half as many new cases as at its peak in the winter, it is one of the states with the most patients being hospitalized with severe illness, according to a New York Times database. Since then, the highly contagious Delta variant has raged through Texas while the pace of vaccination lagged, with only 44 percent of the population vaccinated so far, according to federal data. Earlier in the pandemic, he imposed statewide restrictions, including closures and capacity limits for some businesses and a state mask mandate, which he lifted in March. Abbott, a Republican, has encouraged people to get vaccinated. Abbott, arguing the governor’s ban on mask mandates violates Texas law. On Monday evening the top elected official in Dallas County sued Mr. New coronavirus cases and hospitalizations have risen sharply across Texas in the past few weeks, and Dallas is no exception. And municipalities, including Houston, have announced their own mask mandates for city workers. “Governor Abbott’s order does not limit the district’s rights as an employer and educational institution to establish reasonable and necessary safety rules for its staff and students,” the Dallas district said on its website, adding that the mask mandate would remain in force as long as necessary.Įlsewhere in Texas, the superintendent of the Houston Independent School District announced last week that he would put a similar mask mandate up for a vote before the board of education this week.
The public school district, the second-largest in Texas according to its website, appears to be the first in the state to defy the order. Greg Abbott that prohibits school districts from requiring masks.
The mandate, which officials said was temporary, was imposed in defiance of an executive order by Gov. The Dallas Independent School District said on Monday that everyone - students, employees and visitors - must wear a mask while on school property, starting Tuesday. Gonzalez/The Dallas Morning News, via Associated Press Greg Abbott’s executive order banning mask mandates.
The Dallas Independent School District is defying Gov. Image Angie Andrade and her three children walked through Saldivar Elementary School in Dallas last year.
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