Florida school board finally drops mask mandate after suspending 8-year-old 38 times for violations

The School District of Palm Beach County has dropped its mask mandate. The district had previously suspended a second grader 38 times for violating the mandate. She may have to repeat the grade.

Fiona Lashells is a student in Palm Beach County who just turned 8 years old. She took a stand against a school board policy that she believed was wrong. For months she did not wear a mask to school, even though it had been mandated by her local school board. The litany of suspensions she has been handed is available at a website her mother created outlining the experience.

At a school board event on September 22, 2021, Fiona told the board members that being suspended is “not going to change” her mind, that she still has “the right not to wear a mask,” and that it is “not fair” that she is “getting punished because … the school board is not following the law.”

She also told the school board that she hoped “they all go to jail” for “doing this” to her.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has battled with various school boards in his state which have mandated masks for students. He signed an executive order in July that prohibited mask mandates in schools. After facing legal action from proponents of mandated masking, Florida’s ban on school mask mandates was upheld by a federal judge on September 15, with the court standing firm by rejecting an appeal to reconsider on September 30.

In an effort to allow parents to have the ultimate decision on whether their children will wear masks at school, DeSantis’ administration opted to withhold funds from boards that require students to mask in spite of the government order. At its October 7 meeting, the Florida Board of Education (BOE) unanimously agreed to impose financial penalties for school districts mandating students wear masks.

Fiona made headlines last week as her story was brought to light in a number of major news outlets, including The New York Post. She appeared alongside DeSantis on Fox News and explained to the hosts that she does not like to wear a mask “because you touch it and you have germs on your hands and then you put it on your face and breathe in all the germs.”

One of the Fox News hosts called her stance against the mandate “impressive” and asked Fiona how she felt about the prospect of repeating the second grade. She expressed that she did not want to do that, especially considering she had “done most of the work at home” that she was assigned.