SAN ANTONIO — COVID numbers are up across south Texas as kids head back to school. The combination leads us to tonight's Verify, where we look into the return of masks in schools. Wearing a mask in school has been a contentious debate for years now. Not everyone likes them, and not everyone likes to see others wearing them.
THE QUESTION
Is it legal for schools in Texas to force a student to take off a mask if they don't have a medical reason to wear one?
THE SOURCES
- The Texas Education Association
- Barry Perez, the spokesperson for the Northside Independent School District
THE ANSWER
FALSE
WHAT WE FOUND
In a statement the Texas Education Association told us, "There is nothing to that effect described in rule, statute, or executive order. Any individual that wishes to wear a mask may do so in a voluntary capacity."
In an executive order by Texas Governor Greg Abbott about COVID-19 it goes on to say, "In areas where the COVID-19 transmission rate is high, individuals are encouraged to follow the safe practices they have already mastered, such as wearing face coverings over the nose and mouth, wherever it is not feasible to maintain six feet of social distancing from another person not in the same household."
Northside ISD's Perez told us, "If an individual chooses to wear a mask, we're going to allow them, whether that individual be a staff member, an adult or a student, no one is going to ask them to remove that mask."
So no, it is false. It is not legal for schools in Texas to force a student to take off a mask for any reason.