Disability rights groups, parents sue over measure meant to ban SC school mask mandates
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COVID-19 mask news in Midlands schools
Curious to learn what local schools are doing about face masks as COVID-19 rises in South Carolina? Here’s a roundup of the latest updates from elementary schools to universities around the state.
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The American Civil Liberties Union filed a federal lawsuit Tuesday against S.C. Gov. Henry McMaster and other elected officials over a portion of state law that lawmakers say bans schools from requiring their students and employees to wear masks.
The lawsuit, which was filed on behalf of Disability Rights South Carolina, Able South Carolina and a group of parents with disabled children, claims that by barring mask requirements, the law excludes children who are particularly susceptible to severe illness from COVID-19 from public schools.
That would be a violation of the Americans with Disabilities act and the Rehabilitation Act, according to the lawsuit.
“Prohibiting schools from taking reasonable steps to protect the health of their students forces parents to make an impossible choice: their child’s education or their child’s health,” said Susan Mizner, director of the ACLU’s Disability Rights Program, in a statement. “This is a disability rights issue. Students with health conditions or disabilities that make them vulnerable to COVID have a right to attend school without endangering their health or safety.”
Governor’s Office spokesman Brian Symmes said the office does not comment on litigation, but added that “the only truly inclusive option is to allow every parent to decide whether their child will wear a mask in school.”
“That’s exactly what the General Assembly’s budget proviso does in South Carolina,” Symmes said in an email.
The advocacy groups and parents are also represented by the ACLU of South Carolina, South Carolina Appleseed Legal Justice Center, Disability Rights South Carolina, Wyche, P.A. and Arnold & Porter.
Along with McMaster, S.C. Attorney General Alan Wilson, Superintendent of Schools Molly Spearman and the school boards of several major districts — including Lexington One — are named as defendants in the lawsuit.
The lawsuit is aimed at a budget provision passed in June that barred schools from using state dollars
to enforce mask requirements in schools. In their lawsuit, the disability groups argue the measure puts all school employees and students at risk for spreading COVID-19, and it “particularly targets children with disabilities that put them at higher risk for severe illness, lingering disabilities, or even death due to COVID-19,” according to an ACLU statement.
The lawsuit argues that putting students at risk for the virus violates the Americans wit Disabilities Act and the Rehabilitation Act by making them choose between their health and their education, which effectively denies them equal access to public schools.
“When it comes to public education, students with disabilities and families should not have to make a choice between health and having an equal opportunity to obtain an appropriate education in person,” said Beth Franco, the executive director of Disability Rights of South Carolina, in a statement. “Our school districts should be able to determine the need for appropriate mask mandates and must be able to comply with federal laws that protect students with disabilities. Let’s not fail these students after all they have been though with this pandemic.”
The groups and parents are asking a court to declare the one-year law is in violation of the two federal laws and to order the state to allow districts to adopt their own mask policies.
As students have returned from their summer break, controversy over the ban on mask mandates in schools has erupted across the state. As the delta variant caused COVID-19 cases to spike to some of the highest levels South Carolina has ever seen, some local officials tried to institute some safety precautions, particularly in schools.
In early August, Columbia mayor Steve Benjamin issued an emergency order, which included a measure requiring masks to be work at elementary and middle schools within the city limits. Despite a state law that threatens to remove funding from any schools that require masks, Columbia’s city council quickly approved Benjamin’s emergency order.
Benjamin fully expected a legal battle to ensue, and the move instantly drew criticism from McMaster, who earlier issued an executive order banning local governments from issuing their own mask requirements.
Attorney General Alan Wilson eventually sued the City of Columbia over its mask mandate. The case is pending.
“It is the opinion of my office that these ordinances are in conflict with state law and should either be rescinded or amended. Otherwise, the city will be subject to appropriate legal actions to enjoin their enforcement,” Wilson, a Republican, wrote prior to filing the lawsuit. “While we appreciate the efforts of city leaders around the state to protect their populace from the spread of the COVID-19 virus and variants of it, these efforts must conform to state law.”
School districts and other locales followed Columbia’s mask mandate move as students returned to schools and state health officials began recording cases in the facilities.
Charleston County School District’s board also voted to require students to wear masks, becoming the first school district to publicly defy the state law. It was quickly followed by Richland One, which covers the downtown Columbia, Forest Acres and lower Richland.
Richland County Council also issued an emergency mask order for schools. The order requires students aged 2-14 within the county wear masks at schools and in day care.
The order will be followed by Richland 1 and Richland 2, but not Lexington Richland 5, where school officials said since the district straddles two counties, making it difficult to uniformly enforce a mask order.
As local officials met across the state, a bipartisan group of lawmakers issued a letter to Senate President Harvey Peeler, calling for a special session for lawmakers to reconsider a newly passed portion of state law that bans schools from requiring masks. Lawmakers can currently come back to Columbia for committee meetings, but the full Senate and House cannot meet without a call from the president or the speaker.
State Superintendent of Education Spearman, in a departure from the governor, said school boards should be allowed to make decisions on masks for themselves. Spearman made her comments at a news conference alongside pediatricians and the state’s epidemiologist.
Last week, Richland 2 asked the state Supreme Court to weigh in on the legality of the mask mandate ban in schools. Specifically, they asked the court to block the enforcement of the rule.
Controversy over South Carolina’s mask ban has extended to the federal level as well. Last week, the Biden Administration sent a letter to McMaster admonishing the ban. Biden also announced plans to use the U.S. Department of Education to deter states from banning universal mask wearing inside classrooms.
Their call comes as schools struggle to safely reopen for in-person classes this fall. Already, one district, the Pickens County School District held all virtual classes for one week after seeing 162 cases within the first nine days of school.
In Kershaw County, more than 220 students and staff have been infected with COVID and more than 1,200 people are in quarantine. In Horry County, one staff member is currently hospitalized and on a ventilator, and a 16-year-old student from Lancaster County has died after contracting COVID-19.
Reporter Lucas Daprile contributed to this report.
This story was originally published August 24, 2021 at 11:47 AM with the headline "Disability rights groups, parents sue over measure meant to ban SC school mask mandates."
