ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — As a rise in pediatric COVID-19 cases coincides with students returning to school, several Tampa Bay area attorneys have been preparing for a Friday hearing to stop Gov. Ron DeSantis’ executive order banning mask mandates in schools.
“Our main argument is that there's an irreparable harm,” said Natalie Paskiewicz, a St. Petersburg-based attorney who recently joined the legal team.
Paskiewicz is one of four attorneys who have joined the case since it was initially filed by six attorneys last week. The group's lawsuit is against DeSantis, Education Commissioner Richard Corcoran and the Florida Department of Education.
“This is really all about public health and things done in the public good,” said attorney Charles Gallagher, who is also arguing the case. “And the same way that the laws require a parent to have a car seat in their car for their infant, the same way that we have laws that require seatbelts -- these are things done for the public good, and for the safety of the public, and this is all we're talking about here.”
Gallagher says the lawsuit centers on two main arguments.
“Number one is that Florida's Constitution has an entitlement to safe schools…” Gallagher said. “The secondary issue is one of local government, and it's a ‘home rule’ issue under the constitution of Florida. So, school boards have the right to govern themselves.”
Dr. Jay Wolfson, a public health professor and associate VP for health law, policy and safety at the University of South Florida, agreed the case centers around constitutionality, but said there are many factors on both sides of the argument to consider.
“We have to find a way to balance the economic and political interests of some people in our community against the public health interests of others in our community to make sure that we all get through this healthy and not scarred,” he said.
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10 Tampa Bay reached out to DeSantis’ office and to the Florida Department of Education regarding Friday’s hearing and is awaiting a response. DeSantis did respond to 10 Tampa Bay’s Liz Crawford’s question about the lawsuit, saying:
"So, the legislature passed a parents bill of rights that I signed into law about a month and a half ago and laid down the law in the state of Florida that parents have the fundamental right to raise their children, health, and well-being, and that has to be respected by the state at all levels of government."