A South Florida teacher is facing possible dismissal for not wearing a mask while on school grounds — a violation of a policy that is no longer in effect, according to the South Florida Sun Sentinel.
The Broward County school district is due on Tuesday to take up the case of John Alvarez, a science teacher at Piper High School in Sunrise, Florida.
District officials are accusing Alvarez of insubordination, neglect of duty, and incompetence, the newspaper noted. Alvarez plans to appeal a recommendation of termination to a state administrative law judge.
"I’m looking forward to seeing how it proceeds," Alvarez said on Monday. "The state of Florida, which provides my licensure, has said mask mandates are unconstitutional."
Christina Pushaw, a spokeswoman for Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said: "Gov. DeSantis has said clearly that he’s opposed to mask mandates of any kind. It is ironic that the same politicians who express concerns over a teacher shortage in Broward are willing to fire teachers for not covering their faces."
DeSantis in July had issued an executive order barring school mask mandates. He has said parents should decided if their children wear masks.
But the newspaper noted the legislature and DeSantis had banned districts from imposing mask mandates for students, but didn’t address teachers.
School board members had, at one point, required students to wear masks in schools. And the board battled with the state over the mask mandates, defying a directive until mid-November, according to the Sun Sentinel.
Masks were made optional for everyone, including teachers, on Nov. 19 in Broward schools.
The Sun Sentinel noted Alvarez could be fired retroactively for failing to adhere to a policy he now wouldn’t have to follow.
Alvarez’s issues with the district started during a fire drill on March 10, when he "was observed standing in the school parking lot, not practicing social distancing and his face was not covered," according to a district complaint.
At that time, the school district’s policy said masks were required outdoors in most instances unless people could maintain 3 feet of social distancing.
School officials claim he was seen repeatedly without a mask after that.
Jeffrey Rodack ✉
Jeffrey Rodack, who has nearly a half century in news as a senior editor and city editor for national and local publications, has covered politics for Newsmax for nearly seven years.
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