Justice Department argues Texas ban on school mask mandates violates disabled students’ rights – By Brian Lopez (Texas Tribune) / Oct 1 2021
Plaintiffs say the governor’s order denies children with disabilities, who are at a high risk of illness and death from the coronavirus, access to public education.
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Texas families of children with disabilities who have filed a lawsuit challenging Gov. Greg Abbott’s ban on mask mandates in schools now have the federal government in their corner.
On Wednesday, the U.S. Department of Justice filed a formal statement in support of the federal lawsuit filed in August by the advocacy group Disability Rights Texas. In the statement, federal attorneys argue that banning public schools from requiring masks for students keeps disabled children from accessing in-person classes during the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
The statement points out that Abbott’s executive order this summer, which bans mask mandates, “has the effect of denying them an equal opportunity to participate in and benefit from the in-person instruction offered by their public schools.”
Even if school districts offer a virtual learning option, the federal agency insists the governor’s order still violates the Americans with Disabilities Act because all students need to be afforded every option available. The pandemic does not authorize officials to ignore the ADA; if anything, states need to be more sensitive to public health needs, the department said.
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