DeSantis Administration Ordered State Health Officials To Refuse To Give School Boards Advice On Reopening

USA Today reports:

As Gov. Ron DeSantis pushed this summer for schools to reopen, state leaders told school boards they would need Health Department approval if they wanted to keep classrooms closed. Then they instructed health directors not to give it.

Following a directive from DeSantis’ administration, county health directors across Florida refused to give school boards advice about one of the most wrenching public health decisions in modern history: whether to reopen schools in a worsening pandemic, a Gannett USA TODAY NETWORK review found.

In county after county the health directors’ refrain to school leaders was the same: Their role was to provide information, not recommendations.

This is wild. Why do we treat our kids like political football?

The DeSantis administration directed county health directors in Florida to *refuse* to give school boards advice on whether to reopen schoolshttps://t.co/ysa6Fg6Smt

— Rebecca Klein (@rklein90) August 7, 2020