Update (7 Aug 2021) - We have succeeded! An emergency meeting in the form of a "workshop" (no public comment) has been scheduled for Monday, August 9, 2021 at 1PM. To make sure that the School Board knows that you want a mask mandate, a petition specifically to demand a 30-day mask mandate has been started. If you want something different from the board, feel free to fill out both petitions and make your request known in the comments! And congratulations on making this petition a success!

We demand an emergency meeting of the Pinellas County School Board so that members can hear from the public concerning the need for mask mandates and go on record with their stance. Regardless of the Executive Order 21-175 signed by Governor DeSantis, the people of Pinellas County deserve to hear which members of the school board are taking cues from public health officials and which members are following political arguments. We deserve to know, and the school board deserves to hear from us. Article IX, Section 4 of the Florida Constitution sates that school boards shall consist of elected officials who operate, control, and supervise the free public schools of Florida. In order to do that, they need our input and not input from the governor who has no power to operate, control, nor supervise individual school districts.

If parents could have stopped any one of the many school shootings in the United States with several weeks' notice, there is no doubt we would have. We have had several weeks notice about the spread of COVID-19 (delta variant), and yet our leaders have chosen inaction rather than seeking input and making a decision informed by both concerned parents and public health officials. An emergency meeting prior to the beginning of the school year is imperative.