In Texas, it is forbidden for customers or visitors to wear a mask – even in schools. A school district now bypasses this – by simply including the mask as part of the dress code.
Freedom from the oppression of the distant government – that has long been the defining characteristic of the Wild West. And even today, in Texas, for example, there is still great skepticism about US-wide regulations. For many, their own freedom is the greatest good. Based on this logic, it may make sense to reject a general mask requirement. And even to completely ban an obligation in individual schools, hospitals and shops. One school district nonetheless found a way to reintroduce the mask requirement through the back door.
The school district of Paris, Texas said in a statement on Tuesday that wearing a mask is a good way to prevent infection by disease and is part of the dress code. The 4,000 students, teachers and all other employees are therefore obliged to wear a face mask. There is no explicit reference to Covid: “For health reasons, masks are mandatory for all employees and students in order to avoid flu, colds, pandemics and other contagious diseases,” says the school regulations.
Legal finesse
However, the change decided upon in a vote by the school council is not permanent, explained school councilor Dr. Bert Strom opposite the local paper “The Paris News”. They will be reassessed at each of the monthly meetings. Strom had also suggested the advance. He simply could not reconcile it with his conscience to put the children of the school district in danger, the general practitioner told the newspaper.
In implementing the guideline, the school board received support from the local public prosecutor. He helped to choose the wording so that it does not conflict with Governor Greg Abbott’s ban on the use of masks. “The governor of Texas does not have the power to question the exclusive authority of the school district in the organization and management of school affairs,” said the school board in its announcement. Because the law introducing the ban on masks does not change the autonomy over school regulations, the introduction of certain dress codes is not part of the ban, so their argumentation.
Masks as party politics
The mask ban is also highly controversial in Texas. As in the rest of the US, it is largely a political conflict along party lines. The former stronghold of the Republicans has experienced a strong social shift in recent years due to a steady influx of people into large cities like Austin. While the vast rural areas are still considered very conservative, the cities are considerably more liberal. In the presidential election last autumn it looked for a brief moment as if the state could have voted democratically, but in the end Donald Trump narrowly won the state for himself.
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