CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Multiple school districts around the Coastal Bend have rescinded or plan to discuss rescinding their mask mandates and dress code policies that require face coverings.
The Texas Attorney General's Office anticipates pursuing lawsuits against districts that defy Governor Abbott's executive order on mask mandates, causing area school districts to reevaluate their policies.
The topic was added as an emergency agenda item at the Freer Independent School District board meeting Monday night. According to the District's Facebook page, they added the item to their agenda in light of "recent legal developments and information Freer ISD is receiving from Attorney General Paxton."
Freer ISD board members voted to in favor of rescinding the district's mask mandate, but said they would continue to encourage masks.
The Mathis Independent School District also held a vote during their board meeting Monday evening and decided to rescind their mask mandate as well.
The San Diego Independent School District also decided to rescind their dress code policy requiring students to wear masks. They took to social media Tuesday morning saying they came to that decision "to be in compliance with Governor Abbot's Executive Order GA-38." They, too, will continue to encourage students and staff to wear masks, citing a decrease in the number of positive cases they have seen in the last 10 days. "We would like to thank parents and guardians for their support."
The Beeville Independent School District has also added an action item to their Tuesday board meeting to discuss and possibly take action regarding their own mask mandate. They met at noon and ultimately decided to continue requiring masks.
"One of the things we believe in Beeville ISD is being law abiding citizens, but at the same time we also believe in protecting our faculty staff and students," said Superintendent Travis Fanning.
Superintendent Fanning says they will continue to monitor COVID-19 numbers to make decisions that are in the district's best interest.
"As we look at Bee County and we look at the city of Beeville and see the number of hospital beds that are unavailable and number of cases as they rise and fall, we'll make changes as we need to," said Fanning.
Several districts in the Coastal Bend are currently defying the governor's orders, including Brooks County, Corpus Christi, Kingsville, Mathis, San Diego, Santa Gertrudis and West Oso independent school districts. According to the Attorney General's website, these districts should have received a letter indicating they are not in compliance.
3News will keep you updated as districts in the area continue to update their COVID-19 protocols.