BREVARD COUNTY, Fla. — The Brevard County School Board voted late Tuesday night to keep face masks optional.

The school board revisited the district’s mask policy with the motion to mandate masks failing in a late-night vote.

The decision means school operations will go on as normal with no new rules in place. So far, the only counties in Central Florida that have mandated face masks with an opt-out option are Orange and Seminole counties.

Mother was hoping school board would issue mask mandate

The Brevard County School Board scheduled to revisit the district’s mask policy on Tuesday night, as parents crowded their regular meeting — some even showing up in advance — to voice opinions.

And while mother Jamie Schmalenberger did not attend the meeting, she will still watching closely to see what happens.

In the last few weeks, she emailed the School Board several times, sharing pertinent Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and American Academy of Pediatrics data, and asking them to once again mandate masks.

“It just feels like the board is giving up on our children and giving in to those loud voices that really bully them,” she said. “Why are we doing less to protect our students this year? It doesn’t make any sense to me.”

At the end of last year, the board decided masks would be optional at the start of the 2021-2022 school year.

Schmalenberger said that at the time, she could understand the board’s rationale.  

Her kids, Jemma and Jude, had not gotten sick all year and had not experienced massive disruptions to learning. They were happy and had as normal of a school year as possible.

Plus, the number of coronavirus cases in the county had dropped significantly.

“It felt like we could finally see the light at the end of the tunnel," Schmalenberger said. "And we were all starting to feel safer, so yes, I understood why they made the decision back in May."

But about two weeks ago, as case numbers started to climb once again, the topic of masking, too, resurfaced at a regular board meeting. The discussion devolved into disorder.

“They have no right to tell us whether our kids, whether they can wear masks or not wear masks,” one parent shouted into a standing microphone.

“A police officer had to escort a woman and her kids out,” Schmalenberger said. “How can you have civil, healthy, factual conversation if people are going to get up and scream and yell?”

Schmalenberger said that she is willing to go to bat for her two kids, who are starting third and fifth grade.

She wants masks mandated again, at least as cases climb.

“Our basic duty, instinct, desire for our children is to keep them healthy and safe," she said. "And if something as simple as a face mask can help mitigate that, why not?

"Tonight's meeting will really tell us a lot about our community leaders and who we’ve elected to put our trust in to care for our children’s health and safety."