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PARIS, Texas (CN) — A Texas school district amended its dress code Tuesday evening to include face masks, finding a loophole in Republican Governor Greg Abbott’s ban on mask mandates during the Covid-19 pandemic that has triggered several lawsuits by and against local officials preparing for the new school year.
Located 100 miles northeast of Dallas, the Paris Independent School District said the amendment was made out of concern for “the health and safety of its students and employees.” Texas is grappling with a fourth wave of infections due to the highly contagious delta variant and lingering hesitancy towards vaccines.
The district’s board of trustees forcefully rejected Abbott’s authority on the matter, stating the dress code is being used to “mitigate communicable” illness. The first day of school in Paris is Thursday.
“The Texas governor does not have the authority to usurp the board of trustees’ exclusive power and duty to govern and oversee the management of public schools of the district,” Paris ISD said in a written statement. “Nothing in the governor’s Executive Order 38 states he has suspended Chapter 11 of the Texas Education Code, and therefore the board has elected to amend its dress code consistent with its statutory authority.”
The board will reconsider the amendment at each subsequent monthly meeting.
Paris ISD joins 64 other Texas school districts that have defied Abbott’s order and mandated masks, according to a list compiled by Republican Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton.
Paxton contends Abbott’s order “has the force and effect of state law and supersedes local rules and regulations,” including those of school districts.
Paxton asked the Texas Supreme Court on Tuesday to overrule a Travis County trial judge’s ruling that allows school district mask mandates to continue in the state. The request comes two days after the state high court halted mask mandates in Dallas and Bexar counties, overruling lower appeals courts.
Paris school officials made the change as news broke of Abbott himself testing positive for Covid-19. The diagnosis comes one day after Abbott tweeted images of himself maskless at a Republican fundraiser in Collin County with a maskless crowd of people.
Abbott is fully vaccinated and in isolation at the governor’s mansion in Austin, according to his office. First Lady Cecillia Abbott tested negative for the virus.
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