Five Florida Teachers Removed For Refusing To Wear Masks

Five teachers were sent home from a Jupiter, Florida, elementary school for refusing to wear masks, the Palm Beach Post reported.

Limestone Creek Elementary School told the teachers to leave Thursday for violating the Palm Beach County School District’s policy requiring teachers, but not students, to wear COVID-19 masks, according to a district spokeswoman, the PBP reported.

The teachers were sent home with pay Thursday, district spokeswoman Claudia Shea told the PBP, and they did not go to work Friday or Monday. While it is unclear if the teachers are still being paid, they are now the subject of a personnel investigation and may face disciplinary action. 

Justin Katz, president of the county teachers union, told the Daily Caller News Foundation that none of the teachers involved are union members and therefore the union is not involved in their proceedings.

He also said one must be a union member to be entitled to union services, such as representation and legal support, although an expert on labor law told the DCNF that unions can’t legally refuse to represent employees within their bargaining unit just because they are not members.

Palm Beach was one of eight school districts sanctioned by the state’s board of education Oct. 8 for imposing mask mandates on students in defiance of an executive order and has since stopped requiring students to wear masks. The district began requiring teachers to wear masks at the beginning of the spring term, the PBP reported.

The Palm Beach County School District did not respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.