Breaking! The Oklahoma Supreme Court rules school districts, not the governor or legislature, should decide on mask mandate. They ALSO rule that mask mandates must be an opt-in option and therefore, parents who choose not to mask do not have to opt-out as demonstrated by districts like Oklahoma City Public Schools who made parents opt out if they did not want their child wearing a mask.
The greatest level of parental right is opt-in so this was a win!
Schools still have to meet all criteria set forth in SB 658 and the mask issue must be brought up at each meeting and take parent input.
Again, the only part of the original bill that the Oklahoma Supreme Court removed was that in order for schools to mandate masks the Governor must declare a state of emergency first. In case you missed it, Gov. Kevin Stitt said repeatedly he would not declare another state of emergency over the COVID-19 pandemic. The court said this meant the law acted as a “state wide prohibition for masks for public schools.”
Now that SB658 has been clarified, Oklahoma schools should obey the entire law. We are still getting reports that schools are telling students, especially 7th graders, that they can’t return to school or play sports without taking another Dtap/Tdap.
SB 658 clearly states that all school MUST provide opt-out information on all vaccine “requirements”.
Action: Parents or their attorney may write a letter to the school district or have them also write a litigation threat letter.