It makes you pause. It does make you pause, but our goal is the health and safety of our students and our staff School board member Tina Certain says she's willing to risk her salary to spare the students of a lateral county from risking their health as kids step into the classroom for the first day of school governor. Rhonda Sanchez is threatening to withhold salaries from superintendents or school board members who are mandating masks. It's about parental choice, not government mandate. Our governor, who's a Republican, which has been theory the party that emphasizes local control and has completely removed the decision making authority from our own elected officials here. Intellectual county school students are required to wear a mask for at least the first two weeks unless they provide a doctor's note. Leon County a similar requirement. The governor's office says those counties are not complying with his executive order saying in part when districts enact opt out policies that require a doctor's note, they are not giving all parents a free choice, But some schools feel they're not getting a choice. If we chose to not do that because of money or politics, then we wouldn't be advocating for the best interests and safety of our students. And that is what we're here for. Mhm. At Howard Bishop, middle school teachers told us the first day of school brought excitement, but also a sense of apprehension and uncertainty over the mass controversy and a rise in hospitalizations, florida has a hospitalization rate that is more than triple the national rate. And the american Academy of Pediatrics reports that the US had an 84% increase in new covid 19 cases among Children during the last week of july. Yet to Santa's is holding firm. If you look at the data, it's totally reasonable for a parent to say, you know what? I'd rather send my kid to school, um, you know, without, without wearing the mask. But the data shows masks. Work principle. Mike Gamble says masks are only one of the mitigation strategies they have in place. We know how to contact trace and who might have been around a positive case. Are you expecting now? Um, I hate to sound like a pessimist, but we're going to be prepared for that Electoral County schools say they are seeing an increasing number of employees testing positive to employees and one student recently died from covid On Monday. There were 32 new positive cases and 72 employees were in quarantine and the school year has only just begun now amidst a pandemic and politics.