Judge OKs Vaccines For NYC Teachers; Florida Loosens Quarantine Rules

Bloomberg: NYC Vaccine Mandate For Teachers Is Cleared By State Judge 
New York City’s requirement that teachers be vaccinated against the coronavirus was cleared by a state judge following a legal challenge by labor unions. New York State Supreme Court Justice Laurence Love removed a temporary restraining order he had imposed on the vaccine mandate while the case plays out. Love dismissed the unions’ argument that the mandate violates the due process rights of teachers and other staff, saying both state and federal courts have “consistently held” that vaccine requirements don’t impede such rights and are within the government’s power. (Dolmetsch, 9/22)

In updates from Florida —

CNN: Florida Governor DeSantis Says Parents Can Send Asymptomatic Kids Exposed To Covid-19 Back To School 
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Wednesday announced that the state has put out a revised rule which follows a "symptom-based approach" to quarantining students, meaning asymptomatic children exposed to Covid-19 in classrooms could be sent back to school by parents. "If somebody is symptomatic, of course they stay home. If there's a close contact, but somebody has not developed any symptoms -- you monitor them, you notify the parent," DeSantis said. "The parent always has the right to have their kids stay home, if they think that's in the best interest of the student and the family 100 percent, we would not want to intrude on that. But if a parent has a healthy child, that child has a right to be in school." (Riess and Santiago, 9/22)

CNN: Palm Beach County School Board Sides With Latest State Quarantine Policy In Meeting That Separated Those Without Masks 
Dozens of police officers were standing by as the Palm Beach County School Board held a meeting Wednesday evening with masked and unmasked spectators watching from separate rooms, as the board said it would abide with the latest state rule that takes a "symptoms-based approach" to quarantining students. A crowd of about 40 people sat in the masked section of the meeting, while those who wanted to go without a face covering were in a room across the parking lot. (Valencia and Cartaya, 9/23)

Health News Florida: State Objects To Fast-Tracking Parents' Mask Case, Wants To Block School Board Challenges 
Attorneys for Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration say a lawsuit filed by a group of parents about school mask requirements should not be fast-tracked to the Florida Supreme Court. The parents filed the lawsuit in August challenging a July 30 DeSantis executive order aimed at preventing school districts from imposing mask mandates. Leon County Judge John Cooper ruled in favor of the parents, saying DeSantis had overstepped his constitutional authority with the order. But the state appealed to the 1st District Court of Appeal, leading to a stay. (Saunders, 9/22)

In other school news —

AP: Official: Kansas Middle School Student Died Of COVID-19
A state education official said Wednesday that a Kansas middle school student has died of COVID-19. The child’s death would be the first reported COVID-19 death of someone aged 10 to 17 in Kansas and only the third reported for someone under 18. Education Commissioner Randy Watson disclosed the death during a Zoom meeting of a task force on COVID-19 safety measures in public schools appointed by Gov. Laura Kelly. (9/22)

CNN: Charleston County School District, South Carolina: Several Students Sent Home For Not Wearing Masks 
Several students in South Carolina's second-largest school district were sent home Wednesday for not complying with a mask mandate aimed at mitigating the spread of the coronavirus. Fifteen students at Thomas C. Cario Middle School in the Charleston County School District (CCSD) will continue their learning remotely until at least October 15 -- which is when administrators will revisit the mask policy, district spokesperson Andy Pruitt told CNN. (Elamroussi and Riess, 9/23)

The New York Times: For Parents ​Of Disabled Children, School Mask Wars Are Particularly Wrenching 
Five years ago, Kim Hart’s son underwent an open-heart surgery that got him healthy enough for the family to move from Cincinnati to this quiet suburb of Nashville. Her son has Down syndrome and autism, and she liked that Williamson County had a reputation for caring neighbors and safe schools. But every day for the past month, she has wondered whether she made a mistake. It was here that an explosive debate over masking in schools — one of the most effective strategies for keeping students learning in person safely during the pandemic — made the county a poster child for divisions over coronavirus safety measures. (Green, 9/23)

NPR: To Keep Kids In Class, And COVID Out, Many Schools Choose Weekly Testing 
On a recent Monday morning, a group of preschoolers filed into the gymnasium at Hillside School in the west Chicago suburbs. These 4- and 5-year olds were the first of more than 200 students to get tested for the coronavirus that day — and every Monday — for the foreseeable future. At the front of the line, a girl in a unicorn headband and sparkly pink skirt clutched a plastic zip-top bag with her name on it. She pulled out a plastic tube with a small funnel attached, and was then led by Hillside superintendent Kevin Suchinski to a spot marked off with red tape. (Herman, 9/23)

AP: COVID-19 Creates Dire US Shortage Of Teachers, School Staff
One desperate California school district is sending flyers home in students’ lunchboxes, telling parents it’s “now hiring.” Elsewhere, principals are filling in as crossing guards, teachers are being offered signing bonuses and schools are moving back to online learning. Now that schools have welcomed students back to classrooms, they face a new challenge: a shortage of teachers and staff the likes of which some districts say they have never seen. (Gecker, 9/23)