YISD Will Require Students And Employees To Wear Masks Beginning Friday
El Paso City and County officials are bucking the system and have put into place a mask mandate that includes local school districts. The mask mandate flies in the face of Texas Governor Greg Abbott who put a mask mandate ban into place a couple of weeks ago. Most area school districts are requiring masks for students and employees but one notable holdout was the Ysleta Independent School district. Yesterday they announced that they were going to get legal advice about a mask mandate. That didn't sit well with one El Paso city rep.
Cassandra Hernandez took to social media saying posted on Facebook about her frustration with YISD. She said that she had spoken with YISD Superintendent Dr. De La Torre and called it quote “a disrespectful conversation." It's a shame that YISD has not decided to enforce mask wearing especially with numbers among children under 12 going up.
Thursday afternoon, YISD officials changed their tune and released a statement that read:
"The City-County Health Authority, Dr. Hector Ocaranza, issued a Health Order which took
effect at 12:01AM on Wednesday, August 18, 2021, requiring all persons, including children over
the age of two (2), to wear some form of face covering over their nose and mouth, while in indoor
spaces. In light of the local Temporary Restraining Order blocking the Governor’s Executive Order and after receiving guidance from our attorneys, the Ysleta Independent School District will now require that all YISD employees, students, parents, and visitors comply with the Local Health Authority mask mandate while at district facilities, so long as such order or similar order is lawfully in effect and enforceable."
Thank goodness. We had a hell of a time last fall with out of control COVID numbers. We don't want to see people dying in huge numbers and our hospitals overrun with COVID patients. Even if you don't like masks, and none of us do, please wear them so we can keep the rising numbers from getting any higher. Good job YISD. You've done the right thing.
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