Hurst Euless Bedford ISD Board Votes Against Mask Mandate

MID-CITIES (CBSDFW.COM) - The Hurst Euless Bedford ISD school board voted -- six to one -- against a temporary mask mandate on August 27. This after a high number of students at one school have already tested positive for COVID-19.

The board heard from dozens of parents, teachers and staff as well as their attorneys who walked them through several different court cases regarding mask mandates currently pending in Texas and Governor Greg Abbott's order banning mask mandates.

All of this comes after a high number of third graders at Meadow Creek Elementary tested positive for COVID-19 the same week. Those students and their siblings started at-home virtual learning and will continue through next Friday. Some said this alone should be the reason for a district wide mask mandate... but others disagreed.

"That was really unfortunate and we have been saying for weeks now that this is what was going to happen — and so the district has taken away all of our options," one parent said. "They're not doing mask mandates, they're not doing virtual and so we don't know why they're not doing any action."

"A mask mandate at HEB leaves our vulnerable students without a viable option," another said. "They struggled horribly in mask environments last year. They can't homeschool, they can't do private school - both of those options rip them out of the only social environment they know. Creating more isolation, more despair."

Already, the district decided against a district wide virtual option. So now some parents say a mask mandate is their only option to protect students.