Biden calls school chiefs, lauds defiance of anti-mask rules

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — President Joe Biden called school district superintendents in Florida and Arizona to praise them for doing “the right thing” after their respective boards implemented mask requirements in defiance of their Republican governors amid growing COVID-19 infections.

The White House said in a Saturday statement that the Democratic president had spoken with interim Broward Superintendent Vickie Cartwright in Florida and Phoenix Union High School District Superintendent Chad Gestson in Arizona “to thank them for their leadership and discuss their shared commitment to getting all students back in safe, full-time in-person learning this school year.”

“The President commended their leadership and courage to do the right thing for the health and well-being of their students, teachers, and schools,” the statement said.

Biden's phone calls of support come as tensions build over whether local school districts can and should require face coverings for students and school staff as in-person classes resume. In Texas, several school districts — along with the state’s most populous county — won temporary legal victories Friday in seeking to override Republican Gov. Greg Abbott’s ban on mask mandates, which they argued is making the COVID-19 pandemic worse.

Similar lawsuits by school districts in other states have also been filed.

Clashes over mandatory mask-wearing have already occurred. Officials at a suburban Chicago high school on Friday sent a freshman student home for refusing to put on a face covering, a decision her mother contends violates her 14-year-old daughter’s rights.

Sheri Urlacher said her daughter was sent home from Fremd High School in Palatine after officials at the door of the school handed her a mask and asked her to put it on. She told...