The National Council on Independent Living (NCIL) is encouraged by the March 24, 2022, letter from US Education Secretary Miguel Cardona clarifying the legal obligations of schools to students with disabilities regarding protection from COVID transmission. The March 24 letter provides advice and resources to fulfill these legal obligations. NCIL agrees with the Secretary’s guidance that schools may require school staff and students to wear masks to protect students with disabilities from contracting COVID.
The decision to require masks in education environments should be based on a case-by-case analysis. Schools must make reasonable modifications to their policies to provide students with disabilities with a free appropriate public education (FAPE). As Secretary Cardona’s letter recognizes, a reasonable modification may include requiring all students and school staff to wear masks in classes. If some school staff and students are not vaccinated for COVID, they are at an increased risk of getting and giving COVID to others, including students with disabilities with immunocompromising conditions. If schools cannot issue mask mandates, they would discriminate against students with disabilities who cannot attend class in person due to the heightened risk of getting COVID from unmasked and unvaccinated students.
Several federal courts are reviewing mask mandate reasonable accommodation requests. The Fourth Circuit ruled that the plaintiffs lacked standing to challenge a state budgetary provision that withholds funding from local schools that have mask mandates. In the Fifth Circuit, Texas is appealing the US District Court’s decision that a state executive order violates the 504 and the ADA by prohibiting local schools from issuing mask mandates. In the Eighth Circuit, the Court of Appeals ruled that the plaintiffs were likely to prevail in their case against South Carolina.
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