FORT MYERS, FLA — Physical fights, screaming matches, and chanting.
That was the scene outside of Monday's special school board meeting in Lee county.
Inside of the meeting, there was a packed room, with most speaking on the school district's new mask mandate.
"Second week of school I had to be quarantined because my teacher doesn't wear a mask and tested positive," said school district employee Stacey Livella.
"They're a psychological crutch for adults that have no place on children," said Lee county parent James Wildermuth.
Those we spoke to are split after the school district announced that it would enforce its mask policy for the next month.
"My wife and already spoke about it. He won't be going to school as long as there is a mask mandate," said Wildermuth.
"I feel that that's a good start," said Livella.
But for one local doctor, the decision to make students and staff mask up is an easy one.
"The delta variant of covid-19 is very, very highly contagious and it gets spread very easily," said Parisima Taeb.
The mandate goes into effect Wednesday, September 1st. However, it's been made clear that some students and staff will simply refuse to wear masks on campus.
So what happens in those cases?
Here's what the district has to say:
"We're going to follow the same process that we used last year and that type of de-escalation as well as providing options for families when it does not happen. Potentially based on the conduct used there could he disciplinary consequences depending on how that situation plays out," said Lee County School District Interim Superintendent, Dr. Kenneth Savage.
So what happens next?
Well, the school district says it will be meeting with school principals tomorrow to discuss this mandate rollout ahead of Wednesday.
District staff will also be meeting ahead of the rollout, to discuss medical exemptions to the mask mandate.
