Phoenix Union High School District to Require Masks, Will Violate Executive Order

The Phoenix Union High School District has announced plans to require masks indoors regardless of vaccination status when classes start next week, which will violate an executive order.

The district announced Friday it would enforce its board-adopted mask mandate for all staff, students and visitors when the fall semester begins Monday.

“Phoenix Union High School District has made it very clear that we want to bring back in-person learning and when we come back, we want to stay back,” Superintendent Chad Geston said Friday during a press conference.

Executive order 2021-10 took back a previous order that required mandates in all K-12 schools and is being used as the tool to not allow mask requirements until a new state law takes effect later this year, reported by Ducey spokesman C.J. Karamargin.

A new law passed as part of the state budget in June prohibits public district and charter schools from mandating masks. It will go into effect Sept. 28.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Tuesday reversed course on some masking guidelines, recommending that even vaccinated people return to wearing masks indoors, including students returning to class, in parts of the U.S. classified as having substantial or high transmission. Even after the CDC updated guidelines this week, Gov. Doug Ducey has stood by maintaining the policy.

Thirteen of Arizona’s 15 counties, including Maricopa, home to nearly two-thirds of the state’s population, fall into the substantial or high categories on the CDC’s map.

“Gov. Ducey believes the decision by Phoenix Union requiring masks has no teeth. It’s not allowed under Arizona law. It’s unenforceable,” Ducey’s office said in a statement. “Arizona is not anti-mask, we’re anti-mask mandate.”

“Ultimately, this is about personal responsibility and parental choice — something Arizona has long-supported.”

Phoenix Union said district members have pushed to follow the recently updated health guidelines.

“Recently, we have heard from our staff, students, and families that they want us to realign our mitigation practices with the guidelines and recommendations of national and local health agencies,” the district said.

A rural Arizona district has already had to cancel in-person learning temporarily this semester because of a COVID-19 outbreak. The Ash Fork School District, in consultation with the Yavapai County health department, closed campuses for the time being less than a week after classes started July 22.