WACO, Texas — A McLennan County district court has agreed to drop McGregor and Midway ISDs from the attorney general’s lawsuit against McLennan County schools for violating an executive order banning mask mandates.
That still leaves Waco and La Vega ISDs as the state continues to try to place a temporary restraining order on the district's mask mandates.
After a district court hearing this morning with Judge Vicki Menard, Waco ISD said in a statement:
"We appreciated Judge Menard's thoughtful consideration of the arguments presented during today's hearing and look forward to further discussion of the district's request to have the lawsuit abated."
Dr. Amy Mersiovsky, director of the department of nursing at Texas A&M University-Central Texas, said regardless of what happens in court, parents should encourage their kids to mask up at school.
"I know that masking those little ones is really hard but kids understand citizenship and they understand protecting each other and they don't want to be sick," Mersiovsky said.
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Recent studies from the CDC show that schools with mask mandates are less susceptible to COVID outbreaks.
"In the counties that had mask mandates, they were half as likely to have an outbreak within their school," she said.
In its lawsuit, the state says the goal of Abbott's ban on mask mandates is to, "Create a uniform response to the COVID-19 pandemic" and to allow people to make their own health decisions.