Dallas school superintendent vows to keep mask mandate despite state Supreme Court ruling: 'This is not over'

In Texas, Gov. Greg Abbott has — not unlike Gov. Ron DeSantis in Florida — forbidden local school districts to have local mask mandates in classrooms. But with COVID-19's highly infectious Delta variant raging in Texas, school officials in Dallas and other cities have vowed to defy Abbott's order. And Michael Hinojosa, superintendent of the Dallas Independent School District, is vowing to keep his mask mandate despite a Texas Supreme Court ruling issued on Sunday, August 15.

On August 11, Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins issued a temporary restraining order against Abbott's prohibition of local mask mandates. And on August 15, the Texas Supreme Court, according to CBS 21 Dallas, "issued an emergency stay" on that restraining order.

"However, Dallas ISD Superintendent Michael Hinojosa said the district will keep its mandate, claiming the order applied to Dallas County and not the school district," CBS 21 Dallas reports. "Hinojosa said he talked with attorneys throughout Sunday afternoon and that they believe the order currently doesn't apply to them…. Hinojosa added that the district will keep its mandate until a court specifically orders it to stop."

Hinojosa also said, "Stay tuned. This is not over."

Other school districts in the Dallas area, in response to the Texas Supreme Court ruling, said they would abandon their mask mandates.

When Hinojosa was asked about school districts other than Dallas ISD rescinding their mask mandates, he told CBS 21 Dallas, "Some of these districts only did it because it was an order from Clay Jenkins and the county…. We did it because we thought it was the right thing to do from the beginning. And that's a huge difference."

Some students in the Dallas ISD returned to classrooms earlier this month, while others are returning on August 16.