Jayton-Girard ISD filed last week for dismissal of a lawsuit brought against the school district in May 2021 regarding its mandatory mask policy during the 2020–21 school year.
Clint Long of Jayton, representing a student, had claimed before the Lubbock Division U.S. District Court, Northern District of Texas, that the district illegally established a Covid-19 policy in violation of the Texas Open Meetings Act. In its July 9 fil ing the district argued that the plaintiff’s claims should be dismissed “because the Court lacks subject-matter jurisdiction and because Plaintiff fails to state a claim upon which this Court may grant relief.”
Long claimed that the school prevented him and the student from entering the school building without a mask in March 2021 and that enforcement of a mandatory mask policy was a violation of their constitutional rights. The plaintiff also claimed that the mask policy was set in a closed meeting, in violation of the Texas Open Meetings Act.
As outlined in the defendant’s filing in Case 5:21-cv- 00111-H, the school district says that it “was obligated to follow the comprehensive TEA guidance and executive order in place at the time in developing a plan to reopen schools” and that the mask policy was drafted by a committee “comprised of JGISD leadership, JGISD teachers, and other administrators who expressed interest in being involved.”
The motion to dismiss Long’s suit also notes the district’s discretion to continue its mask policy even after Texas Gov. Abbott’s March 3 executive order relaxing requirements, and states that Long was present at the March 10 school board meeting during which trustees voted to maintain its policy.
“The next day, on March 11, 2021,” the motion reads, Long accompanied the student to school; the student “was not permitted in the school without a mask pursuant to the thenexisting mask requirement and the default TEA guidance.”
The motion notes that in March 2021, “JGISD was experiencing its largest spike in COVID cases and number of students that were in quarantine based on contact tracing. In fact, a JGISD maintenance person died in March from COVID-19.”
Long unenrolled the student from school the following day. At its April 20 board meeting, according to the district’s motion, “With the March COVID spike under control, and in light of the new TEA guidance, the JGISD school board revisited the mask requirement . . . [and] voted to end the mask requirement effective end of the school day on May 13, 2021, once STAAR testing was completed for all students.”
The district has asked the federal judge to dismiss the lawsuit on several grounds, including that “this lawsuit was moot from the time it was filed. . . . over two weeks after the April 20, 2021 JGISD School Board meeting where the School Board voted to terminate the mask requirement effective at the end of the school day May 13, 2021.”
As of press time there was no confirmation of a next hearing scheduled in the matter. District superintendent Layne Sheets, who was not in the employ of the district at the time the plaintiff’s suit was filed in May, said he was unable to comment on pending litigation. The Texas Spur reached out to plaintiff Long but did not receive a response by press time.
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