Chapel Hill ISD Superintendent Lamond Dean

The Texas Attorney General’s Office is threatening legal action against Chapel Hill ISD if the school district doesn’t rescind its temporary mask mandate.

Chapel Hill ISD trustees approved a temporary mask mandate on Aug. 30 that began the next day and currently remains in effect to reduce rising COVID-19 cases among students and staff.

Gov. Greg Abbott’s executive order, known as GA-38, prohibits governmental entities and officials from requiring face coverings or vaccines. The attorney general’s office has posted a list of entities that are non-compliant with GA-38, and the list also notes which school districts have received a letter from the Texas AG’s Office.

In a letter sent to Chapel Hill ISD Superintendent Lamond Dean on Sept. 3, Austin Kinghorn, general counsel for the Texas Attorney General’s Office, said the mandate requiring students and faculty to wear face masks while at school exceeds the district’s authority that has been restricted by Abbott’s executive order.

Chapel Hill ISD is among dozens of schools listed as noncompliant with Abbott’s order, including Longview ISD and Lufkin ISD.

According to the Chapel Hill ISD Communications Department, the district is aware of the letter from the Texas AG’s Office and officials are looking into the issue.

Kinghorn said Abbott’s orders supersede local regulations and “have the force and effect of law.” The Texas Supreme Court said recently gubernatorial oversight should remain in place over the wearing of masks at both the state and local levels while the court of appeals and the state Supreme Court examine the arguments.

The AG’s Office will pursue further legal action available within the law against any local jurisdiction and its employees continuing to enforce local mask mandates, Kinghorn’s letter read.

In August, Chapel Hill trustees heard presentations from both Dean and the Northeast Texas Public Health District about the rise in COVID-19 diagnoses on campuses.

After the mandate was approved, Dean said there was no set end date for the mask mandate, but officials would review COVID-19 data within the district daily to determine if requiring masks is needed.

On Aug. 30, 2.3% of the students were infected with COVID-19 and 87 students were quarantined due to exposure to a positive virus case. A total of 2.8% of the staff had tested positive for COVID-19, and one staff member was quarantined, according to Dean’s data.

As of last Friday, Chapel Hill ISD’s COVID-19 tracker shows there are 50 students with active COVID-19 cases and 42 who are quarantined. Nine staff members have an active diagnosis of COVID-19 and zero staff members are quarantined.

This current data means there is an infection rate among students of 1.62% and a 1.53% infection rate among staff members. Positive cases within the district make up 1.57% of the staff and student population.

Attorney General Ken Paxton announced Friday that his office is suing six of those school districts that have defied the ban on local masking orders, the Texas Tribune reported.

Paxton on Friday sued the Elgin, Galveston, Richardson, Round Rock, Sherman and Spring school districts for requiring students, teachers, school employees and visitors to don face coverings while on their premises, which he dubbed “unlawful political maneuvering,” the Tribune reported.