"We just need no policy. We need all the teachers to know there is no policy. We're back to normal," said Jeff Childers, the attorney representing the families who filed suit, adding if mask requirements are gone then his clients would consider ending the lawsuit. "I know that my 46 plaintiffs would like nothing better than to dismiss this lawsuit and if the school board does the right thing and 

BARTOW, Fla. - The new Polk County school board voted Tuesday to end the district's mask mandate, becoming the latest school system in Tampa Bay to do so.

The new board policy will make masks optional for all students, while incoming Superintendent Jeff Heid will create a parallel policy for teachers and staff.

"As that guidance has changed, the practices in the schools have changed. And here we ar

BARTOW — Nearly four dozen families have joined together to file a lawsuit against Polk County Public Schools demanding that the school district drop its mandate for students to wear masks at all times in school as part of its procedures to try to stop the spread of the COVID-19 virus. 

“Just how much harm to children is acceptable to achieve PCPS’s stated goal of ‘slowing the spread of Covid-19' 

LAKELAND — The Polk County School Board members on Tuesday voted unanimously to rescind the COVID-19 mask mandate and make wearing masks optional, effective immediately. 

"I think that we’re all in agreement to what’s going to be proposed today,” said School Board Vice-Chairwoman Kay Fields. “I see this as being in a toolbox and we can use it if we need it and it’s there if we want to use it. I am

Several children play outside and in the gym during P.E. They are required to wear masks as they run laps in the Florida heat. One boy is scolded for pulling his mask down from over his nose so he can breathe. As punishment, he is forced to run several more laps while wearing his mask.  These were some of the sights Hannah Petersen, a Lakeland mother, witnessed during a visit to her son’s school. 

“We are fighting for the right for our children to breathe unencumbered in school. We have evidence that masking of children creates both emotional issues and physical harm to kids” says parent Hannah Petersen.  Read her family’s story at www.StopMaskingKids.com.

We reject the idea that the school district puts forth that it is now a “dress code” to wear masks. That is not the understood definitio

 This is Hannah Petersen's story: My 8 year old son is in 2nd grade in Lakeland Florida. During PE Class he was running laps outside in 90+ degree weather and could not breath through his mask that the school forces him to wear. My son pulled down his mask to breath. Simply to get oxygen. For that act his teacher not only screamed at him, but forced him to run extra laps... in the mask. That was t

In today’s episode of The Ladies of LifeSite, Hannah Petersen joins Rebekah, Maddie, and Lisa to share her story of fighting masks in the Polk County schools.

After dropping something off for her son, Hannah noticed kids running around during PE with masks on. She asked her 2nd grader about this and he told her how he got yelled at for removing his mask to breath while running laps in the 90 degr

POLK COUNTY, Fla. (WFLA) – Some Polk County parents are planning a rally against masks in schools while some school officials say they’re the only things keeping schools open right now.

“It’s alarming to me that this is what we’re mandating in our schools,” said Hannah Petersen, a mother of four students in Polk County public and charter schools.

She recently stopped by her son’s elementary school 

POLK COUNTY, Fla. (WFLA) — A lawyer for a group of parents in Polk County is demanding the Polk County School Board immediately stop a mask requirement and instead make it optional for students to wear face coverings.

A lawyer representing the group of parents sent a cease and desist letter to the district this week.

“The letter is calling for the Polk County School Board to ‘immediately cease and