Parents of students in three North Texas school districts have filed a federal class-action lawsuit against the school systems, claiming the districts have violated the students’ constitutional rights by not requiring masks.
Attorneys representing parents of students in the Frisco Independent School District, the Hurst-Euless-Bedford Independent School District, the Grapevine-Colleyville Independent, as well as the Lago Vista Independent School District filed suit on Tuesday in the Western District of Texas.
The complaint is that by not instituting mask mandates during the COVID-19 pandemic, the districts have allegedly violated the children’s rights under the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment, which says that no state shall deprive any person of life, liberty or property.
“It is well known that our country is in the midst of a plague,” the court document reads. “[Unvaccinated children] are at extreme risk of getting the current strain of COVID-19, now known as the Delta Variant. Unlike its earlier iteration, it is extremely more infectious and spreads more easily, effecting [sic] people who have not yet been vaccinated disproportionately.”
Get DFW local news, weather forecasts and entertainment stories to your inbox. Sign up for NBC DFW newsletters.
Gov. Greg Abbott (R) issued an executive order over the summer which prohibits local governments, including school districts, from making masks a requirement. Several districts, including the Dallas ISD, rebuked the executive order and moved to make masks mandatory as COVID numbers surged near the start of the school year.
Read more about the lawsuit from our partners at the Dallas Morning News.
