carly simon. appreciate you joining us. how big a deal is this ruling? do you expect the governor and his allies to escalate the legal battle? >> i certainly expect the governor to escalate the legal battle. it is a good point, a positive moment for us and we are pleased by the decision. we're pleased by many of the points that judge cooper presented because they align with many of our concerns and i think this is a step in the right direction but we're managing our expectations and we know we have a long process, a long legal battle and we're ready for the challenge. >> the governor was standing behind a podium that read early treatment saves lives. i tonight know if the irony is lost in him and he's trying to make it more difficult for schools to prevent covid cases in the first place. >> well, i think there's many ironic moments that have been occurring this entire time. we are focusing very much on having face-to-face classes and making sure our students are receiving direct instruction. increasing this is counter intuitive and it works against our e

carly simon, superintendent of public schools in north central florida.ck. i want to first ask you how you're doing, how your schools are doing, how your kids are doing. >> we're doing great. we are having face-to-face instruction. our students are learning. they're enjoying the time with their friends. covid positivity cases are going down and our quarantine numbers are now below 500, and so we see this as, you know, the positive outcomes of having the mask mandate and making sure that we're tracking the numbers and protecting everyone involved. >> so, even with the mask mandates, you have 500 kids that tested positive and are quarantining right now? >> so, no. our quarantining are for 500 children who have been either exposed to an index case, so a positive student. those are the ones who are being quarantined. we're about 3% of those that we have who would end up being positive with covid, that seems to be about our numbers, but our covid positivity rates are much lower. >> i want to ask you about what example you've set. you spoke out. you took a stan

its superintendent, carly simon, joins me now. superintendent, thanks so much for being with us.n to the breaking news about the department of education's civil rights enforcement investigation. it's based on concern for students with disabilities. is that one of the reasons why you wanted to require masks in your schools? >> well, it certainly is. and this is a reason that we've actually shared with the commissioner of education and with the board of education that we have fragile students who need to have the additional layer of support and security that our mask mandate would have by making sure that we have as many people masked to reduce the transmission of the virus. >> now, i know you say that your district is not part of a lawsuit that was ruled on today by the appeals court. but it's an important ruling, nevertheless. what impact do you think it will have on students across the state? >> so as far as our district, it's not going to have an impact. we are continuing to do what we have done since the school year began. we are going to have the mask mandate to protect as ma

yesterday, carly simon says the district receivered $150,000, the first district in the nation to receivericts that made masks mandatory in classrooms. in florida, manny diaz is working to ban any covid vaccines and it's time to review vaccine mandates for other diseases like mumps and measles. he did make a distinction that vaccines have been around for a long time and newer ones like covid-19. willie. >> meanwhile there is new data on vaccine mandates when it comes to schools and how educators feel about that. recent polling shows two-thirds, 67% favor a requirement that all schools to be vaccinated. the vast majority of members reported 90% being vaccinated. randi weingarten is joining us now. good morning, you made some news on the show saying you do support vaccine mandates in schools. you are up 90% of vavaccination it seems teachers are on board here. teachers wanted to be in school. they understand that being in school is the best place for kids. we put $5 million out in the field and we did a big back-to-school campaign. i have been in 18 states and 35 places since august the 1st

carly simon out of alachua county, and she said again and again, i do not want a political fight.gue with the governor. i'm just trying to protect my students, that's all i want to do right now. what will you do as this case moves up through the courts, if this is up held, if the governor's order is up held, and they say you must. you must not have a mask mandate or else we'll continue to take money out of your schools or worse, where do you think this goes from here? >> at this point in time, i know that our county as well as there are a few others that are joining in with us in order to take this to court as well. so we will continue to go in that approach as needed. and again, we want to revisit this after labor day. our school board is going to revisit this issue. and the reason is because we're going to be using, what is the data, the boots on the ground in broward county. are we at a position that we don't need this as mitigating factors. has covid slowed down enough to where we don't have to have that. they're going to continue to revisit this and continue to make sure that