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The First District Court of Appeal on Friday granted Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) approval to uphold an order banning mask mandates in schools, per court documents filed Friday. The move reverses a decision from earlier this week that paused the state's ability to enforce a ban on strict mask mandates in schools. The state will be able to resume punishing school districts that enforce mandates, which up until this point has included withholding funds from schools. (Doherty, 9/10)

The Education Department announced Friday that it is investigating Florida over its ban on mask mandates. The investigation, which said the ban could discriminate against students with disabilities or underlying medical conditions, is the latest development in both the legal back-and-forth over masks in Florida schools and between the Biden administration and GOP-led states over mask mandates. (Garfinkel, 9/11)

Classroom doors swing open for about a million New York City public school students on Monday in the nation’s largest experiment of in-person learning during the coronavirus pandemic. The start of the school year coincides with several milestones in the city’s pandemic recovery that hinge on vaccine mandates. Nearly all of the city’s 300,000 employees will be required to be back in their workplaces, in person, Monday as the city ends remote work. Most will either need to be vaccinated, or undergo weekly COVID-19 testing to remain in their jobs. (Matthews, 9/13)

Faculty members and students from about 20 public colleges and universities in Georgia are scheduled Monday to begin a week-long series of demonstrations demanding tougher COVID-19 safety measures, such as a mask mandate, in all campus buildings. The University System of Georgia has strongly encouraged, but not required, students, employees and visitors wear masks inside classrooms and other buildings. They’ve also recommended, but not ordered, students and employees get a COVID-19 vaccine. (Stirgus, 9/13)

University System of Georgia students, faculty and staff plan to launch daily protests of the system’s lack of a mask mandate at campuses across the state starting Monday. The plan was announced in an email to Acting Chancellor Teresa MacCartney this week. Matthew Boedy, president of the Georgia Conference of the American Association of University Professors, complained that without a mask mandate to discourage the spread of COVID-19, many students, professors and staff are not following the system policy encouraging mask wearing. (Williams, 9/11)

The number of COVID-19 cases reported by school districts across Texas for last week significantly decreased, but the number may not be an accurate depiction of reality, according to data released Friday. Districts reported 13,222 confirmed positive cases among students for the week ending Sept. 5 and 1,836 cases among staffers, according to figures released by the Department State Health Services. The week prior, there were 35,230 newly confirmed cases among students and 5,574 among staffers, up from 18,804 new student cases and 4,523 staff cases throughout the state the week before that. The increases arrived as schools started welcoming students back to classrooms. (Serrano, 9/10)

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton announced Friday that he's suing six school districts that have defied Gov. Greg Abbott's statewide ban on mask mandates. Some school districts in Texas have sought to implement masking requirements for teachers, students and staff as COVID-19 cases surge across the state. (Frazier, 9/11)

A surge in COVID-19 cases in the opening days of school has left school officials charged with contacting classmates potentially exposed to the virus, deciding whether students need to quarantine and determining if the virus is circulating widely enough that classes need to go remote. The responsibilities have mounted as the coronavirus and its delta variant circulate more actively than a year ago, more students are in school buildings and state guidelines allow many students and staff who have been exposed to the virus to forgo quarantines. (Russell, 9/12)

School lunches, long a fun hallmark of youth friendships and the school day, have transformed into a daily period of anxiety for many families and teachers during the pandemic. It’s the one time during the day when — even in cities like D.C. with strict mask requirements — children can be inside maskless. Some parents say they have kept their unvaccinated children out of restaurants during the pandemic and don’t want them now eating maskless in an indoor cafeteria with dozens of other children. (Stein, 9/12)