Court order stops Paris (Texas) school district from enforcing mask mandate

Sept. 16, 2021

The temporary restraining order states that the district lacks the authority to impose mask mandate because the governor has banned such mandates.

A judge has issued a temporary restraining order that prevents the Paris (Texas) school district from enforcing a mask mandate.

ABC News reports the district, which serves about 3,900 students in northeast Texas, amended its dress code in early August to include the wearing of masks to circumvent Texas Gov. Greg Abbott's ban on mandates.

The Paris district was one of several districts sued earlier this week by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton.

Paxton said he sued the school systems for for violating Abbott's executive order that banned governmental entities, including schools districts, from mandating face coverings or vaccines.

A Lamar County district court judge issued the temporary restraining order prohibiting the Paris district from enforcing the mandate. Judge R. Wesley Tidwell agreed that the district lacks "authority to issue or enforce a face mask mandate in light of Governor Abbott's executive order GA-38," Paxton's office said in a release.