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The Palm Beach County School Board member behind the one lone vote to reverse a parental opt-out for the mask mandate wants to make it clear what her intentions were.
"I had some emails that say 'Thank you Barbara for protecting the rights of our children.' No. I need for them all to know, I do support masking."
Barbara McQuinn says she was more concerned with what disruption the new policy would cause at schools, as 11,000 students have been opting out.
"I asked ahead of time, I said 'Now, if I vote for this policy it means I agree with all of the amendments.' Well I don't. So I had to be a no vote."
She wanted more time to sort things out.
There is question as to whether schools can legally get away with punishing students who may refuse to put on a mask in class.
The new policy, which will only allow for medical exemptions to the mask mandate, takes effect on Monday.