Parents Say Florida School Used Rope to Tie Mask on Their Non-Verbal Special Needs Daughter Without Their Knowledge

Outraged parents have accused Brevard Public Schools (BPS) in Florida of using a nylon rope to tie a mask on their 7-year-old special needs daughter for weeks without their knowledge or consent.

Sofia Steele, 7, has Down syndrome and an enlarged tongue which puts her at serious risk while wearing a mask.

The girl’s father, Dr. Jeffrey Steele, believed she was exempt from the school’s mask mandate as she had been returning home without one. One day, the school forgot to remove it before sending her to her parents.

The Federalist reports that “officials at the school had been bullying Sofia to put on the mask for six weeks, backed by BPS’s illegal mask mandate, which has been pushed by lightning-rod school board member Jennifer Jenkins, a Democrat. School officials resorted to tying the mask to Sofia’s face with rope after she rejected their efforts to affix the mask via the ear loops. Sofia’s family is pursuing legal action.”

Dr. Steele told the Federalist that “medically, she could aspirate. She could asphyxiate, and all sorts of medical things could happen because of her breathing, and her enlarged tongue, it could cause seizures.”

“There’s a special place in hell for the three members of the Brevard County School Board who did this to Sofia Steele… There will be hell to pay,” Florida state Rep. Randy Fine said Friday.

Fine added that “criminal investigations are ongoing,” and he announced that he is working on legislation to put “the Brevard County school board members who did this to Sofia in prison for a very long time.”