Masks may be coming back into the classroom of your local school district in the near future after the Oklahoma Supreme Court overturned a part of SB 658 in a surprise move that frees school districts from relying on the governor's office for an emergency mandate if a COVID surge should occur in their area.

SB 658 initially took effect in July, 2021 after Governor Stitt declared that the COVID pandemic was under control and therefore, masks should no longer be mandatory. A state medical association and four mothers of public school students took exception to the decision and filed a lawsuit one month later to challenge the governor's control over masking. Their argument was that children could not have a safe learning environment without some type of masking when surges of COVID occured as expected. Recently, the Oklahoma Supreme Court agreed with part of their argument while also upholding the overall law.

In thier ruling, the court decided that the majority of the law was acceptable but a crucial provision within it that made school districts dependent on the governor's office declaring a "state of emergency" before being able to mandate masks was found to be "impermissible" as it denies the school district control over its health & hygiene policies.

In a nutshell, it means the school distrcits can now enforce the wearing of masks in their own time and in their own way, without governor approval or mandate.