Judge: Phoenix district can keep mask rule, at least for now

By JACQUES BILLEAUD
Associated Press

PHOENIX (AP) — A judge is letting a school district in metro Phoenix keep its requirement that students and teachers wear masks, at least in the coming weeks, even though a new state law bars such mandates. Judge Randall Warner declined to immediately put the brakes on the Phoenix Union High School’s mask requirement. But he’s allowing teacher Douglas Hester to continue pressing his challenge of the district’s policy. Warner says the new law doesn’t take effect until Sept. 29. At least 11 districts accounting for 140,000 students and more than 200 schools have defied the law by imposing their own mask rules.