Mask disputes, outbreaks make for rocky start of school year

By JAMES ANDERSON
Associated Press

The summer surge of the highly infectious delta variant of the coronavirus made for a disruptive start of the school year in many parts of the country Monday. Parents, school boards and politicians clashed over whether students and teachers should be required to wear masks. Confusion reigned in several Texas school districts after the state Supreme Court stopped mask mandates in two of the state’s largest school districts. An Arizona judge upheld a mask mandate in a Phoenix district despite a new state law prohibiting such mandates. One Colorado county posted sheriff’s deputies in schools on the first day of classes as a precaution after parents protested a last-minute mask mandate.