Thousands line up at Florida event for mask opt-out forms for their schoolchildren

Orlando Sentinel | By Tiffini Theisen | September 14, 2021

Former national security adviser Michael Flynn, guards in camouflage toting semi-automatic rifles, and hundreds of families seeking opt-out letters for school mask rules attended an event Sunday in Sarasota County where doctors handed out the notes, according to a news report.

After an estimated 1,500 to 3,000 people showed up at The Hollow, a wedding venue in Venice, for the event, a Sarasota Schools spokesman said the district was “bracing for up to 2,000” forms, the Sarasota Herald-Tribune reported.

“If the physicians meet the requirements and the intent of the policy, they will be accepted,” spokesman Craig Maniglia told the newspaper. “There’s not much we can do.”

The event took place a couple of weeks after the district changed its rules to no longer accept medical exemption forms from chiropractors.

In early September, Dr. Dan Busch, who runs the Twin Palms Chiropractic practice in Venice, had signed about a third of all the medical exemption forms received across the entire school district.

Busch helped promote Sunday’s event on social media.