The Palm Beach Post is reporting: “Eight-year-old Fiona LaShells walked onto her elementary school campus Monday with a pink backpack and the fanfare of a homecoming war veteran. Family friends waved signs and cheered. A state legislator strode proudly alongside.

It was, in a sense, a return from battle. For two months, the second-grader and her mother had waged an increasingly high-profile standoff against the Palm Beach County public schools over their mask mandate.”

LaShells has continued to make headlines as her against her school district’s mask mandate has been chronicled at her website StandUpForFiona.com where her videos and disciplinary actions from the school have been continually added. LaShells had amassed nearly 40 days of suspensions in September and October keeping her out of the classroom for 41 days.

That all changed Monday wrote the Palm Beach Post:

To seemingly everyone’s relief, the standoff is over. Amid falling COVID-19 cases and an unfavorable court decision, the school district last week made masks optional once more on its campuses, clearing the way for Fiona to return, for the first time in more than two months, to her classroom.

By then, her case had become a flash point in the national mask debate, and a jolting example of either youthful bravery or melodrama, depending on who you ask.

Jefferey Jaxen

Jefferey Jaxen is a health journalist and featured in his weekly segment, ’The Jaxen Report’, on The HighWire. As an investigative journalist, researcher, and compelling writer, Jefferey serves as Lead editor of The HighWire News and Opinion Team.

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