LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) – Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron sent a letter Tuesday urging the Jefferson County Board of Education to drop its mask mandate “immediately” for Kentucky’s largest public school district.

Cameron, who is also seeking the Republican gubernatorial nomination in the 2023 primary election, said in the letter that his office is also exploring whether the board can impose a mask mandate at Jefferson County Public Schools.

Cameron’s push comes as three board members wanted to reconsider mandatory masking at Tuesday’s board meeting.

The board, however, did not consider amending its COVID-19 policies, which were unanimously passed on July 19 and require mandatory masking when Jefferson County’s coronavirus community level hits “red” based on metrics from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Face coverings are optional when COVID-19 levels are in "yellow" or "green" under the district's plan.

Board member James Craig, who represents District 3, offered a motion to amend Tuesday's meeting agenda to add consideration of the district's COVID-19 mitigation strategies, but it failed on a 3-4 vote.

Craig voted alongside board members Linda Duncan and Sarah Cole McIntosh in favor of his motion while Chairwoman Diane Porter, Vice Chairman Corrie Shull and board members Chris Kolb and Joe Marshall opposed.

Marshall participated in Tuesday's board meeting virtually. The three who attended the meeting declined interview requests, but Kolb, who represents District 2, said in an email to WDRB News that the board "thoroughly discussed this issue at a meeting a mere 28 days ago."

"Absolutely nothing has changed regarding COVID over the past 28 days," he said, noting that board unanimously approved Superintendent Marty Pollio's recommended mitigation strategy.

Jefferson County has recorded high COVID-19 community levels, which take coronavirus infections, hospitalizations and deaths into account, since just after that meeting, meaning masks have been required in district buses and facilities for four weeks.

Legislation that would have allowed parents to opt out of school districts' mask mandates in response to the COVID-19 pandemic failed to pass the Kentucky Senate after clearing the House on a 56-35 vote March 8.

“JCPS has instituted a universal mask mandate for all school children and everyone who steps foot in a JCPS building or bus,” Cameron said in a statement Tuesday. “This policy places unnecessary strain on teachers and hinders the development of our children, and we’ve asked the Board to end the mandate.”

Pollio declined to comment on the letter because he had not seen it after Tuesday's meeting.

However, he has previously said he's "confident" the district is on firm legal ground for its masking policy based on guidance from the CDC and Kentucky Department for Public Health.

"We're on pretty strong legal ground," Pollio said Thursday during a news conference. "I'm no lawyer and I guess someone else will have to decide that, but it seems to me we are."

The district's masking policy has proven divisive, and JCPS is one of eight of the largest school districts across the country with face coverings required as of Tuesday, according to data aggregator Burbio.

A recent survey by the Jefferson County Teachers Association found 52% of some 3,000 respondents among the union's membership either opposed or strongly opposed the JCPS masking policy compared to 38% who supported or strongly supported the policy and 10% who were indifferent.

About 150 people protested against the district's mask mandate outside the VanHoose Education Center before the board's Aug. 2 meeting.

"I'm really angry," said Julie Simon, who has children in fourth and sixth grades at JCPS and wants optional masking at the district. "... I feel like they're not hearing us parents and taking us seriously."

Still, Pollio says he's optimistic local COVID-19 metrics will improve enough to make masks optional at JCPS as soon as next week.

"I have seven bosses," Pollio said. "I think it's pretty clear where four of them are on this."

That can't come soon enough for parents like Simon, who said she reached out to her daughter's assistant principal after a teacher yelled at her for not wearing a mask outside the school.

"I definitely think it should be optional," she said. "If you want to wear a mask, go for it. It's not hurting me and my children, but when you're forcing my children to wear a mask, it's affecting us. It's affecting them. It's affecting all the other children."

Copyright 2022 WDRB Media. All Rights Reserved.