Hey there is the NPR Politics Podcast. I'm Aisha Roscoe. I cover the White House.

I'm Tamer Keith. I also cover the White House. And today we've got Corey Turner back on

the podcast from NPR's education team. Hey Corey, oh my goodness. Hey Corey. So we talked

about this a bit ago, just a little bit ago on the podcast that the the U.S. Department of Education,

the Biden administration, that they were threatening that they would those states that were not allowing

mass mandates in schools that they might take action. And just last week you reported that the

Department of Education followed through on that and they actually sent I guess a written warning

to five states that their bans on mass mandates in schools could violate student civil rights. So

what is the department arguing at this point and what states is it targeting? Yeah, that's right Aisha.

So the department's acting assistant secretary for civil rights basically sent these letters to

the state education leaders in Iowa, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee and Utah.

Basically telling them that the department's office for civil rights is investigating whether

their bans are discriminatory. So at the center of these concerns are really students with

disabilities who may be at heightened risk for severe illness from COVID-19. And whether the state

bans prevent these vulnerable kids from safely returning to in person education. Here's the thing Aisha,

you got to understand that federal law specifically guarantees what's known as a free and appropriate

public education for kids with disabilities. And that's where the department's concern here is.

So my colleague, Sneha Day, she spoke recently with one mom her name is Brittany Schweigert

who says that her 13 year old son Grayson needs his classmates to wear a mask. Grayson has a rare

genetic disorder which means getting COVID could send him into renal failure. But they live in Tennessee

which obviously is one of these states. We cannot rely on other people's parenting to protect

our special needs child. That's absurd. I was extremely upset and I feel like

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