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Alachua County, one of the districts where school board members' salaries are being withheld for imposing a mandate, said in a statement that despite Friday's ruling it will \"continue to enforce universal masking in our schools.\"

\"The decision is disappointing, but we understood from the beginning that the legal battle over masks in schools would take time and not every decision would be favorable,\" Alachua County Public Schools Superintendent Carlee Simon said in a statement.

\"While Alachua County Public Schools is not part of this particular lawsuit, we certainly support it,\" Simon continued. \"We are pleased that the plaintiffs plan to continue their fight. In the meantime, our legal challenges are just beginning, and we support the other Florida districts and families who are also taking the state to court over this issue.\"

At least 13 school districts, including Florida's six largest, have implemented mask mandates.

\"Upon our review of the trial court's final judgment and the operative pleadings, we have serious doubts about standing, jurisdiction, and other threshold matters,\" Friday's order states. \"These doubts significantly militate against the likelihood of the appellees' ultimate success in this appeal.\"

\"PHOTO:
Ivy Ceballo/Tampa Bay Times via ZUMA Wire via Newscom
PHOTO: Students and their families fill out paperwork at a back to school health clinic at Middleton High School in Tampa, Fla., on July 31, 2021.
>

A lawyer representing the parents who sued the state said Friday's decision would make students less safe.

\"We are disappointed by the ruling of the 1st DCA that reinstates the stay and will be seeking pass through jurisdiction of the Supreme Court of Florida since this matter involves statewide issues. With a stay in place, students, parents and teachers are back in harm's way,\" Charles Gallagher, one of the lawyers representing the group of parents who sued the state over its ban on mask mandates, wrote on Twitter.

The U.S. Department of Department said Friday evening it had opened a civil rights investigation into Florida.

The Office of Civil Rights \"is concerned that Florida's policy requiring public schools and school districts to allow parents to opt their children out of mask mandates may be preventing schools in Florida from meeting their legal obligations not to discriminate based on disability and from providing an equal educational opportunity to students with disabilities who are at heightened risk of severe illness from COVID-19.\"

Florida joins Iowa, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee and Utah under federal scrutiny.

ABC News' Anne Flaherty contributed to this report.

Dave Packer reports for ABC News Radio:

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