Six Oklahoma City Public Schools teachers were fired Wednesday night for refusing to wear face masks, a report said.
The teachers — five of them tenured — learned their fate after the district Board of Education voted unanimously during a hearing to end their employment, The Oklahoman reported.
The educators failed to comply with a district mandate that all students and staffers wear face coverings as a safeguard against the coronavirus.
They were suspended on Aug. 16 when the mandate went into effect.
District workers can apply for medical exemptions to the mask mandate, the report said.
But the six teachers only listed personal reasons in their exemption requests.
The teachers view the mandate as illegal — and the tenured educators reportedly filed a lawsuit against the district and its superintendent, Sean McDaniel.
A state law bars public school boards from instituting mask mandates without an emergency order issued by the governor, according to the report.
Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt has refused to grant any more pandemic-related orders but McDaniel has said his mandate is legal, since it was ordered by him, not a school board.