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Florida's Biggest School Districts Defy DeSantis Mask Mandate Ban; Livid Parents Pull Kids from Georgia School Over Lax COVID Rules; Afghan Women Fear for Their Lives as Taliban Regain Control; FAA Proposes $500K+ Fines Against Unruly Airline Passengers. Aired 3:30-4p ET

Aired August 19, 2021 - 15:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

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ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN HOST: Governor Ron DeSantis says one Florida county reneged on parents after it just voted to impose a mask mandate in their school. Hillsboro County defying the governor, who has outlawed requiring masks in the classroom.

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN HOST: More than 6,000 students and staff have now tested positive since the school year began with tens of thousands of others in quarantine after being exposed.

[15:35:00]

CNN's Evan McMorris-Santoro is in Tampa, so tell us more about what the governor said.

EVAN MCMORRIS-SANTORO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Victor, the short version is the governor said he's heard these large districts all across his state asking for many leeway to try and lock down this spread of coronavirus in school their systems. He's heard them and he doesn't really care about it.

Let me put this in context for you, here in Hillsboro County, which is the seventh or eighth largest school district in the country depending on who you talk to. The school system has been open for nine days. 12,000 students are quarantined. That's more than 5 percent of the population of this school system. And there have been hundreds of cases of coronavirus.

So yesterday in an emergency board meeting the board voted to impose a new mask mandate on students and staff in this system. They changed the mandate that they had before the school year started, before all of this began that said that any parent that wanted to could opt out. About 14 percent of parents did.

After these numbers, the district said we've got to go ahead, we've got to change that to no opt out except for medical reasons only. When the governor heard that, he said this at his press conference today.

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GOV. RON DESANTIS (R-FL): They had allowed the parents to make the decision and have an ability to opt out. And that's how school started. They reneged on that and basically took the decision out of the parents' hands.

So, there's parents that were sending their kids to school in ways that they thought was the most healthy for their kids, particularly these little kids, you know, kindergarteners, first graders, and they basically took that away from the parents.

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SANTORO (on camera): Again, all students have to wear masks but those with medical exemptions do not have to wear them here in Hillsboro County.

When it comes to what parents want, I've been talking to parents all week. And what a lot of them are scared of this uncontrolled -- they're worried it is an uncontrolled spread of COVID inside their school systems. And when they hear the governor talking about parent choice, they're worried he's taking their choices away by not letting their elected school board make decisions about what's safe for their schools -- Victor and Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: Evan McMorris Santoro, thank you for that.

And over in Georgia, parents in the state's second biggest school district, Cobb County, are pulling their children out because of lax COVID protocols. So, unlike most metro Atlanta school districts Cobb County is not requiring masks inside schools.

CNN'S Ryan Young is in Cobb County, Georgia. So, Ryan, parents who want masks for safety are about to hold a protest. So, what are you seeing now?

RYAN YOUNG, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, they are, if this weather holds up for them. We're in driving rain right now. I can tell you they already had a preliminary meeting in the last half hour or so. And parents already showed up for public comment. And just to show you how divided things are, parents who decided they wanted to wear masks sat on the left-hand side, and parents who did not want masks on the right-hand side.

We heard a lot of passion from parents on the inside about whether or not their kids should have to wear masks. Some parents were basically just saying they want dividers, they want physical separation between their kids and they don't think the school board here is doing that.

I want you to take a listen to some of the public comment that just happened here a few moments ago.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I worked every day through this pandemic in the office, in the hospital. We take multiple, multiple precautions. And now I feel hopeless and just vulnerable that my kids are going to school and there are no precautions.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you Superintendent Ragsdale for keeping masks optional in Cobb County schools. You are following the science and the facts.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

YOUNG (on camera): The one thing that's clear here is that the science doesn't really make sense to both sides. Some people say masks should be worn and there's other people who showed up and says the science says that masks don't work.

So you have a lot of that conversation happening in the middle of this. One woman said, hey, we didn't send our kids home for chickenpox, why COVID-19? And then someone else stood up and basically it was like, it's completely different.

So, this battle continues. There's going to be hopefully that protest in the next hour and a half or so. The meeting tonight is at 7:00. But this has been hotly contested. Last time there were a lot of emotions. There's a lot of law

enforcement here just in case. But so far, no emotions have spilled over.

CAMEROTA: OK, Ryan Young, thank you for explaining to us all of the different emotions that you're seeing there.

BLACKWELL: Thank you, Ryan.

CAMEROTA: I believe in the healing power of music.

BLACKWELL: Do you now?

CAMEROTA: I don't know if that's scientific. But I can tell you this, that all week-long New Yorkers have been enjoying free hip-hop concerts as part of the city's Homecoming week. And there's another show tonight in Brooklyn and Friday in Queens. This is all part of the lead-up to the We Love New York City -- the Homecoming Concert.

BLACKWELL: The lineup includes Wyclef Jean, Bruce Springsteen, LL Cool J, Barry Manilow and Jennifer Hudson.

CAMEROTA: That really runs the gamut I fell of musical taste.

BLACKWELL: I feel like you're covering a huge swath with this group.

Attendees have to show proof of at least one dose of the COVID vaccine to get in. Watch it exclusively on CNN, Saturday starting at 5:00 p.m. Eastern.

CAMEROTA: OK, meanwhile, back to Afghanistan, what does the future hold for Afghan women? Many of them are in hiding right now. One female journalist says she feels like a prisoner inside of the Taliban-controlled nation.

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CAMEROTA: The Taliban claims they'll build an inclusive government with no violence or discrimination against women, but that doesn't line up with the reality that we're already seeing on the ground.

One Afghan journalist says she is living like a prisoner in Kabul, tweeting, quote, we are just alive. I no longer think about the future and my hopes. I'm just trying to save myself and my 18-month-old baby before the Taliban kills me like dozens of other reporters.

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BLACKWELL: With us now, Gayle Tzemach Lemmon. She is an adjunct senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations. Author of "The Daughters of Kobani -- A Story of Rebellion, Courage and Justice." Thank you for being with us. You recently wrote an op-ed in the "Washington Post" sharing these text messages, these messages you're getting from women in Afghanistan. Tell us what you're hearing.

GAYLE TZEMACH LEMMON, ADJUNCT SENIOR FELLOW, COUNCIL ON FOREIGN RELATIONS: Exactly what you just said. You know, there's just fear and uncertainty. And everyone is measuring the gap between what they say at the mic and what it looks like on the ground.

You know, that's -- I mean I talk to young women who are huddling in basements, young women who are trying to stay away from windows. Everybody is scared.

CAMEROTA: And, Gayle, the Taliban, you know, claims they'll be inclusive. They don't want to see discrimination towards women. But they're also vowing a return to sharia law. What will that look like for women?

LEMMON: This is the question, right? Do we go by 1996? Do we by 2021? Do we go by a rebrand, right, that they're working on?

If they really want to be taken seriously and want international credibility, right, which they wanted in 1996 when they took Kabul and demanded the UN seat. Right, if that's what they want, then allow freedom of mobility for women, freedom of movement for Afghans who are getting stopped at checkpoints on the way to the airport. Let's see. Let this be a test and see if the Taliban is serious about being a next generation version of the Taliban, which was never a monolith to begin with.

BLACKWELL: You know, once the U.S. leaves whether that's August 31st or some later date to continue the evacuation, my question for you is who then do women in Afghanistan have? A lot of the Western countries are gone. Russia and China are still there, but I don't know if we're expecting them to stand up for human rights. Who do these women have to rely upon? LEMMON: Well, I say kind of three things. One, everybody is watching

the clock. I'm getting frantic messages from people saying, you know, I only have X number days. I need to get out. I can't get past the checkpoints. What do I do? For people who are (INAUDIBLE).

Secondly, we are seeing this whole question about Taliban wanting recognition. If the Taliban wants to go beyond humanitarian aid to development aid, right, it cannot run a city. It knows it cannot run a city as complex and crowded as Kabul. It needs aid.

The World Bank already has --- you know has postponed or held up some of its money. If it wants that, then the world cannot stand by and say half the population gets left out. Let that be a test of whether the Taliban is going to, in fact, be inclusive. No recognition with our or kind of aid and funding without making sure that the entire population, not just half, gets to go to work and school.

And then the third question is, you know, how do you see who's going to stand up for Afghan women? Women are. Right, I mean Afghan women saved themselves in 1996 to 2001. They started businesses and ran schools all underground during Taliban times. But they are our greatest allies in security instability. And should they have to be on their own again.

CAMEROTA: I mean I'm already reading accounts of female journalists in Afghanistan. Their homes are being raided. They're having to hide their credentials. They're having bury the awards and medals they've gotten for their journalism. That's already happening right now.

And so, Gayle, when you get those S.O.S. messages from inside Afghanistan of women saying, you know, help, save us, what do you do with those?

LEMMON: First of all, I try to help. And second of all, my heart breaks. You know, I mean how would you feel? You know that these are people who are patriots, right, people who deeply want to fight for their communities. And they really are the allies for a more secure, more stable Afghanistan whatever comes next. Right?

And so, you try to think about how do you figure out how to connect them with resources, because many of them do qualify for the things we have said.

And I know the Biden administration really is working hard to push them, you know, ahead and to allow them to have the exits that they're promised.

But then there's the other 19 million women who will remain there no matter what. And so, we have to think to about how do we help create space to get women out of the country who have stood with the United States and NATO.

And then secondly, how do we create space for the women who will be there in whatever comes next for Afghanistan and make sure that we are supporting these allies' instability.

CAMEROTA: Gayle Tzemach Lemmon, thank you very much for the insight and expertise on this.

LEMMON: Thank you.

BLACKWELL: The FAA has now announced new fines up to a half million dollars in punishing unruly passengers. We've got details.

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CAMEROTA: Federal authorities are proposing more than half a million dollars in new fines against unruly airline passengers.

BLACKWELL: Aviation correspondent Pete Muntean is with us now. So, what kind of behavior could result in a half million dollar fine?

PETE MUNTEAN, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: Well, Victor, Alisyn, the FAA is giving us vivid new detail of these 34 cases where passengers are facing serious federal fines.

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You know it's so interesting here is that the FAA says passengers did a lot of different things that are very ugly on board flights, punching fellow passengers, threatening to go storm the flight deck, in another case threatening to kill a flight attendant.

$500,000 in new fines now brings the total here to more than $1,000,000 since the FAA enacted a zero-tolerance policy at the beginning of this year.

The biggest fine, $45,000 to a passenger on a New York to Orlando flight. The FAA says this passenger first threw his bag at another passenger. Then laid down in the aisle of the flight, grabbed the ankles of a flight attendant and then shoved his head up her skirt. That flight ultimately had to be diverted to Virginia landing a bit early.

The second biggest fine, $42,000 for a passenger that flight crews said they saw snorting what appeared to be cocaine and then making stabbing gestures at other passengers on board that flight.

You know, this is only the tip of the iceberg here though. Flight crews have reported 3,800 incidents of unruly passengers since the start of this year. But the FAA has initiated enforcement action in only about 120 of these cases which has led some in Congress to say that the FBI should get involved.

They say that the FAA has just too narrow of a prosecutorial scope. They can only assess civil fines here. That's why the FBI can potentially throw people in prison, and that could really send a message to these passengers -- Victor and Alisyn.

BLACKWELL: All right. Pete Muntean, thank you.

CAMEROTA: I'll do it. BLACKWELL: Please do this.

CAMEROTA: "THE LEAD" with Jake Tapper starts right after this break.

BLACKWELL: There's just no transition.

CAMEROTA: Nailed it.

BLACKWELL: There's just no transition.

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