A Maryland teacher who did not comply with a school system mandate to wear a mask was placed on leave Wednesday, as thousands of educators prepare to welcome students back for a new school year in suburban Montgomery County.

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       “I have just been placed on administrative leave, and I am leaving the building, followed by all these security guards,” Angela Harders, a special-education teacher at Paint Branch High School, said in a video clip she posted to her Facebook page.

       Harders said in an interview that she was taking a stand against forced masking, adding that face coverings are at odds with her doctor’s orders and her religious faith. On Facebook, she wrote of “faith over fear” and the rights of “free human beings.” Her Facebook page included a string of supportive comments, with some saying she was heroic or brave.

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       Harders has been a teacher for 12 years, she said, and has held several positions in Montgomery County Public Schools, the state’s largest school system. She said she had medical-related accommodations last school year and taught virtually until spring, when in-person classes resumed. She said she was then given leeway about masking — wearing a face shield when she entered the building and simply keeping her distance from students in her very small class. Harders said she had not sought similar accommodations for this year and was unaware she needed to start the process over again. School begins Monday.

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       An Aug. 25 letter that Harders posted from Paint Branch Principal Afie Mirshah said that she was being placed on leave because of allegations of “inappropriate, unprofessional behavior.”

       It said she had been told Monday she was required to wear a mask indoors on school property and asked to leave when she refused. On Wednesday, the letter said, she was maskless in the school’s main hallway, surrounded by staff members. When approached by the principal, she “refused to comply,” it said.

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       An investigation will be conducted, the letter said. The leave, with pay, was set for one day.

       Gboyinde Onijala, a spokeswoman for the school system, confirmed that a staff member refused to wear a mask at Paint Branch High and was asked to leave. She said she could not provide a name or details because of privacy protections.

       In the system of more than 24,000 employees, “this incident today is the first that I have heard of,” Onijala said. “I think most staff members understand the seriousness of why a mask mandate is in place.”

       She said if a staff member was going through the legal process to show they have a disability that requires they cannot wear a mask, the school system would look into reasonable accommodations that might involve an alternative placement or a leave. If someone were allowed to be without a mask, it would have to be in situation that did not pose a threat to the health and safety of others, she said.

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       Refusals like Harders’s do not appear to be the norm as schools open nationally for the 2021-2022 school year but there have been others around the country, including in Oklahoma City and Florida.

       Harders said in the interview she has already had a bout of covid-19 and did not think the mask requirement would apply because of her medical exemption. Beyond that, she said she is opposed to coercive approaches to masking.

       “Everyone should have the freedom to choose,” she said.

       The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued guidance in July urging everyone in school buildings to wear masks, regardless of vaccination status, in response to growing concerns over the highly contagious delta variant.

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       Harders said she has written the school board members about her opposition to masking mandates, and that she recently wrote to Interim Superintendent Monifa McKnight and School Board President Brenda Wolff about masking and a number of contract issues.

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