A teacher in Florida used a nylon cord to tie a mask to the face of a young student with Down syndrome, in violation of the state’s Parents’ Bill of Rights, the student’s father says. When 7-year-old Sofia Steel, who is nonverbal, got off her school bus on Oct. 7 with a mask tied to her face, it was the first time her parents saw that she was being forced to wear a mask. Brevard County authorities imposed a school mask mandate on Aug. 30, but because Sofia is a special needs child, she has an individualized education program (IEP). The face-covering requirement (pdf) specifically exempts students with IEPs. Sofia’s parents say they were never asked for consent for their daughter to be masked and that she boarded her bus without a mask each day between Aug. 30 and Oct. 7 and returned home unmasked until they saw her with …