Hempfield parents ask school board members to join their fight against mask mandate

Parents of Hempfield Area students want school board members to help them fight a state-issued mask mandate.

More than 60 parents and students attended Monday’s board meeting in the high school auditorium, where they spoke against the mandate, which went into effect last week and requires students and staff to wear face coverings in K-12 schools. The majority of attendees were unmasked. School and state police officers wanded attendees with metal detectors at the door to the auditorium.

“This is for freedom,” said 18-year-old Daniel Beck, a senior at Hempfield Area High School. “If you want to wear a mask, go wear one. If you want to get the vaccine, go do it. But I, personally, don’t want to be told to go get the vaccine, to go put on a mask.”

Parents who spoke at the meeting compared face coverings to muzzles. They said kids were being stripped of expression and suggested the mandate was child abuse. Several wore T-shirts reading “Unmask our kids.” Most asked board members to support them as parents fight the mandate.

Students who spoke suggested those who did not wear masks were placed in a separate room from those who do wear face coverings during the school day.

“We’re here for the silent student body that doesn’t want to say anything to you guys and they’re scared to speak out against everything that’s going on,” said 15-year-old Lily Silvis, a high school sophomore. “We have been protesting with many other students and we’ve been segregated, we’ve been pulled out of class because of our noncompliance.”

Despite pushback from attendees, two parents spoke for the mandate, stating they want their kids to be back in a classroom regardless of whether they have to wear a face covering.

School board members as well as the district solicitor reinforced their decision to follow the mandate. Solicitor Michael Korns stated that the state has threatened fines, the possibility of staff and administrators being sued for willful misconduct, as well as the possible revocation of insurance coverage and school funding if districts do not comply.

“At this point, there’s no way of knowing how likely these consequences are because any of these consequences have not been used before,” Korns said. “However, given the events of the last year and a half, I do not believe we can simply assume that just because it was never done before it can’t happen in the future.”

Several school board members said the possible consequences were their main reasons for upholding the mask mandate, despite not agreeing with how it came about. Board President Tony Bompiani added that several lawsuits challenging the mandate are underway. He suggested that Hempfield Area could soon be joining in the litigation against the state depending on the outcome of one case this week.

Board member Mike Alfery also spoke out against the mandate.

“None of this has made sense to me since covid started,” Alfery said. “Everyone says follow the science, but I don’t see the science between covid spreading in a Chuck E. Cheese party where all your kids are having a birthday party” and at school.

Alfery noted that he understands the frustration, but “when it comes to ruining a superintendent’s career, or ruining a teacher’s career or principal’s career, or one of us up here getting a $300 per person per day fine, that’s real. And that is dollars and cents. I say we should all … ban together and take our fight to Harrisburg.”

Other board members, including Diane Ciabattoni, said they supported the mask mandate if it helps to keep schools open.

“I definitely, definitely want to keep the schools open and if masks happen to give us that opportunity, I think we should,” Ciabattoni said. “The minute the mandate changes we will.”

Superintendent Tammy Wolicki made similar statements, which received criticisim from several attendees.

“To me, I am here for education. I am here for schools. I am here for school that is open,” Wolicki said. “As we address this situation, the most important thing for me is to continue to have students in school and continue to have our schools open for all students. We are already seeing a reduction in the number of quarantines because of the mask mandate.”

There were 37 active covid cases as of Tuesday among student and staff in the district, 18 of which are at the high school and 12 at West Hempfield Middle School, according to an online district tracker.

It was not immediately clear how many students and staff are quarantined.