Opponents urge Greensburg Salem School Board to take stance against mask mandate

Greensburg Salem residents opposed to the state’s school mask mandate repeated their call this week for the school board to defy it.

They also questioned the need for a signature from a doctor instead of a parent when a family seeks to have a child exempted from masking inside school buildings.

Solicitor Lee Demosky said Greensburg Salem is acting on guidance from state officials regarding exemptions by requiring a supporting report from a doctor. He said school board members could be held personally responsible, and would not be covered by the district’s liability insurance, if they don’t abide by Pennsylvania’s mask mandate for all those inside school buildings.

“They’re blanketed with protection from personal liability when they act as an elected official,” Demosky said at Wednesday’s school board meeting. “If they go outside of that and they act willfully against a mandate, they’d be personally liable. They may not have that blanket of protection.”

“If we go against it, and someone sues us civilly, we can lose our houses, our businesses, anything that we’ve worked for,” said board member Robin Savage. “That’s really a lot to ask.”

Mandate opponent Carrie Hamley pointed out the state’s original masking order didn’t specify the need for a doctor’s signature on an exemption application.

“In the end, who knows what’s best for our children than we parents,” she said. She maintained that “wearing a face covering is creating or exacerbating a health problem” for students.

According to Demosky, state officials issued guidance to close that apparent loophole after another school board attempted to issue an exemption form parents could sign.

“Parents would just sign the bottom of it and say what they wanted without any followup medical report that was signed by a doctor,” he said. “The Department of Health came down on that school district about it.”

“We’re trying to do what we can,” school board member Brian Conway said. “We’re being tasked with enforcing something that we don’t have much control over.”

Hamley charged that district officials are “personally complicit in the mental and physical abuse of our children” by requiring them to wear masks at school. “You have aligned yourself with an overreaching governor and an unelected, unconfirmed acting secretary of health,” she said.

School director Frank Gazze responded that Greensburg Salem is following the law and working to keep district children safe.

“We do not mentally or physically abuse any child,” he said. “We care about your kids.”

Resident Tim McHenry said he believes reports that masks aren’t effective against the spread of covid-19. He suggested the district “put together a committee and bring some nonpolitical science people to study this for you and make recommendations.”

A few residents suggested Greensburg Salem join forces with other schools to contest the mask mandate.

While the board heard only from those opposed to the mandate at its meeting, member Lynna Thomas said, “There are an equal number of parents who are grateful for the mandate, who do feel safer with their children in masks.

“We’re here to represent the entire community. We have to listen to all those voices, not just one group of voices.”

Connor Herrington, vice president of the Class of 2022 and a student representative to the school board, said students are enthusiastic about being able to attend classes in person five days per week. District students spent much of last school year following a hybrid schedule that alternated online lessons at home with some days in the classroom.

“To try to return to as much normalcy as possible, we have tried to have as many events as we can, in order to distract kids from some struggles they may be having as well as the polarizing climate of our nation today,” he said. He reported plans are underway for a Homecoming bonfire on Sept. 22 and a parade before the Sept. 24 Homecoming football game against Indiana Area.

Wednesday’s rescheduled board meeting was held outdoors at the front of the senior high, with about 40 people sheltering from a light rain under the roof of an extended portico.

Acting Superintendent Ken Bissell said district officials improvised the outdoor setting after the original meeting date was postponed a week earlier. The board said it could not proceed with that session, in the middle school auditorium, because some members of the audience were not wearing masks, in defiance of the state mandate.

“We wanted to be able to do our business without the distraction,” he said. “This is an idea we came up with. It allowed people to participate, and it allowed us to do our business, to take care of our kids.”