Solicitor advises Greater Latrobe School Board to honor mask mandate as protests continue

Greater Latrobe School Board this week amended its health and safety plan to formally include a state mask mandate that has been in place since Sept. 7.

Several residents called for the school board to contest it, but solicitor Ned Nakles advised the panel to honor the order while legal challenges play out at the state level.

Nakles said he believes state officials had the legal authority to issue the order for all those inside school buildings to wear face coverings, regardless of vaccination status.

“I believe there are statutes in place to allow the Department of Health to do what they’re doing,” Nakles said.

If Greater Latrobe were to join other districts and legislators in challenging the order, he said, “It would be nothing more than wasted legal fees.”

Once Pennsylvania courts rule on those challenges, Nakles said, “We will have a statewide outcome we can look at and the board can review.”

Prior to the state mandate, Greater Latrobe began the school year with a mask-optional policy for students and staff.

Mark Lancianese, a Greater Latrobe alumnus and father of three, addressed the board at its meeting in the senior high auditorium. He said other parents can choose to have their children wear masks but all parents shouldn’t be forced to follow suit.

“The mask mandate and separation of the vaccinated and unvaccinated needs to end, and it needs to end now,” he said. “Don’t sit up there as a school board member and tell me how to protect my kids.”

Despite the availability of several vaccines, Monica Green said she believes exposure to the covid-19 virus is the best option for her during the pandemic.

“I need to be affected by the virus, I need to be exposed to it, or I’m never going to be safe,” she said.

She also expressed belief that masks aren’t effective for keeping people healthy.

“Not all our children that are in the school are sick,” Green said. “Why are you masking all of them? Get our kids out of the mask and keep them out of the mask.”

One parent charged that some teachers aren’t providing students breaks from wearing masks, including in gym class, contrary to district policy.

“We have reminded our phys ed teachers that kids are not to wear masks in gym,” Assistant Superintendent Mike Porembka said. “If your child’s teacher is not allowing the mask breaks that you see fit, reach out to the teacher, reach out to the building principal.”

Audience members also claimed some students and teachers aren’t wearing masks.

Superintendent Georgia Teppert said the district has approved some medical exemptions that allow students and staff to be in school without wearing a face covering.

She said Greater Latrobe doesn’t automatically provide such exemptions for students who may have asthma or other conditions. Those seeking an exemption must submit a request accompanied by medical documentation.

Laurie Havrisko, director of pupil services and the district’s pandemic coordinator, said state guidance indicates “all alternatives to a face covering, including a face shield, should be exhausted” before an exemption is granted.

School director Heidi Kozar told audience members most school board members have children or grandchildren who also must put up with wearing masks under pandemic restrictions. “We’re in the same boat,” she said.

That holds true for the superintendent, as well.

“I have a daughter in this district, too,” said Teppert. “Does she want to wear a mask? No.” But, she added, “We need to do at this time what we need to do.”

Greater Latrobe officials said their goal is to keep district schools open, with students learning in-person from teachers five days per week.

Debate focuses on student protest

Referring to a walkout protest staged by some high school students when the mask mandate took effect Sept. 7, parent Tom Melago said students who refused to don masks that day were ordered to leave the school campus without notifying their parents.

He said some students who complied with the mask mandate were taunting the protesters. “The message was us against them.”

Teppert denied that students were turned away from the school without supervision, but she said staff had no way of contacting parents of students who may have left the campus undetected on their own accord.

She has said students who entered the school and refused to wear a mask were sent to the principal’s office, and their parents were contacted and told to pick them up.

Porembka said the doors of the school eventually were locked at 9 a.m to protect the students inside, after a few parents who were on the campus threatened to enter the building.

Teppert said students who refused to wear masks, and their families, were given until Sept. 10 to consider their options. Ultimately, she said, those who wouldn’t wear masks and lacked a legitimate exemption were offered virtual instruction through the eCat Online Academy.