North Allegheny School Board voted 5-4 on Sept. 22 to require masks for students, staff and visitors indoors if Allegheny County is at a high or substantial rate, even if the state’s health department order is lifted.

The motion was presented by school board director Kevin Mahler at the board’s combined school board meeting held virtually. The vote was held after more than three hours of public comments, largely regarding masking mandates in schools.

While commenting that masks may not be perfect, Mahler said “they do clearly mitigate transmission. Masking is how we keep schools open full-time and minimize quarantine.”

Masking will be optional for students and staff if the county is at low or moderate transmission levels. Low is defined as 10 to 49 cases per 100,000 and moderate is 10 to 49 cases per 100,000, per a slide presented at the meeting detailing the measure.

Masking would be mandatory, despite the state’s masking requirements, if Allegheny County is in substantial transmission, which is 50 to 99 cases per 100,000 persons, or high transmission, which is 100 or more cases.

School directors voting for the measure included school board president Andrew Chomos, Mahler, Allyson Minton, Scott Russell and Elizabeth Warner. Those opposed were Marcie Crow, Libby Blackburn, Richard McClure and Shannon Yeakel.

Russell said this vote “gives clear guidance on what the guidelines are and provides a level of transparency” on the decision.

“It seems like a very reasonable approach,” Chomos said.

Minton said she wants to ensure students stay in-person and that keeping the masks on when the county is in high or substantial status gives them the “best chances of keeping our doors open.”

Blackburn did make a motion to table this decision until the time when the state lifted the mask mandate, as she felt it was premature to make a decision this early.

She felt that waiting would provide a better picture of the status of the community.

“I think we don’t have all the data we are going to need,” she said.

Several other school board members felt the same way, including Crow, who also requested to take a pause on this idea.

“We need to get our act together a little before we make a vote about the future,” said Crow. “I feel like we’re trading off one plan or idea for another.”

But the motion to wait failed 5 to 4.

McClure voted no to keep masks on beyond the state’s mandate, saying they were “ill-prepared to address mask requirements” at this time. He said this vote ties North Allegheny to the transmission rate with everyone in all of Allegheny County and not specifically to the local community.

Blackburn suggested using covid data specific to North Allegheny and not Allegheny County on a whole. However, this did not make it into the final passed motion.

“I am not happy. I think it’s really easy to give up rights and I think it’s very difficult to gain them back again,” Blackburn said.

An earlier vote was also passed 6 to 3 to rescind the board’s action of Aug. 18 that made masks optional but strongly recommended for students, staff and visitors through Sept. 22. Those opposed were Blackburn, McClure and Yeakel.

This vote was a formality, due to the current department of health mask order, to remove the board’s Aug. 18 vote, which resulted in a federal restraining order against the district regarding this action. A group of parents and students filed a lawsuit last month seeking an injunction on that decision, and a judge granted it.

Werner said she felt the August vote did not give proper notice to the community so it shouldn’t have been made. However, Blackburn said she, for one, didn’t hear about the mask mandate too much ahead of the meeting where they made the vote to make the masks optional. Therefore, there wasn’t much time to communicate with the public.

The county has been in high transmission since Aug. 14, per the NA Back to School Health and Safety Plan, which used data from the Allegheny County Health Department website. The county was in substantial transmission by Aug. 2.

The school district superintendent and administration regularly meets with its district physician and health services for guidance, according to the school board members.

The current health plan said students should be allowed to have face masks breaks within the day for no more than five minutes at a time. Masking outdoors is not required.

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