Pine-Richland requiring masks for all staff, students to start school year

Citing Allegheny County’s rapid rise in rate of covid-19 transmissions and the need for students to get back to full in-person learning, the Pine-Richland school board on Monday voted to require all staff and students to wear masks while indoors when classes begin on Aug. 31.

The board voted 7-2 to approve the measure after a lengthy discussion between school directors and comments from residents who came down on both sides of the mask debate.

Directors Marc Casciani and Greg DiTullio voted against the district’s Health and Safety Plan for the return to school.

Superintendent Brian Miller said while he is “as frustrated as parents are,” the recommendation to mask up for the start of the school year is needed to prevent the disruptions to education caused by quarantines and switching to remote learning.

“In the beginning of July, we did not expect to make this recommendation to our board for how we start the school year,” Miller said. “Cases were at the lowest level that we’d seen for some time, transmission levels were low. That is not the situation with transmission now.”

Miller said the disruptions to education caused by requiring students and staff to quarantine because of close contact also were considered when the mask policy was crafted.

He noted that a number of school districts in the country that have already come back from summer break without mask requirements while covid transmission levels have risen have had to make abrupt changes.

“We’ve seen schools that have had to shift significantly in their learning models because of high number of quarantine students to virtual setting,” he said.

The superintendent said the “inconvenience” of having to wear a mask was a worthwhile trade-off “if we have a chance to have 99.8 % of our students in K-12 in our schools and keep them there, and keep them involved in activities.”

Before approving the health and safety plan, the board debated an amendment offered by Casciani to only require masks for students in kindergarten through 5th grade.

Casciani lobbied to strike the universal mask requirement from the health and safety plan but said he could support the measure if it only applied to grade schools, where children have not yet been able to be vaccinated.

“It seems like we are treating this decision like we did pre-vaccine,” he said. “The vaccine changed the game, we don’t have to start with a requirement on masks. I think we should leave it optional and put the decision in the hands of responsible parents.”

Casciani said the board was “letting fear dictate our decision.”

“We’ve said we didn’t want to let politics interfere with establishing a positive culture,” he said. “But we are actually making this political by requiring masks.”

Board member Carla Meyer noted that mandated safety measures such as seatbelts and child safety seats in vehicles were also unpopular among some people.

“I remember when seat belt laws were passed it created quite an uproar,” she said. “People said they should have the right to choose.

“Nothing is 100% fail-proof — not seatbelts, not masks — but if there’s a chance that masking saves kids then I’m going to vote for it. If I vote against masking and something happens to one child in Pine-Richland … I could not live with myself.”

Miller stressed several times during the meeting that since the requirement to start the year with masks is being based on medical guidance, the case data will also drive decisions to relax the rules, including reconsidering Casiani’s amendment to only require them for grade-schoolers.

“We absolutely believe in the concept of what you (Casciani) suggested,” Miller said. “We do see a difference between 11 and under where vaccines are not yet available and 12 and over. I do believe there will be a time and place where we maybe think differently about that based on what the conditions are, what we are learning, what we are seeing in our schools and recommendations from the agencies and experts that support us.”

Representatives from the unions representing the district’s teachers and support personnel said its members support the mask mandated.

But several residents said the district’s decision to require masks was an overreach of authority and could cause harm to children.

“I’m disappointed that you are following the herd,” said resident Donald Sank. “My children will not be in school because of the masks.”

Christine Avallone said while she no longer has children in school, she is still concerned about requiring masks for children, saying they are the source of a number of physiological and psychological problems when worn for lengthy periods of time.

“Coronavirus is the common cold and they are saying it’s not going anywhere,” she said. “Does that mean students will be masked forever since this virus will always be with us?”

Parents will be able to submit a written request from a medical professional for an exemption to the mask requirement if their child has a medical condition or physical challenge.

In addition to the mask requirements, the health and safety plan contains a number of measures to reduce the spread of the coronavirus.