Parents sue Upper St. Clair School District over lifting of mask mandate

A group of families of medically disabled children is suing Upper St. Clair School District in federal court after the board there reversed its mandatory mask mandate earlier this month.

The lawsuit, filed on behalf of five medically fragile students who are unnamed in the complaint, seeks a temporary restraining order that would reassert a universal mask mandate.

U.S. District Judge William S. Stickman heard argument on the motion on Thursday and said he will issue a decision on Friday.

According to the complaint, the school board voted 7-2 on Jan. 10 to reverse its previous mask mandate effective Jan. 24.

The plaintiffs allege that by making masking optional, the district is putting medically fragile students at risk.

It cites the omicron variant in the ongoing surge in covid-19 cases and guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that suggest that masking is part of the multifaceted, layered approach to reducing airborne transmission.

“In order to keep children in-school, every step necessary to a ‘layered approach’ for preventing the spread of covid-19, which requires universal masking, should be followed,” the complaint said.

The lawsuit contends that the district currently has approximately 100 students that either have cancer or some type of autoimmune deficiency, as well as 300 more with respiratory conditions that place them at high risk for infection.

“The board’s vote permitting optional masking forces the parents of medically fragile school children with disabilities to make the shockingly unfair or unjust decision of deciding whether to pull their children out of in-person learning which causes mental harm and havoc on the child and family, or face the quantifiably increased risk of physical harm caused by exposure to severe illness or death as a result of covid-19,” the complaint said.

Jocelyn Kramer, an attorney who represents the school district, said the district’s intent is not to put any students at risk, but to stay within its authority.

“Masking is a public health decision, and our public health organizations have declined to do it,” she said. “We’re trying to balance it and be in the middle.

“They put this on the district, and we’re being targeted on both sides.”

The mandate was lifted by the board, Kramer said, because all students are now eligible to be vaccinated, and isolation periods have been reduced.

Still, she continued, the district intends to provide accommodations to the medically compromised students to ensure their safety.

But Kenneth Behrend, the attorney representing the plaintiffs, said there are limits to those.

“You have to provide accommodations in a non-discriminatory way,” he said. “If you segregate, if you isolate, if you distinguish the disabled students in any way, that’s a violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act.

“You cannot place them in a position where they’re stigmatized.”

Behrend also represents students who filed a similar lawsuit against North Allegheny School District. In that case, U.S. District Judge Marilyn Horan granted a request for the district to reinstitute its mask mandate.

Related:

• Judge orders North Allegheny School District to reinstate universal masking