Masks will be optional at Freeport Area School District, school board tells parents

When Freeport Area School District opens its schools Aug. 26, masks will be optional for students.

The school board confirmed that decision at its agenda meeting Thursday to a group of about 25 concerned parents. Most voiced opposition to the district mandating the use of masks by its students and were worried that it was part of the district’s health and safety plan for the covid-19 pandemic, which the board will vote on next Thursday.

“Masks will be optional,” district solicitor Matthew Hoffmann told the parents.

Requiring masks is something the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has recommended school districts do, particularly for unvaccinated students and staff. CDC officials said the recommendation was made to stem the spread of the virus’ delta variant, which, they say, spreads at a much greater rate than the original virus.

A draft copy of the plan put out for public review by the district seemed ambiguous about the issue of whether masks will be required, and that’s what caused the concern, according to the parents.

District program director Larry Robb said the draft plan used basically the same language in the previous plan last reviewed in June, which had not been updated since.

As updated recommendations from the CDC and the Pennsylvania Department of Health are made in response to the pandemic, district officials said the plan is adjusted to reflect them.

“There is ambiguity in here because we have not gotten those updates,” Robb said.

The plan’s last version in June stated:

“Consistent with CDC and DOH recommendations, FASD strongly recommends all unvaccinated members of our school community to wear a mask while indoors.”

One resident said she read that and believed it meant masks were optional but said her husband read it and disagreed, noting it did not say that specifically.

Her comments were indicative of the confusion parents said they were experiencing.

“It should not be up to the CDC or the Department of Health to tell me what is best for my children’s health,” said Nan Bowser, mother of a Freeport Area High School junior.

“I’m here to advocate for our children and for families to have a choice,” said Drew Verick of Buffalo Township, who has children in school. She asked that masks be made optional.

Lindsey Selfridge, another Buffalo resident, also said using the masks is a decision for parents to make.

“Should we be respectful of others? Absolutely,” Selfridge said. “But I should not be responsible for your health.”

District officials conceded the plan’s language should have been more specific on the mask issue.

“We just said we strongly recommend that students wear masks. We didn’t say it was an option,” board president Daniel Lucovich acknowledged.

“I would just ask that before you vote on the health and safety plan, please clarify the language,” Verick told the board.

Lucovich said that would be done.

Noting some students will wear masks while others won’t, board member Adam Toncini said he wants the administration and teaching staff to be on alert for children bullying each other in either case. He also encouraged parents to do their part to keep that from happening.

While the masks will be optional in school buildings, Robb said that doesn’t apply to the school buses.

“You will see in the plan that masks are required on buses. We can’t change that; that’s out of our hands,” he said.

Robb said that is because school buses are considered public transportation, for which the federal government requires masks.

Also, Robb and Lucovich made it a point to make the parents aware that the board’s flexibility is limited when it comes to the pandemic.

Lucovich said when the state and federal governments come down with mandates, school districts have to comply or risk losing funding from those sources.

“Whether there will be shutdowns, what that will look like, that is going to be beyond our control,” Robb said. “We do not quarantine; we are directed to quarantine by the Department of Health.”

But Lucovich assured parents the district’s school board, administration and staff are aiming for one thing right now.

“Our goal is to have these kids in school every single day,” he said.