Parents urge Greensburg Salem to defy state mandate, stick with mask-optional school plan

Some Greensburg Salem parents urged the district to stick with its recently approved mask-optional policy inside its schools, despite a statewide K-12 mask mandate set to take effect Tuesday.

At this week’s board discussion meeting, Ryan Silowash and Susanna Dejeet, both of Salem, and Carrie Hamley, of Greensburg, all spoke in favor of the school board rejecting the state mask mandate. Other audience members indicated they would have liked to have addressed the board, but they didn’t meet the requirement of requesting in advance to speak at the non-voting session.

Hamley said the school board should “push back when the governor tries to overreach his authority. Fight for our children and shield them from this politically charged (mask) policy.”

Acting Superintendent Ken Bissell said after the meeting that Greensburg Salem administrators were planning to meet with the district solicitor to review the implications of the state mask mandate.

Republican legislators accused Gov. Tom Wolf’s administration of attempting to circumvent a constitutional amendment voters approved in May, to limit the governor’s emergency powers. But legal experts say there’s no violation of the amendment because the governor hasn’t declared a new covid-related disaster.

Wolf said the mask order stems from other laws and regulations that give the Pennsylvania Department of Health oversight of disease control measures.

Dejeet and Silowash said they believe sources that dispute the effectiveness of masks in slowing the spread of covid-19.

Silowash argued that wearing masks interferes with children’s breathing and could make worse any mental health issues they might be experiencing. But, he said, he places himself among those who aren’t “against the wearing of masks; we are against mandates.”

He said the timing of the mask mandate is unfair to students, who began their first day of classes Wednesday.

“It’s not right to pull the rug out from under these kids after they’ve been in a normal school for three days,” he said. “It seems cruel and unusual to me.

“I’m a father who cares about his kids. I want their normal life back.”

For much of the 2020-21 school year, Greensburg Salem followed a hybrid instructional plan, with students spending part of the week in classrooms and the remaining days learning at home, with online lessons.

The district entered the current academic year with a plan to offer in-person lessons five days per week, while allowing each family to decide if its children would wear masks inside schools.

“As parents, we are tired of circular talk, the flip-flops and the ever-changing guidance,” Hamley told the school board. “Today, I’m addressing you from the soap box. In November, we will speak to you from the ballot box.”

Some parents indicated they would remove their children from district instruction if mask-wearing is mandated — a move that could affect district staffing levels, especially in kindergarten.

“We don’t want our kids masked,” said Dejeet. “If you continue to do this to our children, you are going to face the repercussion of everyone moving out.”

Bissell reported that Greensburg Salem had “a great opening day of school. The students were excited to be here; they were happy to be here with their teachers. Our students just want to learn.”

He said no new covid cases surfaced among district schools on Wednesday, but he noted some students already were subject to covid-related quarantines before classes began.