Students, parents protest state school mask mandate

Students at several area school districts walked out of classes Tuesday in protest of the state’s mask mandate.

In the Derry Area School District, students reported for school, then left the high school, carrying signs voicing their displeasure at being forced to wear masks. Police and school officials moved the group to the school’s track and gave the students a microphone to use the public address system at the track. Both Derry and state police were on hand to observe.

At least 25 students and a few parents were protesting outside the entrance to Greater Latrobe Senior High this morning.

“I feel students have the right to choose whether they want to wear a mask or not,” said senior Spencer Bowman, who organized the protest. “I started wearing a mask in 10th grade.

“I feel I’ve wasted most of my high school career. I really just want to have a taste of normalcy before I leave.”

A group of Franklin Regional School District parents plan to protest the mask mandate on Wednesday morning around 7 a.m. near the entrance to the district’s School Road campus in Murrysville.

“I have a child in high school, in the middle school and in the new elementary school,” said parent Teresa Gutierrez of Murrysville. “We’re all vaccinated except the youngest. But we got vaccinated and I don’t want my kids wearing a mask in school.”

After their protest, students at Latrobe said they were told by district officials they couldn’t enter the school without masks or a medical exemption. Some said they were going home rather than don masks that were offered by district staff.

Greater Latrobe Superintendent Georgia Teppert said the vast majority of students who reported to school were wearing masks or accepted those provided by the district. Those who declined were sent to the principal’s office, and their parents were notified to take them home, she said.

Teppert said families of students who refuse to wear masks while the mandate is in effect and lack an acceptable medical exemption will have to decide whether their children will continue lesson at home, through the district’s online academy, or pursue another educational option.

Ninth-grader Grace Navarre, who joined the protest, said she finds wearing a mask distracting. “If we’re going to continue with this mask situation, I’m going online,” she said.

Hailey Eury, a senior in neighboring Ligonier Valley School District, headed to the Greater Latrobe campus to support the mask protest there.

She said wearing a mask interferes with her breathing and gives her headaches, making it difficult for her to concentrate.

“I think people are standing up for what they believe in and not letting the governor or the school board decide,” Eury said of the protest. “It should be up to the parents to decide on their children’s safety and health.”

Youngstown resident Charles Pienaar drove his eighth-grade daughter to Greater Latrobe Junior High because she could not board a district school bus without wearing a mask, part of a federal mandate.

He and his daughter joined the protest at the adjacent senior high after they refused a mask and his daughter was turned away, he said.

Pienaar said his daughter was upset because “she can’t go to school and learn with her friends.” He said he supported the mask-optional policy Greater Latrobe had in place before the state mask mandate took effect.

“They mandated it one way and went against the people of the community,” he said. “We felt betrayed.”

Cynthia Sarp of Latrobe, a registered nurse and mask advocate who works with covid-19 patients at Excela Latrobe Hospital, said her daughter, who is a Greater Latrobe senior, has sometimes been verbally derided by others for wearing a mask.

“Children have a right to protest, but what they’re protesting is ridiculous,” Sarp said. “I don’t see what the problem is with wearing masks. We’re not asking people to do something that’s difficult.

“I would much rather see my daughter wear a mask than be suffering. I watch people suffer every day when I go to work; it’s horrible.”

About 50 students and parents protested outside the entrance to Hempfield Area High School.

About 50 students and adults outside Hempfield Area High School protesting the state mask mandate. @TribLIVE pic.twitter.com/tsLw0BCHFp

— Renatta Signorini (@ByRenatta) September 7, 2021

Hempfield Area Seniors Daniel Beck and Ryan Oplinger started organizing last week after the mandate was announced in hopes they and peers in neighboring districts would get some attention from state officials.

A group of students left the high school in the morning and others trickled out later, gathering across Route 136 from the district campus.

About 50 students and adults held signs reading “Students Against Tyranny” and “Unmask Hempfield Now” and garnered honks from passing vehicles.

“We’re planning on getting enough schools so the governor can see what’s going on,” Beck said. “I feel like it’s unfair that we don’t have a right to choose.”

Peers Lily Silvis, a sophomore, and Chasidie Kalish, a senior, felt the same. Beck said he was disappointed that more students didn’t join the protest but was pleased to see the support of parents and State Rep. Eric Nelson.

“I think it’s the tip of the iceberg,” Nelson said.

He passed out information about a potential statewide court filing related to the issue that would allow individuals to sign on and push back against state officials.

A main concern for Nelson was that students who refuse to wear a mask are not segregated from others during the school day.

“A healthy student should not be denied an in-person education,” he said.

Superintendent Tammy Wolicki said the district was working with parents of students who are requesting an exemption and others who refuse to wear a mask.

“Individual plans are being developed to meet the needs of students with specific needs while maintaining the safety of all students,” she said.

Hempfield Area school directors started the year by letting individuals decide if they would wear a mask in school buildings. The district last week said it would comply with the state mandate.

Protests, either by students or parents, were expected at several other area school districts today.

In Kiski Area School District, a small protest that started Tuesday morning with just a few people outside the high school quickly grew to include more than 30 children and adults.

Children held signs with messages such as, “This is a free country,” “Communism is more contagious than covid,” and, “Can we pretend my classroom is a music concert?”

The latter message alluded to the fact that people have been able to go maskless at most of the region’s indoor and outdoor venues, which have recommended but not required mask-wearing. But some venues and artists recently began requiring concertgoers to show proof of vaccination or a recent negative covid test in order to get into shows.

“People certainly have the right to their opinion and the right to protest, but it’s a state mandate. The school is simply following orders,” Kiski Area School Board member Mark Flemm Jr. said of the school masking mandate.

“From my perspective, the situation is the same as following orders to wear a seat belt or to not drink and drive. When your decisions affect others, you need to put your personal beliefs aside and worry about what’s best for the greater good,” Flemm added.

Acting Superintendent Jason Lohr said that, despite the protest, the district had overwhelming compliance with the masking policy.

“Our children really made a choice that they wanted to be in school,” he said.

As for the protest, Lohr said, “We welcome people to protest. It’s their right and they did not interfere with any of our operations today.”

Lohr said the students protesting today would not face disciplinary action because they were with their parents.

Protesters have gathered outside Kiski Area High School in Allegheny Township. They’re protesting the state’s mandatory mask policy in schools that began today. ⁦@TribLIVE⁩ ⁦@VNDNews⁩ pic.twitter.com/eqqvGLau18

— Joyce Hanz (@hanz_joyce) September 7, 2021

Last week, Gov. Tom Wolf announced that all schools and daycare centers in the state must require masks for everyone while indoors regardless of vaccination status. The rule, which took effect today, was met with cheers from some and harsh criticism from others.

Effective today: Masks are required in all schools and early learning and childcare programs in Pennsylvania.

This will keep kids in school, parents at work, and communities safe.

Thank you to the school districts that previously made the decision to require masking.

— Governor Tom Wolf (@GovernorTomWolf) September 7, 2021

School board meetings in many districts sometimes became heated over the past month as parents either demanded universal masking or chaffed against mask mandates. Those against mandates said they preferred to keep masks optional, with parents deciding whether their children wear masks in schools.

Those in favor of mandates point to the surge in coronavirus cases caused by the delta variant and say mask will reduce the number of students and staff that would be forced to quarantine if new cases are confirmed in schools.

The governor’s order contains exemptions for students with medical conditions that make masks dangerous and while students are eating or participating in athletic activities.

At Derry Area High School about 30 students participated in a peaceful protest about the new mask-wearing mandate.

“I believe a person should have a freedom to choose,” said Jordan Mohler, a Derry senior.

Mohler was handing out t-shirts to protesters that said “No Masks. Yes to Freedom.”

Amanda Smith, another senior who opted to take part in the peaceful demonstration, concurred with Mohler that she believes students should have an option to choose whether to wear masks.

Derry Area implemented an optional mask-wearing policy for the start of the school year, but directors on Thursday voted to amend their safety plan to follow the mandate.

Smith said she spoke with her father about her participation in Tuesday’s protest and skipping class.

She said he respected whatever decision she made.

“He said, “You’re 19… you’re old enough to make your own decision,” Smith said.

Mohler also made a homemade sign for the demonstration that stated “No Masks. I Prefer Oxygen. Freedom to Choose.”

High School Principal Casey Long moved the protest that was forming in the high school parking lot to the track on the high school’s athletic field for safety concerns because of school bus traffic and parents dropping off their children. Long also provided the demonstrators with a microphone to the stadium public address system.

One student who used the microphone after the group paraded around the track said she believed students who were were already vaccinated had a right to choose.

“I got my vaccination in March after everyone said if I got one that I wouldn’t need to wear a mask,” she declared.

Long also pointed out to the students that it was a state order that made masks mandatory.

State department of health officials cited rising case numbers and the delta variant in announcing the mandate. Until then, school boards had been deciding on their own whether to require everyone wear a mask in school buildings or leave the decision up to each individual.

“These children have been very respectful and the school district believes in their right to peacefully demonstrate,” Long said.

Long said the administration agreed to let students protest through two periods and then, if they returned to class about 8:30 a.m. with masks, would not recorded with an unauthorized absence. Those who chose not to return to class would be marked “with an unauthorized absence” and open to undisclosed discipline.

It did not appear many demonstrators, if any, returned to class. A few marched with flags toward nearby Derry Borough from the school district complex and later met up with some Greater Latrobe students.