Canon-McMillan parents sue district to enforce mask mandate.
Canon-Mac parents, students cite ‘failure’
A group of parents and students in the Canon-McMillan School District has requested a temporary restraining order to force everyone in the schools to wear a mask, and a federal judge will hear argument on Monday.
In a lawsuit, seven parents and seven students denounce what they call the district’s “wanton conduct and capricious failure” to not mandate COVID-19 masks and to put everyone at risk, especially students with disabilities.
The suit is similar to one filed this week by parents and students in the North Allegheny School District, which resulted in a federal judge granting a temporary restraining order on Monday to make everyone wear a mask.
In the Canon-McMillan suit, filed Thursday, the first day of school in that district, the group is asking for a similar restraining order to prevent the school board from enforcing its mask-optional policy.
The suit was filed by the same lawyer, Alexander Saksen, who handled the North Allegheny case.
The complaint, which names the board members and Superintendent Michael Daniels, says children with disabilities are not being provided with a safe learning environment and asks a judge to implement a universal masking policy consistent with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommendations. Several students listed in the complaint have disabilities or live in a house with someone who does, and one of the counts in the suit invokes the Americans with Disabilities Act.
The district earlier this summer approved a health and safety plan that included a “fluid COVID policy” of following science in making changes to the plan as COVID-19 data developed, the suit says.
At the time, the infection rate was low. But the virus outlook has changed since then and, according to the suit, demands the board now change the policy.
“Despite this, defendants have arbitrarily and capriciously declined to implement universal masking” to protect everyone in the schools, the complaint states.
The failure to amend the policy is a violation of the plaintiffs’ due process and equal protection rights, according to the suit.
Shortly before a school board meeting this month, parents were asked their opinions on a universal mask policy. Of the 56 responses, 50 supported it, the complaint says. Six were opposed.
“As has been happening throughout the nation, the vast minority of parents that oppose universal masking have engaged in a protracted strategy of harassment,
public humiliation, baseless threats of lawsuits, and threats against Defendants in order to override the opinion of an overwhelming majority of CMSD parents and students,” the suit says.
Two school board members — Darla BowmanMonaco and Michael Caporizzo — have been threatened by those who oppose masks, according to the suit. As a result, Ms. Bowman-Monaco resigned recently and Mr. Caporizzo resigned and then rescinded his resignation, the complaint says.
“These resignations prove the success of the minority of parents’ strategy, but are entirely undemocratic, frustrate the CMSD system, and — alone – warrant court intervention,” the suit says.
Universal masking is necessary because of the surge in COVID cases in Washington County that began in late July, according to the complaint. When the district approved its health plan in June, the seven-day average of new virus cases in the county was three. By last Monday it was up to 50. Washington County’s COVID status has been elevated from moderate to high.
The increase has been attributed to the delta variant, a spike in cases among school-age children and cases of vaccinated people getting the virus, the complaint says.
In the North Allegheny case, Mr. Saksen filed the complaint on Sunday night. U.S. District Judge Marilyn Horan held a hearing on Monday and issued her ruling that day.
U.S. District Judge J. Nicholas Ranjan scheduled a hearing for 2 p.m. Monday in his courtroom. The hearing will be in person and everyone who attends has to wear a mask, he said.