Crowd of parents debate masking

Some upset that board won’t commit before end of August

FRANCONIA >> The Souderton Area School Board is scheduled to vote Aug. 26 on a health & safety plan for when students return to classrooms five days later on Aug. 31, but with what remains a fluid situation regarding the COVID-19 guidelines, particularly in regard to masks, the plan could change between now and the board vote.

That’s what residents who came to the Aug. 11 school board Operations Committee meeting were told.

“The guidance continues to change and we are following those changes very carefully in deciding what’s best for our community,” Superintendent Frank Gallagher said.

The plan includes continuing the same three to six-foot separation as last year between student desks and between the students and teacher, Director of Pupil Services Megan Zweiback said.

“We are aiming to keep kids and staff as far apart as we can while still making instruction meaningful and the setup of our classrooms meaningful,” she said.

Cleaning and sanitizing continues, she said.

New guidance received at the end of July from the Montgomery County Office of Public Health says if a student has close contact with another student (being within six feet for 15 minutes or more) who tests positive for the virus, the student who is not infected

would not have to quarantine if both students were wearing a mask that is properly worn, Assistant Superintendent and Director of Human Resources Christopher Hey said.

“If a student is vaccinated, whether or not there’s mask-wearing, there’s no quarantine required,” Hey said.

Had the same rules been in effect last year, a lot fewer students would have had to be quarantined, he said.

About a thousand students

at the high school were quarantined last year not because they were infected, but because of close contact with someone who was, Gallagher said.

“This is a significant change and it points to the reason why school districts across the county are really struggling with the masking question right now,” Hey said.

In answer to a question about whether masks would be required on school buses, Zweiback said the federal government requires it.

“The current federal mandate is that anyone riding in public transportation must wear a mask,” she said.

The mandate specifically includes school buses, Gallagher said.

During the public comment period, most of the comments were about whether masks should be required.

“Parents are the only rightful authority over our children’s health care decisions. If a school nurse has to call me before administering Tylenol, how can she lawfully or any of you require face covering, which according to the

FDA’s own website is considered a medical device,” one woman said. “The delta variant may be more contagious, but it is less lethal. We’re free American people. We’re not under a governmental emergency order and the only way to preserve our rights is to give everybody the choice to make for their own family.”

While some commenters questioned the effectiveness of masks, another said the masks cut the transmission rate and said we are all interdependent and part of a community.

He said he has a 6-yearold daughter.

“I very much hope that the school board will consider the health of children who are not yet able to become vaccinated when making a decision about masks,” he said.

The issue has pitted people against each other, another woman said.

“The way to peace and harmony is choice and privacy,” she said. “You can’t make decisions for me. I have no right to make decisions for you.”

The school board is under a lot of pressure, she said.

“My prayer is at the end of the day you will not be guided by your peer pressure — which is school unions, lawyers and loud, scary voices — and that you will put the health and wellbeing of kids who should not be masked” first, she said.

Another man said requiring masks to be worn is similar to seat belts and bike helmets for children’s requirements.

The risk of a child dying from COVID-19 is statistically low, he said, but said, “That’s a meaningless statistic to everybody in this room until it’s your child. Then it’s a catastrophe.”

The board has heard from people on both sides

on the question, board President Ken Keith said.

Despite disagreements, the community remains a good one, he said.

“We’ll figure this out. It’s not gonna be easy, but we will figure it out,” he said.

With only a few days between the board vote and the start of classes, some parents said they want to know what the final plan will be as quickly as possible in order to decide if their child will be going to Souderton Area this year or switching to cyber, private or home-schooling.

Gallagher said the district will do its best to get the information out to parents as soon as possible.