North Hills school board fails repeated attempts to OK return-to-school health plan over mask debate
The North Hills School Board will take another crack at approving a return-to-school plan for the fall after failing to pass the measure because of differing opinions among board members on the use of face masks.
The board suspended its Aug. 5 meeting and will reconvene Aug. 17 to reconsider the Health and Safety Plan for the 2021-22 school year, which recommends all students wear masks while indoors, but leaves the final decision to parents.
Superintendent Pat Mannarino told the board that the only reason that version of the plan came up for a vote was because the state department of education required that it be submitted a week prior to the meeting.
He said district officials “put together a plan that had masks optional because that’s what seemed reasonable in the middle of July,” when the plan was being drafted for submission to the state. “But now the world looks different.”
The superintendent said while he wants the district to “go back to business as usual as much as possible,” he conceded that the plan that was presented might not be the best option.
“I don’t know what the best choice is, I’m not a medical professional,” he said. “I just want our kids in school 180 days, and going face-to-face with no other option. I’m not taking this lightly, I”m not passing the buck, I’m not putting my head under a pillow and I’m not begging for someone else to make the decision. I don’t know what the right thing is to do.”
The board voted 5-3 against the plan, with school directors Katie Poniatowski, Rachael Rennebeck and Helen “Dee” Spade voting in favor of its approval. Board member Annette Giovengo Nolish was absent from the meeting.
In addition to defeating the measure giving parents the option on masks, the board voted down five other measures related to the mask policy, including one that would require all students and staff in all grades to wear them and another that only required them for students and staff in elementary schools.
The other three options would require masks based on Allegheny County’s level of community transmission and other factors.
Board President Allison Mathis asked for patience while the board reviews the health and safety plan it must approve prior to the first day of classes on Aug. 25. The final plan must be submitted to the state Department of Education for approval by Sept. 1, according to district officials.
“The board did not meet over the summer and obviously has varying views on how to proceed, particularly as recommendations by multiple government agencies have changed over the past weeks,” Mathis wrote in a statement released on social media following the Aug. 5 meeting.
“I have respect for all opinions on the board and for all my colleagues who have been forced to make difficult choices over the past 18 months,” she said. “Let me be clear — what you saw last night was transparency and disagreement, not the inability to make a decision.”
Dr. Jessica Price, who works as a pediatrician and is the parent of an incoming first-grader, was among several parents who argued that not requiring all students, teachers and staff to wear masks is too risky.
“There are a lot of medical experts who have an answer to this problem,” she said. “I urge the board to reconsider the health and safety plan and instead adopt a plan that mandates masks and follows all current public health guidelines.”
Price said the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Allegheny County Health Department have all called for universal masking for all K to 12 students, staff and teachers while indoors regardless of vaccination status.
“Please follow these guidelines to keep our children safe and healthy and give them the greatest chance of remaining in school this year,” she said. “Last year was such a challenge for all of us and many sacrifices had to be made in response to the pandemic.
“As hopeful as we are not that we have safe and effective vaccines, and as much as we long to get back to normal, the pandemic just isn’t over yet.”
Price noted that delta variant of the virus has become the predominant strain “and is highly contagious.”
“Continued precautions and vigilance are still required,” she said. “Letting our guards down too soon risks all that we sacrificed to get to this point.”
She said allowing some people to go unmasked in buildings goes against how the virus spreads.
“Many people want wearing masks to be a personal choice,” she said. “But that’s not how the virus operates. What you do impacts me. And what I do impacts you. This decision may not be easy, but it’s simple. The public health guidelines are clear.”
Samantha Moyer, who also has a child in the district, said requiring masks would take a decision away from parents that is rightfully theirs to make and urged to board to vote down “immediately and unconditionally” any requirement that masks be worn.
She said the district’s Health and Safety Plan also should be approved “without a requirement for an experimental vaccine and without discrimination between masked and unmasked or vaccinated and unvaccinated” people.
“The primary responsibility for the health and welfare lies with me, the parent,” she said. “You are a board of education, not the board of health. Children belong to their parents and families, not any government, community or school district.”
While the question of mask requirements remains, a number of other changes in the return to school plan bring operations back normal with some modifications.
“The education models are completely different than 365 days ago, ” Mannarino said. “We have full, in-person five-day a week school. That’s it, no hybrid, not virtual no live streaming. No options that look anything like that.”
Mannarino said students still can attend cyber school, but instruction will come from the Allegheny Intermediate Unit instead of the North Hills Cyber Academy, which has been dismantled.
Families have until Aug. 11 to contact the district if they want to choose the online option for the upcoming school year, the superintendent said.
He said the daily sanitizing of district buildings that began last year will continue and students will continue to remain at least 3-feet apart in classrooms and cafeterias.
Mannarino said all sports and extra-curricular activities will resume without limitations along with transportation to and from schools.
Tony LaRussa is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Tony at 724-772-6368, [email protected] or via Twitter .