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Posted on 09/17/2021 2:36:47 PM PDT by lightman
Palmyra Area School District Superintendent Bernie Kepler pushed back Friday against the tone of a social media debate that suggested Palmyra High School students who have refused to follow the state Health Secretary’s in-school mask mandate were being segregated from the rest of the student body in the school’s weight training room.
The original post seemed to be intended as a salute to the students for their courage in standing up for their rights through the past week, when a short-term deal arranged to let them continue to come to school without masks expired.
But, as is often the case, it kicked off a larger firestorm of emotional responses triggered by the general personal freedom versus communal good clashes that have been part of the American soundtrack of the coronavirus pandemic. Lebanon County has been a hotbed of resistance to many pandemic related orders.
Kepler’s letter, Palmyra High School Principal Scott Richardson told PennLive Friday, was merely to clear the air and set the record straight.
What is true, is this:
Acting Health Secretary Alison Beam issued the mask mandate as the Delta variant was causing newly-diagnosed cases of COVID-19 to begin to surge again in Pennsylvania, and schools were reopening for in-person instruction even as no COVID vaccines are yet available for children under age 12.
After a heated masking debate at the Palmyra school board meeting Sept. 9, 17 high school students who came to school the next day without masks - which have been required of all students, staff and visitors in school buildings since Sept. 7 - were held at the entrance to have a meeting with Richardson.
Over the next hour, Richardson said, he and other district officials explained they had to enforce the state’s order, and asked the students to help them create a solution. In the dialogue that followed, the students asked if they could sit together, unmasked, and attend school that day.
School officials agreed to let them do that through Sept. 16, when a state appeals court was expected to hear an appeal of the masking order.
The weight room was offered, as it was the only space where the students could be without interruption during the day, and the group accepted. District officials also offered to set them up with tables and chairs, but the students declined, Richardson said, noting they could use benches, mats and other furnishings in the weight room for the short term.
The students were able to join in their classes through a Microsoft Teams link, and they were able to buy school lunches if they were willing to wear masks to physically go into the cafeteria. In special circumstances, teachers, counselors and other staff came to them to respond to specific needs, Richardson said.
The Commonwealth Court hearing was postponed in the interim, but school officials said they would continue to permit the 17 to attend and work remotely from the weight room through Thursday, living up to the terms of the initial agreement. As of today, Richardson noted, the weight room deal ended, and the students were told they would have to comply with the mask policy.
Richardson said Friday afternoon that he believes a total of five of the protestors did attend with masks Friday. Of the 12 others, some have opted to enroll in the district’s virtual academy, some are exploring other cyber school options, and still more were awaiting final decisions on requests for exemptions from the masking policy before making a final decision.
Richardson stressed, however, that school administrators did their best to work with the mask dissenters, and in fact, have great respect for how they conducted themselves through the process. “They just wanted to feel as though they were being heard,” the principal told PennLive Friday, “and we understood their perspectives.”
Kepler sounded a similar theme in his letter.
“This short term remedy was put in place to model to our students that we are in this effort with them. Interpretations and opinions on the mask order may differ, but PASD maintained the students’ education as our priority, while at the same time maximizing the health and safety of all students and staff.
“Social media has a wonderful ability to keep families, friends and communities united and sharing in one another’s lives,” Kepler’s letter concluded. “Unfortunately, it also has the keen ability to divide communities and share non truths or partial stories. Today, I choose to use mass media to share our story.”
Sic semper tyrannus.
Pennsylvania Ping!
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Separate but equal. Nice
Nazis all around us
Seems to be pushing a little agenda there without having the cojones to say what he really wants to say ...
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