Parents sue Canon-McMillan over optional mask policy
A group of parents in the Canon-McMillan School District are suing Superintendent Michael Daniels and the school board over the district’s masks-optional policy as the school year begins, saying children with disabilities are not being provided with a safe learning environment.
On Wednesday – the first day of school at Canon-Mac – the parents filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court seeking an injunction to require that students wear face masks while inside school buildings.
The filing includes seven adults representing seven children in the school district.
The lawsuit contends the failure to require students to wear masks violates the rights of “plaintiffs and others in the CMSD that have disabilities that leave them immunocompromised and unable to attend school without a universal masking policy.”
Several of the children listed in the lawsuit have disabilities, while others live in homes with siblings and/or caregivers, including parents, who have disabilities.
According to the school district’s health and safety plan, approved in late June, wearing masks is optional.
The plan provides the school district with an option to change the mask-wearing policy based on up-to-date COVID-19 data and information.
When the plan was approved, COVID-19 transmission rates were declining, and the state’s mask mandate had been lifted.
However, COVID-19 cases have climbed in recent weeks, and Washington County remains in high transmission for the spread of the virus.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control recommends people in areas of high transmission wear masks, regardless of vaccination status; the Pennsylvania Department of Health recommends following CDC guidance.
Additionally, a group of doctors sent a letter to the school district last week urging schools to require masks to prevent the spread of the coronavirus due to the highly contagious delta variant.
But, the lawsuit says, despite COVID transmission spiking from moderate to high over the past month, the school district failed to “follow the science and change its mask policy as required by CDC, Pennsylvania Department of Health, and local data.”
Mask mandates in schools continue to be a contentious topic at board of education meetings locally and across the country, with parents who oppose mask mandates arguing it’s their right to decide whether or not their children wear masks.