September 3, 2021
Dear Families:
We, the Indiana Area School District, need your help more than ever. As many of you know by now, the Pennsylvania Department of Health (DOH) order, released on August 31, 2021, will take effect Tuesday, September 7 (school is closed on Monday, September 6th, due to Labor Day) and will require students, teachers, staff, and visitors to wear masks when inside school facilities and childcare centers. I know that there are many mixed emotions regarding the concept of masking in schools and valid arguments on both sides. My intention is not to provoke emotions and debate; rather, I owe it to you to inform you about the changing conditions in which we are working, even when they are unpopular and/or out of our control. Tensions are high all around.
Be assured that I am aware of and understand everyone’s frustrations and trepidations on all sides of this issue. On behalf of all of us, we ask that you understand the situation we are in as well. Please understand that the Indiana Area School District is required to comply with the Pennsylvania Secretary of Health’s legal order. We are asking for your help and compliance at this time. More importantly, we want to do all we can to keep our schools open for in-person learning as we feel that is best for our community and our students.
As you know from last year, the conditions in which we are working can change at a moment’s notice. This is a very fluid situation and I will be sure to communicate with you over the weekend if the District receives any additional information from the Department of Health and/or Department of Education regarding the order.
The Board of Directors consistently strived to represent the best interests of the students as well as the will of the community. Based on the legal order, the local decision of masking is no longer available to the Board of Directors. We are legally required to adhere to the DOH’s regulations. I encourage you to review the exemptions listed below for further guidance and clarification on the matter. Any questions regarding the exemption should be directed to your licensed health care provider and/or the Department of Health.
This legal order applies to all 500 school districts in the Commonwealth and specifically states that “each teacher, child/student, staff, or visitor working, attending, or visiting a School Entity shall wear a face-covering indoors, regardless of vaccination status, except as set forth in Section 3.”
Current PA Department of Health exceptions to the Face Covering Requirement include:
- All alternatives to a face covering, including the use of a face shield, should be exhausted before an individual is exempt from this Order.
- Wearing a face covering while working would create an unsafe condition in which to operate equipment or execute a task as determined by local, state, or federal regulators or workplace safety guidelines.
- Wearing a face covering would either cause a medical condition, or exacerbate an existing one, including respiratory issues that impede breathing, a mental health condition, or a disability.
- When necessary to confirm the individual’s identity.
- When working alone and isolated from interaction with other people with little or no expectation of in-person interaction.
- If an individual is communicating or seeking to communicate with someone who is hearing-impaired or has another disability, where the ability to see the mouth is essential for communication.
- When the individual is under two (2) years of age.
- When an individual is: (1) Engaged in an activity that cannot be performed while wearing a mask, such as eating and drinking, or playing an instrument that would be obstructed by the face-covering; or (2) Participating in high intensity aerobic or anaerobic activities, including during a physical education class, in a well-ventilated location and able to maintain a physical distance of six feet from all other individuals.
- When a child/student is participating in a sports practice activity or event, whether indoors or outdoors.
Families are being asked to provide masks for all students for use on school buses and/or indoors while at school. Masks will be provided to those who do not have one. We are committed to keeping our schools open for in-person learning as we know that this is the best for most children.
We will continue the same practices, in regard to which types of masks are acceptable, as we did last year. The DOH defines face covering as follows: The Order requires individuals to wear a "face covering." "Face covering" means covering of the nose and mouth with material that is secured to the head with ties, straps, or loops over the ears or is wrapped around the lower face. A "face covering" can be made of a variety of synthetic or natural fabrics, including cotton, silk or linen. A "face covering" may be factory-made, sewn by hand, or be improvised from household items, including, but not limited to, scarfs, bandanas, t-shirts, sweatshirts, or towels.
Students are permitted, not required, to wear their masks while outside. Additionally, masks will not be worn during physical education classes while participating in high-intensity aerobic or anaerobic activities as well as lunch. Part of the order discussing this concept implies that 6 ft of social distancing will be required during these times. We are seeking clarification from the DOH and will plan accordingly. This means that lunches may be required to be socially distanced at 6ft depending on the clarity we receive regarding the order. If there is a threat of additional quarantines due to students/staff being maskless and less than 6ft apart during lunch, we may make changes to how we conduct our lunches in an effort to mitigate the number of possible quarantines. Numerous students were quarantined last year and we have approximately 30 students quarantined after 3 days of school. Regardless of society’s differing views and perspectives on masking, I want to do all I can to limit the number of students being quarantined and missing out on in-person learning from some amazing educators.
Failure to comply with the mandate places the District in an untenable position and, quite frankly, opens the District to dire consequences up to and including our insurance coverage being dropped by our provider for failure to comply with the legal order. According to the FAQ that the DOH released: “School officials who fail to adhere to the order could lose the protection of sovereign immunity and may personally face lawsuits from those who may be affected by any official’s attempt to ignore the order. Failing to implement or follow the control measures may expose individuals to personal liability under 42 Pa.C.S § 8550 (relating to willful misconduct), as well as other remedies as provided by law. Failure to implement and follow the control measures under the Order also subjects a person to the penalty provisions of the Disease Prevention and Control Law of 1955.”
I realize that these are difficult times with the increased pressures the pandemic causes, and there are no guaranteed right or wrong answers at times due to the varying beliefs, attitudes, and opinions on the matter. If you are planning to have your child opt-out of wearing a mask, we are respectfully asking families to have a child(ren)’s licensed health care provider complete a form and return it to your child(ren)’s principal. This opt-out is specifically enumerated in the exemptions listed in Section 3. As we are not medical experts, we are asking that families comply with this request.
If you feel that you do not want to go the route of the medical exemption as described above, we have open seats in our IDEAL+ program. Our IDEAL+ programming will vary from each level and will consist of asynchronous and synchronous options for students. Please contact your child’s principal if you would like to learn more about our cyber-learning options at the Indiana Area School District. You can also visit our website to review additional information.
We thank you all for what you have done already and thank you for the work that is to come. We truly appreciate you all. Visit our COVID dashboard at www.iasd.cc for additional information relating to the number of positive cases and quarantines the District is facing at the current time. With the legal order that was imposed on the schools, we are forced to comply. Please understand that we need your help more than ever and your compliance and support are greatly appreciated so that we can have our schools remain open for in-person instruction. As a community, we will get through this - together.
Respectfully,
Mr. Michael J. Vuckovich
IASD Superintendent