A group of people attending the Pittston Area School Board meeting scheduled for Tuesday did not wear masks, refused to put any on, and then refused to leave, prompting the board to go into recess before Solicitor Sam Falcone returned to announce that the meeting was cancelled.
Mark Guydish | Times Leader
YATESVILLE — A group of people arrived for the scheduled Pittston Area School Board Meeting Tuesday mask-less, and when Superintendent Kevin Booth asked that they either put masks on or leave, they declined on both counts. After some brief verbal wrangling the board called a recess and left the room for about 30 minutes, with Solicitor Sam Falcone returning to announce the meeting had not yet been convened and was being canceled.
Before the recess, two men rose to speak briefly and hand papers to the board, both saying essentially they had the right not to wear masks. When Falcone repeatedly asked one man to give his name and address, he declined, saying he would do so when he addressed the board during the meeting.
When an armed security guard asked the unmasked people to rise they declined, and a man said the officer would be breaking the law if he forced them to leave, adding that it would also constitute a “conspiracy” because the guard was an employee of the district acting on behalf of Booth.
Asked why they should leave, the officer said they were disrupting the meeting, but the man said they were sitting peacefully waiting to speak.
While the board was out of the room, discussion in the crowd included the right to request information through the state Freedom of Information Act, and an interpretation of the public comment requirement set by state law for all public meetings.
The refusal to wear masks or leave came within an hour or so of Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court Judge Christine Fizzano Cannon ruling that the Department of Health order requiring masks for all students in K-12 must expire Dec. 4. The same judge threw out the mandate last week, triggering an appeal by the Wolf Administration to the state Supreme Court, but the mask mandate was initially left to stand while the appeal was pending.
Prior to the Commonwealth Court Judge ruling last week, Wolf had announced an end to the mandate beginning Jan. 17, returning the decision to school districts after that.
The School Board meeting almost certainly would have been quick without the masking dispute. The agenda was particularly light, with only a handful of items of mostly routine business that likely would have been approved quickly.
Reach Mark Guydish at 570-991-6112 or on Twitter @TLMarkGuydish
