KCSD to follow state Health Department mask mandate

BALD EAGLE TOWNSHIP, PA – The Keystone Central School District will comply with the Tuesday-issued state Health Department directive that students in all grades must wear masks indoors, effective Tuesday, Sept. 7.

Superintendent Jacquelyn Martin shared the information with district parents through social media messaging after the state announced the mask mandate. The state decision followed a substantial increase in the number of COVID-19 cases across Pennsylvania in recent weeks.

A portion of the superintendent’s statement:

The Keystone Central School District is required to comply with the Pennsylvania Secretary of Health’s Mask Mandate which will be enforced beginning on Sept. 7, 2021. Over the next few days we will prepare for communications, signage and additional distribution of masks where needed.

Families are being asked to provide masks for all students for use on school busses or indoors while at school. Masks will be provided to those who do not have one. All staff members will be required to comply with this mandate while at work and may choose to use the district provided masks or elect to wear one of their own.

We are committed to keeping our schools open for in-person learning as we know that this is the best way for most children to learn academics and develop critical skills needed to be successful.

Prior to the Tuesday state announcement, masks were optional within Keystone Central, except on buses where they are required.

The state decision was not well received by state GOP legislative leadership, per reporting from The Centre Square:

The House’s Republican leader, Rep. Kerry Benninghoff, R-Bellefonte, said the mandate is “ill-advised.”

“Data clearly shows that this virus affects different areas of Pennsylvania in dissimilar ways, which is why local control that reflects on-the-ground realities is imperative,” he said. “History shows that a one-sized, fits-all approach to public health causes more anxiety and frustration than decisions made at the local level with local input.

He and Senate President Pro Tempore Jake Corman, R-Bellefonte, questioned the legality of the order, while Benninghoff alone said he’d pursue a legislative fix to prevent it from happening again.

“Protecting the health and safety of our children is always a top consideration for lawmakers on both sides of the aisle,” Corman said. “However, this is exactly the kind of government overreach voters opposed when they stripped Governor Wolf of the authority to unilaterally extend emergency declarations in May.”

The constitutional amendment passed by voters only limits the governor’s emergency powers, but does nothing to stop the department from using the Disease Prevention and Control Law of 1955 to implement widespread masking and other mitigation efforts during a public health emergency. Wolf vetoed a bill in June that would have limited Beam’s authority to do so.

“It is completely disingenuous for him to flip-flop now when he didn’t like the choices school districts made,” Corman said of the announcement’s “problematic” timing. “It is disappointing Governor Wolf stood idly by and allowed our communities to be torn apart by this debate, only to pull the rug out from everyone at the last minute.”

House Democratic Leader Joanna McClinton, D-Philadelphia, said Wolf’s decision is “the correct one” that will keep kids safe and schools and day cares open, “which is essential to so many parents, workers and businesses all over Pennsylvania.”

“The virus is continuing to infect thousands of people and we need to take every reasonable step to stop its spread, particularly among our youngest children who cannot be vaccinated,” she said. “This is a very reasonable step and I welcome it.”