About a dozen members of “No Masks for BASD” (Brookville Area School District) turned out Tuesday morning to protest state Acting Secretary of Health Alison Beam’s order that mandates schoolchildren wear face masks.
“I do not believe this mandate was legal, protester Steve Wesson said as his group protested at Hickory Grove Elementary School. “The secretary of health is an appointed official. She cannot make law. The governor has basically circumvented the Legislature.
“I feel the best course of action would be to pull the students out of the public school and put them into charter schools. That way, the school loses the funding for our children. The money follows the kids.”
“Masks are not effective,” she said. “If this is such a highly contagious disease, why are they not changing their mask every half-hour? Why are there no hazardous waste containers so they can throw away their masks? Why is no janitor standing by the bathrooms to disinfect them after each use?”
Protester Tabitha Coyne, who has worked in health care for 32 years, said she does not believe the masks are effective.
“You have to be OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration) trained. You cannot pretend to know medical devices without a license,” she said. “Why is the school practicing medical procedures without a medical license?”
Protester Jeff Sallo said the mask is a facial restraint and is abusive.
“The police and the Children and Youth Services should become involved,” he said.
Wesson’s said his son, a sixth-grader, was assigned out-of-school suspension for not wearing a mask per state order, and Wesson produced the documentation stating as much.
“I don’t agree with the mask order, but I have to enforce it,” he said.
Noncompliance, May said, could be used to justify a civil suit.
May said there is an “upside” to the state’s order.
“We currently have four confirmed cases of COVID resulting in many more quarantines,” he said in his letter. “Masking up will reduce quarantines, which will help us keep kids in school, sports and other extracurriculars.”
Wesson said, “If we have to continue to (protest), we will.”