Making School Masks Optional Causes Irreparable Harm: Montco Suit
Judge Beetlestone and the plaintiffs in the Perkiomen Valley School District lawsuit are attempting to redefine and expand what the American with Disabilities can do. The pseudo scientific ideology of “your mask protects me, my mask protects you” is being allowed to serve as expert science in Judge Beetlestone’s Federal Courtroom.
It is hoped clearer heads will prevail in a likely appeal as accommodations provided for disabled people in the ADA must be reasonable and in the past have only dealt mostly with facilities accommodation and have not made demands on all personnel that share a facility with the person who is disabled. This appears to be an attempt to codify “your mask protects me, my mask protects you” ideology which has no basis in science and which is based on the fallacy that asymptomatic people are contagious. The Perkiomen Valley School District has not recorded any cases of Sars-CoV-2 transmission or seen any hospitalizations among its students this academic year.
U.S. District Judge Wendy Beetlestone outlines her reasons for granting a preliminary injunction forcing mask mandate back in school dist.
Patch – PERKIOMEN VALLEY, PA — A Perkiomen Valley School Board decision to rescind universal masking likely violates federal disabilities law, a federal judge in Philadelphia determined when she granted a preliminary injunction that prevents the school district from making mask-wearing optional.
U.S. District Judge Wendy Beetlestone, sitting in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, on Monday sided with a class of plaintiffs who are suing the Perkiomen Valley School District over the school board’s decision to repeal a universal mask mandate.
Beetlestone determined that the plaintiffs — a class of unnamed students with disabilities who claim optional masking would put them at a heightened risk for contracting COVID-19 in school — are likely to succeed on the merits of their claims, and that they were able to show irreparable harm in seeking a preliminary injunction in their favor.
“The only question presented is whether Defendants’ adoption and implementation of the Phase Two Transition Plan rescinding the universal indoor masking policy during school hours in favor of recommended masking is likely under the circumstances presented here to be a violation of the Acts: the Court finds it that they likely would,” Beetlestone wrote in her opinion accompanying her order.
The plaintiffs have disabilities and health issues, such as asthma, that they contend would make them more susceptible to catching COVID-19 if they were learning in a mask-optional environment.
In their suit, the plaintiffs allege violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act.
In her ruling, Beetlestone pointed out that do date, only two out of 21 school districts in Montgomery County have ended universal masking, and Perkiomen Valley was one of them. (She did not name the other district).
In her opinion released Monday, Beetlestone outlined her reasoning for granting the preliminary injunction forcing the district to, for the time being, reinstitute universal masking among all students, staff and visitors to school buildings.
All three child-plaintiffs have asthma, one has a vocal cord dysfunction that requires daily breathing exercises and treatments administered by a school nurse, and one suffers from chronic bronchitis and pneumonia and takes immunosuppressant medications, according to the judicial opinion. All three are vaccinated but not yet eligible to receive a booster shot.
The rulings states that each child’s medical team has found that universal masking is essential to their safe, in-person schooling.
Beetlestone ended up determining that optional masking “prevents Child-Plaintiffs from ‘meaningfully accessing’ the benefits of in-person education at this time because they cannot attend school alongside their unmasked peers without incurring a real risk of serious illness or worse,” Beetlestone wrote.
School district lawyers had argued that the plaintiffs were unlikely to face irreparable harm since they could still contract COVID-19 during lunch periods or other times when mask-wearing is not required, or from students who are not wearing masks correctly.
The district also argued that the plaintiffs would not suffer irreparable harm because of the high rate of vaccinated individuals in the school district community.
Beetlestone disagreed with the district, essentially determining that if the plaintiffs were forced to learn at home as opposed to in a classroom setting, they would be denied their federal rights.
“The inability to access education constitutes irreparable harm because it is of critical importance to child development and its loss cannot be compensated with monetary damage,” Beetlestone wrote. “… Plaintiffs have set forth sufficient evidence to show a likelihood of irreparable harm in the form of a heightened risk of serious illness and death, and an inability to access the benefits of their education.”
Patch reached out to school district solicitor Brian Subers, an attorney with the firm Fox Rothschild, who said the defendants are “continuing to review all of our legal options” in the case.
Subers said unlike the judge’s previous temporary restraining order, this preliminary injunction does not have an expiration date, but rather would stay in effect until the merits of the claims are determined as the litigation moves forward, or if there is a modification of determination of the court order.
He said the district could also file for what is called an interlocutory appeal of Beetlestone’s ruling, but nothing has been decided at this juncture, as the district continues to weigh their legal options at this stage of the game.
School district Superintendent Barbara Russell also addressed the court ruling, releasing a statement to the media. The statement in full reads as follows:
“The Perkiomen Valley School District will continue to offer a quality educational experience in a safe and healthy manner to all of its students as we navigate the ongoing circumstances of the COVID-19 pandemic. The federal court’s decision today directs the district to continue with universal masking during the school day while offering those inside any of our facilities after school during athletics, music ensembles, clubs, committee meetings, Community Education, etc., to follow a strongly recommended guideline for masking. We will continue to seek the earliest appropriate relief from the current universal mask requirement while upholding guidelines that support the health and safety of all students and staff.”