Chester County judge tosses 5 members of West Chester school board over masks

A monthslong dispute over masks in a Chester County school district culminated Tuesday in a judge ordering all five Democrats on the school board to be immediately removed from office.

The order stemmed from a petition a parent in the West Chester Area School District filed in February, asking the Chester County Court of Common Pleas to remove the school board members on the grounds that they had voted in August 2021 to make masks mandatory in the district’s schools.

Kenneth Roos, an attorney at Wisler Pearlstine LLP, which is representing the board members, told WHYY News Tuesday night that a motion to reconsider would be filed with the court.

On Wednesday, the court ordered a hearing on the motion at 9:30 a.m. Friday at the Chester County Justice Center.

The parent petitioner, Beth Ann Rosica, argued that under the Pennsylvania school code, districts have no authority to require all students to wear masks.

After Pennsylvania’s state of emergency first ended in June 2021, the board opted to continue requiring masks. It stood by that decision while the state reimposed a school mask mandate, and for two months after the Pennsylvania Supreme Court declared that mandate unconstitutional in December.

“Once the Supreme Court declared that was unconstitutional … we implored our school board, we asked and asked and begged and pleaded and made comments to lift the mask mandate, and they refused,” Rosica said. “When they refused, that is when we made the decision to file the petition.”

More at: https://whyy.org/articles/chester-county-judge-tosses-5-members-of-west-chester-school-board-over-masks/