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Saying a mask does not pose a potential of harm to others, U.S. Middle District Court Judge Matthew W. Brann on Thursday denied an injunction regarding a requirement in the Montoursville Area School District that students wear masks.
In Brann's opinion, "No one except perhaps a bank robber likes to wear a mask -- and even then with reluctance, but as a concession to professional attire. But the Constitution does not shield us from all things we dislike. Here, parents of schoolchildren in Montoursville."
"The Constitution does not guarantee students a right to attend school without wearing a mask and being required to do so neither inflicts irreparable harm nor in any way violates students' right to freely associate and assemble with others," Brann said.
Mark and Brenda Oberheim, parents of the children, and other parents asked for the injunction after Montoursville schools' Superintendent Christina Bason implemented an order by Alison Beam, acting state Department of Health secretary, requiring students to mask up.
The board had previously passed a health and safety plan for the district that had a masks-optional policy.
Board President David Shimmel also signed a document in June stating how the district would be flexible depending on what was ordered by the state Department of Health.
By the end of the following month, the public health landscape concerning COVID-19 had changed dramatically, according to Brann.
Between July and August 2021, the state's COVID-19 case count increased "from less than 300 cases per day to more than 3,000 cases per day."
In total, "there were 1,300,368 cases and 28,235 deaths across the state caused by COVID-19."
Particularly troubling for the state schools was the number of COVID-19 cases "among school-aged children . . . increased by 11,000 in a one-month period and by more than 79,000 since the beginning of the year," according to Brann's opinion.
The surge in new cases was attributable, at least in part, to a highly transmissible, "more infectious" strand of the virus: the delta variant.
In response to these developments, on Aug. 31, Beam, issued the following mandate to school entities, including public pre-kindergarten through 12th grade schools: Each teacher, child/student, staff, or visitor working, attending or visiting a school entity shall wear a face covering indoors, regardless of vaccination status, except under some circumstances.
The parents "asked the court to take the extraordinary step of suspending the Montoursville area schools' mask mandate, thus permitting students to attend school without masks in direct contravention of the state Department of Health's masking order," Brann said. "But to receive such a drastic remedy, the plaintiffs must clear several significant legal hurdles. They failed to do so."