JACKSON TWP — Seneca Valley School District on Monday became the first public school district in Butler County to require masks in school for the upcoming school year.

In a 7-2 vote following more than an hour and a half of public comment, the district approved an amendment to the health and safety plan that requires students wear masks while Butler County is in the substantial or high category of local transmission of COVID-19 as defined by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Under the amendment, the district will require universal face covering unless and until Butler County's rate of COVID-19 transmission drops below 50 cases per 100,000 residents in a rolling 7-day period and its PCR test positivity rate falls below 8%, the CDC definition of “substantial” COVID transmission.

Dissenting from the vote were board member Mike Jacobs and president Eric DiTullio. Prior to the vote, but after public comment, Jacobs explained his vote, saying furthering the education and improving the mental health of Seneca Valley students requires a mask-optional approach, noting it is a difficult decision.

“We have all the data in the world on the virus, but very, very little on mental health in our community,” he said.

DiTullio said he was not pleased with state health and education leaders “passing the buck” to local school districts by declining to implement a universal face-covering policy in schools.

“I have to make this decision because the people in Harrisburg refuse to do it,” DiTullio said. “They have said, yet again, 'We will let these elected volunteers make this decision that should be made on a state level.'”

Vote after pause

The board's vote followed a series of public comments that at times became boisterous. When community members who wanted a mask mandate spoke, they were met with jeers from anti-mandate community members and cheers from others who supported their views, and the same went for anti-mandate speakers.

Throughout the meeting, those who disagreed with mandatory masking reiterated that COVID-19 caused few deaths in children and said it should be the choice of parents whether their children wear masks while in school.

Parents who supported a mask mandate said wearing masks would be the best way to keep students in school five days a week, with masks decreasing the transmissibility of the viral illness and, as a result, leading to fewer students in quarantine.

DiTullio paused several times during public comment to remind members of the public to respect the person speaking, as on several occasions the speaker was interrupted by the jeers.

Stopped comment

The board president also stopped the public comment period after more than an hour, saying the board had already extended its typical 30-minute comment period to allow for more residents to speak on the controversial topic. Several residents loudly derided DiTullio for not yielding the floor to all 15 residents who had signed up to speak.

That led to a roughly 10-minute recess, which the board took after members of the public began yelling. When directors returned, the crowd had mostly calmed down, but several residents cheered for those who shared their views and jeered those who disagreed.

After the recess, DiTullio moved to keep masking optional but recommended a motion on which only Jacobs joined. The vote to require masks in the substantial and high local transmission categories immediately followed.