Parents File Lawsuit Against Pennsbury Over Mask Requirement

FALLSINGTON, PA — Three parents have filed a lawsuit against the Pennsbury School District over requirements that students wear masks indoors and on school buses, arguing that the health policy has negative impacts on schoolchildren.

The suit asks that families be exempt from wearing masks on religious and philosophical grounds, and that the school district be prohibited from enforcing masking. Local parents Athena Argyris, Richard Mattis, and Bradford Child, who are suing the district individually and on behalf of their children in the Bucks County Court of Common Pleas, allege that the district has no legal right to enforce a masking policy.

As outlined by esquire J. Chadwick Schnee, Argyris said the district's mask requirements last year caused her child to have outbursts, experience depression and anxiety, become more reclusive, and get worse grades. Mattis said his child has trouble breathing while wearing a mask, struggled to communicate in the classroom, became more depressed, and opted to attend school remotely toward the year's end.

The Child family asserts medical and philosophical objections to masks, alleging that the PPE measures cause more harm than they prevent; they also say their child had trouble breathing during physical education and extracurricular activities when wearing a mask.

Pennsbury's Health and Safety Plan required indoor masking as of Aug. 19, after the Bucks County Health Department recommended indoor mask wearing to school districts two days before. The county health department's stance encouraging masking — one of several changes issued in August, some after criticism from state officials on a lack of scientific backing in county guidance — came at the request of area hospitals concerned about their ability to handle pediatric COVID-19 cases.

Pennsbury's policy also specifically requires masking on school buses. The Centers for Disease Control is still mandating masking on public transportation nationally; school buses are classified as such.

On Aug. 31, Pennsylvania's Acting Secretary of Health signed an order requiring face coverings in all school entities. That order went into effect Sep. 7.

The lawsuit argues that the order did not specify whether it applies only to counties without a health department, and alleges that Bucks' health department has "exclusive authority" on COVID-19 prevention measures. However, the county health department has previously asserted its guidance is "strictly advisory" when it comes to COVID-19.

The parents hope the court will rule that the district "lack[s] the legal authority to require students to wear masks during in-person education, [and] to require students wear masks while riding on school buses in the absence of an order requiring masking issued by Bucks County Health Department."

The lawsuit in part asserts that philosophical opposition to masking can be seen as "a strong moral or ethical conviction similar to a religious belief," which — if masks are also understood as "medical treatment" — would mean exemptions should be allowed under Pennsylvania's Public School Code.

Citing "information and belief," the complainants say that "children forced to wear masks in schools have experienced hypoxia, hypercapnia, increased infections, dizziness, headaches, syncope and brain damage as a result of mask requirements." No exhibit or evidence is included in the lawsuit to back this claim.

The complainants also allege that children are less likely to be infected with COVID-19. CDC data says otherwise — rates of infection for COVID-19 have been shown to be comparable or even higher in children than in adults, and though children are less likely to show symptoms of the virus, they are just as likely to infect others.

On Wednesday, a spokesperson for the Pennsbury School District told Patch that the district had not yet been served with the lawsuit — but planned to respond through its solicitor if and when it is served.

"The Pennsbury School District remains committed to providing a safe learning environment for all students and staff," the statement reads. "We are operating in compliance with the orders issued on January 29, 2021, by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; and on August 31, 2021, by the Pennsylvania Department of Health."

Bucks County is still in a state of "high" COVID-19 transmission status per metrics from the CDC, as it has been since mid-August; last week, data showed at least 166 kids in the county had tested positive.

In another district, the Pennridge school board recently voted to allow parents and students moral exemptions from vaccine mandates. Republicans in the state senate also advanced a bill Tuesday that would permit parents to opt out of face covering mandates. (The state Education Committee approved the measure along party lines, but it would need full Senate and House approval and Gov. Tom Wolf's signature to become law).

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