Parents Revive Mask Debate During Lower Moreland School Board Meeting Tuesday

LOWER MORELAND, PA — The topic of facemasks in schools, which has divided communities across Montgomery County and elsewhere, does not seem to be going away any time soon.

During Tuesday’s Lower Moreland School Board meeting, a few parents spoke up against the district’s masking policy, saying it is not beneficial to students.

Colleen Collins said her 14-year-old son has an inoperable brain tumor and receives chemotherapy. His oncologist, she said, told her that masks do more harm than good and that children need to build up their immune systems if they want to remain healthy.

Her son, Collins said, previously attended school every day “with no mask and no immune system and survived.”

She also mentioned how her other two children got into trouble when not completely covering their noses with their masks.

“All three schools in this district have now turned into a mask police state,” she told the board.

Collins singled out gym class, saying children should not be subject to a mask mandate during physical education.

“Gym class is a time for kids to have fun and let out some of their pent-up energy without being suffocated by masks,” she said.

Collins said some children are even experiencing bullying from peers over the mask issue, creating a “mentally abusive” situation.

“In closing if you really want to follow the science, do some testing on the soaked and filthy masks that the kids are wearing at the end of the eight-hour school day,” she said. “And the fact that my son has a better chance of dying from the tumor in the center of his brain than from COVID.”

Another parent, Jillian Calder, said that families have been able to carry on with their lives by choosing to be responsible about things on their own. People are able to dine indoors and gather with others in a group setting, and they are doing so by making individual choices, she said.

“Why isn’t what is happening in our Lower Moreland community happening within the walls of our Lower Moreland schools,” Calder said.

Calder urged the school board to solicit greater input from parents about their children’s education.

“Please you cannot continue educating without our input,” she said. “You need to stop suffocating them [children], figuratively and literally.”

Another parent spoke about the silliness of forcing kids to wear face coverings while performing outdoor activities, but district officials reiterated that the district’s policy is to only mandate mask usage for students and staff while indoors, not outside.

It is unclear what sort of action the parents sought to have the board undertake given that an indoor mask mandate was instituted at the state level by Pennsylvania health officials.

Before the start of the school year, school boards across the commonwealth did have the ability to choose to enact, or not enact, a facemask mandate, but since that time Pennsylvania’s health secretary issued a statewide order mandating students wear masks indoors at all schools.

Acting Pennsylvania Secretary of Health Alison Beam had issued the order back on Aug. 31 under the state's Disease and Prevention Control Law.