Federal Judge Dismisses Mask Lawsuit Against Montco School District

PERKIOMEN VALLEY, PA — A federal judge in Philadelphia has officially dismissed a complaint against a central Montgomery County school district that was being sued over a decision to rescind a face mask policy this past school year for students and staff.

U.S. District Judge Wendy Beetlestone last week officially threw out a federal civil rights complaint against the Perkiomen Valley School District and its elected board of directors.

The educational institution was being sued over a policy decision to remove mandatory masking this past school year, during a time when other districts had maintained face mask requirements during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Parents of a class of unnamed medically fragile school students had sued over the move to rescind the mask policy, saying it would force their kids to either face the prospect of potentially contracting the coronavirus or violate their right to in-person instruction if they were essentially forced back into remote learning.

The plaintiffs first filed their federal class action suit this past January.

The district's decision to rescind universal masking came at a time when other districts maintained mask policies, but ironically, soon after the suit was filed, COVID-19 numbers began to change around Montgomery County and other districts soon followed suit and began removing masking requirements.

The Perkiomen Valley School District, however, was initially forced to maintain masking while the early stages of the litigation played out.

Eventually, however, masking was loosened.

A look at court records in the Perkiomen Valley case shows that Beetlestone dismissed the action without prejudice mid-last week, putting to close a half-years' worth of litigation.

Changing circumstances with regard to the pandemic essentially rendered the lawsuit moot, the judge wrote, agreeing with defense attorneys who had earlier filed a motion to dismiss the case.

The judge, however, dismissed the civil action without prejudice, meaning it could potentially be refiled again in the future if circumstances changed.

When a case is dismissed with prejudice, however, that case can never again be refiled.

Take a look at some of Patch's previous coverage in this case:

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