Third Circuit Stays Appeal Of Perkiomen Valley School District In Mask Lawsuit

PERKIOMEN VALLEY, PA — A federal appeals court has decided to put on hold a case involving a Montgomery County school district that is being sued by parents of special needs students who claim the district's decision to rescind its face mask policy violates disabilities law.

U.S. Third Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Thomas L. Ambro issued an order Tuesday to stay an appeal by the Perkiomen Valley School District, which is being sued over the face mask issue in schools.

Ambro simultaneously ruled against a move by the school district to expedite their appeal.

Ambro's decision comes one day after school district lawyers filed court papers seeking to dissolve a federal judge's preliminary injunction in the case based on changing guidance issued by federal health officials in light of the fact that COVID-19 numbers have dropped in recent time.

Since the federal lawsuit was filed against the Perkiomen Valley School District, other districts across Montgomery County and beyond have revised their health and safety plans to no longer mandate the wearing of face masks as a mitigation tool against coronavirus transmission.

Parents of students in Great Valley, West Chester Area and Downingtown Area school districts have filed petitions in Chester County Court to remove school board members over the districts policies to require masks.

Great Valley and Downingtown school district have since made masks optional.

Perkiomen Valley School District, however, has been bound by U.S. District Court Judge Wendy Beetlestone's preliminary injunction, which forced the district to keep its mandatory masking policy in place while the merits of the litigation could be decided.

Ambro ordered a "limited remand" to Beetlestone's court so the trial judge could adjudicate the defendants' motion to dissolve the case.

In a Monday court filing, Perkiomen Valley School District Solicitor Brian Subers, who is representing the school board and administration in the federal lawsuit, stated that Perkiomen Valley remains the only school district in Montgomery County that has been unable to drop its mask mandate because of the ongoing litigation.

"This leaves the District's 5,011 students held to a different standard than the students of all other school districts across the Commonwealth," the filing states.

The plaintiffs in the underlying litigation are claiming that rescinding the face mask policy puts them at heightened risk of contracting COVID-19.

They further claim that they would be forced to learn in an at-home setting to evade disease transmission, something that denies them of their right to an in-person education.