BENSALEM, Pa. (KYW Newsradio) — Several school districts in the Philadelphia area are making mask-wearing optional as of Monday. This follows the Pennsylvania Supreme Court’s decision to toss the state’s mask mandate last week.
Three school systems in Bucks County are lifting the mask requirement: Bensalem, Pennridge and the Central Bucks school districts. In Chester County, the Oxford Area School District is recommending students and staffers wear masks, but it is no longer mandatory.
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In recent months, at some of the school board meetings, parents who are adamantly against masks and other COVID-19 health and safety requirements have made their voices heard.
However, other parents are emphasizing a need for caution, especially with the omicron variant and COVID-19 case counts going up in the region.
"Parents need to think about the safety of their kids and other kids. You don’t know other people’s habits when they go home, so you need to keep them safe at all times,” parent April Coleman said to NBC 10.
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On Friday, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court announced the decision to vacate the Wolf administration’s mask mandate for K-12 school buildings and child care facilities. The high court upheld a lower court’s decision that the requirement put in place by acting Health Secretary Alison Beam was not done so legally.
Some officials at local districts have said they are not planning to change their mask policies anytime soon. That includes the Philadelphia, Upper Darby and West Chester Area school districts.
Whether a district requires masks or not, they are still mandatory on school buses, which are covered under the federal mask requirement for public transportation.