Students, teachers, and others who do not have a valid medical excuse will have to wear masks in Warren County School District schools starting Tuesday.

At an emergency meeting Thursday morning, the school board could not come together on a motion to address the state’s new mask mandate.

After hearing comments from nine attendees — seven opposed to the mandate, two in favor — the members of the board voted down two possible motions.

The first was effectively an “end run” that would have had the district “comply with the… order” and “assuming” medical conditions that preclude face coverings when students, staff, visitors, and others were still mask-free in district buildings after one reminder.

Board member Arthur Stewart made that motion.

“I think it’s the best of both worlds,” Stewart said. “With my motion, parents can send their children to school without their masks.”

“At this point, our parents are the best folks to know the condition of their children,” he said. “If they’re concerned about exposure, they can send their children with the protection of the mask. We have been responsive to the folks who are not sending their children to school because of the mask.”

“With respect to this motion, in order to comply with the order, a medical condition or disability, the order requires that that be asserted by the student,” District Solicitor Chris Byham said. “I think the order itself requires more than this motion calls for.”

“In terms of the letter of the order, I don’t think that this motion would be in compliance,” Byham said.

“The magic words the parent has to say is, ‘My child has a panic attack if they have a face covering on,'” Stewart said.

Byham said the condition would have to be asserted and the district would have to offer alternatives to a mask. “It needs to be asserted and reasonable,” he said. Then, the alternatives have to be ruled out before someone would be allowed to not wear a mask and remain in school.

Board member Elizabeth Huffman asked administration what happens when students who do not have valid medical excuses to not wear a face covering report to school without masks.

“I would expect you to follow all of the procedures we’ve put in place previously,” Board President Donna Zariczny said.

“They’ll be denied entry into a classroom,” Superintendent Amy Stewart said. “We didn’t have that issue last year. We were able to talk to kids, remind them to put masks on…”

“With the order in place, I have no wiggle room in terms of follow-through with the order,” she said. “I have to enforce the order.”

“I want the public to know… we’ve checked with three different solicitors,” Board Member Mary Passinger said. “They’ve all said that we do not have a choice in this. If we do not follow the mandate, the district could be liable for all kinds of things.”

Thursday’s meeting was scheduled for 8 a.m. An executive session set for 7:30 a.m. lasted until after 8. The meeting did not begin until almost 8:15 a.m. Some members said they had to leave for other obligations at 9.

With 10 people signed up for public comment, Zariczny set a time limit of one minute each to ensure the board had time to deliberate.

“I am in favor of supporting my administration and governing as a school board member,” Zariczny said. “We need to support our administration in doing their job… giving them clear direction, not pick and choose which legislation, which rules, and which regulations we are going to follow.”

“We’re also here in a position to support the public,” Board Member Jeff Labesky said. “I will vote in favor of this motion based on the public outcry.”

“I’ve heard from the public both in favor and against,” Zariczny said. “You have people on both sides of this argument.”

Shortly after 9 a.m., with board members still discussing the issue, Arthur Stewart — one of those who had to leave the meeting — called for the motion to be put to a vote.

That motion failed and discussion continued.

“We’re not listening to the solicitors,” Passinger said. “We don’t get to pick and choose which rules we follow. This is a mandate.”

One of the people who had previously addressed the board in favor of the mask mandate said her family had already lost a child to COVID-19.

“If we lose another child and they can prove we chose not to follow that mandate, what’s the liability?” Passinger said.

“Just because we have to follow the mandate doesn’t mean there aren’t other avenues to express your views to the governor,” Board Member Marcy Morgan said. “We have a mandate. We have to deal with it.”

Arthur Stewart again asked that the members vote on the issue.

“We have multiple people that have to go and it’s becoming rude at this point,” he said.

The vote came up moments later, with Stewart, Huffman, Kevin Lindvay, and Labesky voting in favor, and Zariczny, Passinger, Morgan, Paul Mangione, and Joe Colosimo voting against.

The board members then voted on modifying the health and safety plan with the inclusion of the information in the new mandate.

Passinger, Zariczny, and Morgan voting in favor, Stewart absent, and Colosimo, Huffman, Labesky, Lindvay, and Mangione voting against.

While several of the attendees who spoke argued the decision regarding masks should be a parent choice, the absence of choices has plagued the district since the beginning of the pandemic, according to one board member.

“We as board members have not had a choice since March 15, 2019, when all of this COVID stuff started,” Mangione said. “How much time are we going to give to COVID? Probably not an hour has went by for any of our administrators and teachers when the word COVID has not come up.”

“Where is Washington on this? Where is Harrisburg on this?” Mangione said. “Washington and Harrsiburg want to play political games where our kids are the pawns. All we talk about is this COVID nonsense. I’d like to get back to doing more about education.”

The district’s funding for the 2021-22 breaks down to 32.4 percent local funding, 11.6 percent federal funding, and 56 percent state, according to information from the district website.

Earlier this week, the board addressed a different mask mandate. The federal government requires masks on school transportation. At Monday’s special meeting of the school board, the members voted to, in the words of one member, “thumb their nose” at the federal government by limiting the penalty for violating that mandate to warnings.

“I think we should pursue… is there some way we can get this mandate removed,” Passinger said. “Otherwise, our hands are tied.”

“We’re getting threats from insurance companies that they won’t pay claims if we don’t follow the mandate,” Colosimo said. “I firmly stand against a mask mandate. Harrisburg and Washington really do need to do something to help local school districts — not threaten us and threaten our funding.”

“This isn’t about what we want,” Superintendent Stewart said. “The state has taken control.”

She said Wolf “is ready to shut down schools if they don’t comply.”

“This board and administration have worked to make sure that our doors are open when they’re ready to open,” she said. “We’ll do everything in our power to make sure that schools can function and be open.”

“Nobody here wants children to have panic attacks,” Superintendent Stewart said. She explained the process for those who have “legitimate medical concerns.” Families in those positions are encouraged to contact the district’s Pupil Services department.

“The way the order was worded… the order usurps and applies whether the school district amends its plan or not,” Byham said. “If nothing gets done today, it still goes into effect Sept. 7.”

“We weren’t able to come to an agreement on a final motion today,” Zariczny said. “The mandate still takes effect.”