Mask Mandate Suit Dismissed Against Pennsbury School District

FALLSINGTON, PA —A lawsuit challenging whether the Pennsbury School District and four others could mandate masks in schools has been dismissed.

The Commonwealth Court this past week dismissed the last challenge to school district mask mandates as “moot” since schools no longer require masks.

Pennsbury, along with the Pennsylvania Secretary of Education and four other school districts were sued in a statewide attempt by plaintiffs to invalidate the power of locally elected school boards to implement public health measures in local schools during a pandemic.

Nine parents of school-aged children sued Pennsbury, as well as Pennsylvania Secretary of Education Noe Ortega, and school districts in Allegheny County, Monroe County, the Lehigh Valley, and Pittsburgh.

They argued that local school districts have no authority to require students and visitors to wear masks during a pandemic and that Ortega was wrong to advise them as such.

In her conclusion, Commonwealth Court Judge Christine Fizzano Cannon wrote that Ortega’s advice “was not an order, directive, requirement or mandate” and said the petition for review was “moot” since schools no longer require masks.

In a November 2021 email sent to school districts throughout Pennsylvania, Ortega wrote, in part, “school entities still possess the authority and are encouraged to require masks in their facilities as recommended by [the] CDC,” as noted in the 19-page ruling.

Plaintiffs contended that Ortega “erred by advising the School District Respondents that they could enact masking policies” and that school districts “lack the authority to implement mask mandates,” according to the ruling.

The Pennsylvania Parents Protecting Children posted a statement on its Facebook page regarding the suit's dismissal.

"We can only hope the court is right about the likelihood of masks returning to our schools is nothing more than a bad memory," the organization said. "If schools should decide to reimpose required masking within schools, we as parents will be quick to respond again."

Rudolph Clarke, LLC Partner Peter Amuso, and attorney Samantha Newell represented Pennsbury School District in the lawsuit.

In addition to representing Pennsbury, Amuso coordinated the efforts of the attorneys representing the Secretary of Education, as well as the other school districts, along with attorneys from the Pennsylvania School Boards Associations.

“Through the school code, our Legislature has granted local school boards broad power to protect students based on local conditions,” Amuso said. “We were proud to protect those broad powers for Pennsbury and our other school district clients, and for all school districts across the Commonwealth. We continue to be ready to assist our clients facing these complex safety issues.”