School will resume on Tuesday after the Labor Day holiday and the state’s indoor mask mandate will be in effect. Indiana County’s school districts will all comply with the mask mandate, and each has developed its own policy for dealing with those who refuse to wear a mask.
Indiana Area reported three new positive covid-19 cases on Friday, bringing the total to five in the district (three at the Junior High/Eisenhower Elementary school, and one each at the Senior High and Ben Franklin Elementary).
River Valley superintendent Philip Martell writes in a public letter that the district will establish “protest safety zones” at the two school campuses for those who wish to demonstrate against the mask mandate, and he has asked state police, Blairsville police, and Saltsburg police to have a presence as a safety precaution when school resumes. Parking for protest activities will not be permitted on either campus on Tuesday.
Senate President Pro Tem Jake Corman, Representative Jesse Topper, two Christian private schools, and parents from three public school districts have filed suit in Commonwealth Court challenging the order by Acting Health Secretary Alison Beam, but the hearing on the suit will not be heard until September 16th.
