In voting business, members make appointments and set graduation date
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WRIGHT TWP. — Crestwood School Board’s monthly meeting Thursday lasted more than an hour, but most of that was audience members raising questions about the state mask mandate.
During the voting session, the board set the 2021-22 graduation for June 11 beginning 1 p.m. at the Mohegan Sun Arena.
The board also appointed:
• Casey Purcell as full-time computer technician; Sandra Januszewski and Rachel Kaslavage as food service workers/servers; Michael Abraham as part-time custodian, Kelly Leicht as long-term day to day substitute; Crystal Warner as long-term substitute at Rice Elementary.
• In girls basketball coaching, the board approved Don Hopkins for head varsity at $7,837, Donny Hopkins and Chuck Hiller for assistant varsity at $5,124 each, and Ashley Zearfoss for assistant junior high at $4,408.
• In boys basketball coaching, the board approved Mark Atherton for head varsity at $7,837, Michael Boutanos and Eric Lawson for assistant varsity at $5,124, and Jeff Bellas for assistant junior high at $4,408.
In wrestling coaching, the board approved James Costello for volunteer head varsity, Ronald Jeckell for assistant varsity/head junior high at $5,124, and Joseph Parsons for assistant junior high at $4,408.
And the board approved Ryan Aracangeli at $3,589 for winter weightlifting coach.
Before the voting session the board heard questions about how the district will decide when to make masks optional. Superintendent Robert Mehalick said the first step has to be the state lifting the mandate issued by the Department of Health.
Solicitor Jack Dean pointed out that while a Commonwealth Court began hearing a case about the legality of the mandate, on Thursday federal Judge Robert Mariani ordered the Delaware Valley School District to comply with the mandate. He said the district must now not only pay its own attorneys but has been ordered to pay the legal costs for the other side.
One man asked the board to pass a resolution promising to hold a special meeting and drop the mandate in the district as soon as the state mandate is either lifted or ruled illegal, but no board member present or participating remotely made a motion to do so. Mehalick said asking the board to do so is “unfair” and “puts the cart before the horse.”
Mehalick then appeared to respond to one question by saying he does not have to follow the law, but after the meeting he said he was talking about how the district has autonomy on requiring masking even if the order were lifted. He noted the district had decided to require masks before the state issued the mandate, and that if COVID-19 transmissions were high locally the district could require masks even if the state mandate ended.
Several people joined in after one person started interjecting that the mandate was “an order, not a law,” when Dean would talk about following the law. While the mandate was not legislated, it was issued by the department of health under a section of the state’s Disease Prevention and Control Law.
One woman made a more personal plea, noting her child had COVID-19 and tests have shown he has the antibodies to fight any new infection, yet he was quarantined and unable to come to school after being in close contact with a child who tested positive for the virus. Mehalick agreed to meet with her and the school nurse to look into the matter.
Reach Mark Guydish at 570-991-6112 or on Twitter @TLMarkGuydish