Anti-maskers accuse Crestwood board of communism; meeting adjourned

WRIGHT TWP. — For the second time in three days the refusal of members of an audience to wear masks prompted the cancellation and rescheduling of a School Board meeting.

On Tuesday it was Pittston Area that canceled a meeting after several people refused to don masks when asked.

On Thursday it was Crestwood.

Board President Barry Boone brought the meeting to order, asked for recital of the Pledge of Allegiance, and for a roll call that had eight members present. Superintendent Robert Mehalick then said “Thanks for coming” and noted there was “lots on the agenda,” then said “so let’s begin by making sure everyone has a mask on.” He asked several times for those without masks to put them on, without response, so he gave the crowd 30 more seconds to comply before saying “The meeting is adjourned.”

A member in the audience asked who he was, and Mehalick said “I’m the superintendent of schools,” when the person said he wanted to ask some questions, Mehalick initially said he could, but Solicitor Jack Dean said “it’s not comment time.”

As the crowd started making some noises, the meeting was officially adjourned, with people getting louder and one man accusing the board of “descending into communism,” calling it “shameful.”

In some ways it was a repeat of the Pittston School Board meeting Tuesday, where a contingent came in mask-less and refused to put them on when asked. The meeting had not yet been officially called to order in that case, and the board went into a recess while the security officer asked those not wearing masks to leave. They refused, with one man alleging if the officer forced them to leave he would be breaking the law. At Pittston, District solicitor Sam Falcone returned into the room about 30 minutes later and said that since the meeting was never called to order it was being cancelled.

After the Crestwood meeting, Dean noted the agenda included a vote on an updated health plan that, he said, would make masking optional after Dec. 4, the date the state school mask mandate must end according to a court order, unless new legal developments occur.

Dean also noted that the district had six police officers present, though the crowd “was not threatening.” He justified the adjournment because as soon as the mask request was made one man approached the board despite being told it wasn’t time for public comment yet. The same thing happened at Pittston Area, and the man refused to respond to requests to give his name and place of residence.

“There is case law out there,” Dean said. “These are public meetings that can’t be disrupted when asked to put a mask on. This is not democracy by mob. There’s a protocol and unfortunately they didn’t want to follow it.”

Dean also said that he looked at the list of people who had signed up to speak and that there were names of people who do live in the district.

The School Board will likely schedule a meeting via Zoom, possibly as early as Monday if required advertising can be arranged. Asked if he was concerned about the legality of holding a Zoom meeting — something that became the norm during much of the past year thanks to COVID-19, with return to in-person meetings earlier this year— he said he has consulted with the Pennsylvania School Boards Association and is confident such a meeting will be legal.

Contacted after the meeting, Dr. Larry Braunstein, who has spoken against the mask mandate at other meetings and has a son in the district high school, said the person who tried to speak when asked to put on masks was Matt Tarr, a Back Mountain Pastor who wanted to explain why he didn’t put on a mask but was not given the opportunity.

Braunstein noted most people had masks on, and that there were important issues some in the crowd wanted to ask about, including the temporary closure of Rice Elementary because of a high number of COVID-19 cases. He also said there was some chatter about the board planning to do what it did — adjourn the meeting if anyone refused to put on a mask — before Thursday.