Press release by Senator Chris Gebhard
Posted on Aug 31, 2021
YORK – Senators Kristin Phillips-Hill (R-York), Mike Regan (R-York/Cumberland), Chris Gebhard (R-Lebanon/Dauphin/York) and Doug Mastriano (R-Adams/Cumberland/Franklin/York) and Representatives Torren Ecker (R-Adams/Cumberland), Keith Gillespie (R-York), Seth Grove (R-York), Mike Jones (R-York), Dawn Keefer (R-Cumberland/York), Kate Klunk (R-York), Dan Moul (R-Adams) and Stan Saylor (R-York) released the following statement regarding Governor Wolf’s announcement imposing a statewide mask mandate in schools and childcare facilities:
“Governor Wolf, once again, reversed course from his repeated stance over the month of August that there would be no mask mandate. Furthermore, in a letter to legislative leaders just last week, he asked for legislation to implement a universal masking policy in school districts and childcare facilities. Today’s announcement from the governor and his unelected and unconfirmed Acting Secretary of Health is more mixed messages and added confusion for our local school districts.
“In fact, our locally elected school directors have weighed all of the options, consulted with students, parents, teachers, administrators, health experts and taxpayers to make these difficult decisions in the best interest of their community when creating School Health and Safety plans. Fortunately for school districts, these locally created plans are still valid. A few weeks ago, Secretary of Education Noe Ortega said that there would be no funding cuts for decisions locally elected school directors make in their own school district.
“School directors should follow the decisions they made and were elected to do after careful and thoughtful considerations in their local districts and ignore empty words from a lame duck governor and mandates from an unelected, unconfirmed bureaucrat.”
Author: Amaury Abreu
