All five Democrat members of Pennsylvania’s West Chester Area School District’s (WCASD) board have been reinstated by a judge after having been removed as a result of voting to mandate masks.
The five Democrats make up the majority of WCASD’s nine-member school board, which voted to maintain the district’s mask mandate after the Pennsylvania legislature ended the Keystone State’s emergency declaration and the state’s Supreme Court declared the mandate unconstitutional.
Parents in the district, led by Beth Ann Rosica, petitioned for the Democrats’ removal, which was granted by Judge William Mahon in the Chester County Court of Common Pleas.
Rosica argued that the board did not have the authority to mandate masks after those actions by the legislature and the Supreme Court.
The members’ immediate removal was a “procedural” one, according to Mahon, who reinstated all five members days later, saying the “removal of school board members cripples the school district.”
Board president Sue Tiernan, as well as directors Joyce Chester, Karen Herrmann, Kate Shaw, and Daryle Durnell, are the five Democrats who have been reinstated.
Despite their reinstatement, the case is still set to move forward on the merits, something that appears to be welcome news to Rosica, who said “I would rather win this petition on its merits rather than on a technicality.”
The deadline for the school district to respond to the lawsuit on the merits is April 4.
Breccan F. Thies is a reporter for Breitbart News. You can follow him on Twitter @BreccanFThies.
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