The Gateway School Board delayed a vote Tuesday on a rule that would place a moratorium on all indoor district facility rentals, including a one-year rental of the high school’s auditorium to a church.

Grace Life Church has come under fire recently as school district parents and residents have criticized the church for allegedly not enforcing social distancing guidelines and mask use during weekly services taking place at Gateway High School’s auditorium.

“It looks like they’re at a concert,” said Millie Chatman, of Monroeville, referencing photos the church posted to social media earlier this month. As a woman who said she attends church and believes in God, she said her problem is not with the church.

“There are 500 to 1,000 (congregants) in Gateway school on a Sunday, no mask, not social distancing, roaming around, using our facilities. They could be spreading (covid-19) in our facilities and then Monday morning you expect our kids to be there. I have a problem with that,” Chatman said.

Chatman’s late husband, Stephen Chatman, died from covid-19 on March 30. He was 55. He hosted WYEP’s “The Soul Show” for 14 years at the Pittsburgh NPR affiliate. She has four children, two of which attend Gateway High School.

Millie Chatman is a member of Parents of Gateway, a private group on Facebook that was created July 16 for “parents and guardians of Gateway School District students … to discuss what is going on within the district, ask for help navigating the current events, and to help better our district.”

Chatman said there have been hundreds of comments from people concerned about Grace Life Church’s rental of Gateway High School’s auditorium.

The Gateway School Board of Directors voted unanimously in March to approve a one-year lease agreement with Grace Life Church. For $130,000, the church would lease the high school’s auditorium from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. every Sunday beginning April 19 for its 500 to 1,000 congregants.

The start date was pushed back to June 21 because of restrictions in place amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Since then, the church has met for two services every Sunday and has published photos from those services to its social media sites. Although some are masked in the photos, others are not. Social distancing does not appear to be followed closely.

Grace Life Church officials were not immediately available to comment.

Board vice president Rick McIntyre made a motion toward the end of the meeting to end all facility rentals until further notice or “until covid is over.”

The board did not mention Grace Life Church by name during its discussion. But it was alluded to when McIntyre referred to possible “religious exemptions” it might have under Gov. Tom Wolf’s coronavirus restrictions.

The allusion prompted the district’s solicitor, Bruce Dice, to warn members of singling out a single tenant.

“I think if you start to single out one tenant versus another, or treat a tenant differently than another, we’re in trouble,” he said.

Some board members expressed concern about the district’s ability to enforce safety protocols while a facility is being rented. Others were concerned about the legal repercussions of potentially singling out an individual tenant.

Discussion about the matter ended when Board president Mary Beth Cirucci called for a vote to table McIntyre’s motion until the board’s regularly scheduled Aug. 11 meeting. That means that, for now, Grace Life Church can continue to hold services in the auditorium.

The discussion followed a lengthy discussion about the school district’s overall education plan heading into the 2020-21 school year amid the coronavirus pandemic.

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