Editorial: Mask mandate at WCCC deserved hearing by trustees first
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Having masks prompt fights is nothing new.
For more than a year, the coronavirus pandemic demand to wear masks at grocery stores or restaurants has led to fights that ended up going viral on YouTube and Facebook, if not actually finding their way into court. Masks disappeared in the spring when covid-19 restrictions were rolled back with lowering cases and rising vaccines.
With the delta variant bringing a new wave, the mask debate has returned — especially with regard to schools. The state lawmakers turned down a request from Gov. Tom Wolf to come back into session and vote on a mask mandate. But in school districts and colleges across Pennsylvania, the question is drawing hard lines between pro and con.
The Westmoreland County Community College is experiencing similar confusion, but with a slight difference.
WCCC President Tuesday Stanley issued a mandate, effective Aug. 18, that students, employees and visitors cover up inside any of the buildings at the college’s eight locations across Westmoreland as well as in Fayette and Indiana counties.
Doug Weimer is a college trustee. He and the others only found out about the decision at the monthly board meeting, a week after the fact. Weimer says he and the other trustees should have had the opportunity to be heard before it was made, and he has a point.
Weimer is well versed in public policy. A Republican who has served as a Hempfield Township Supervisor for 20 years and most recently ran for district judge, he opposes mandates. But he also is an educator at Norwin School District who makes his unvaccinated 10-year-old wear a mask. His criticism is for reasons refreshingly disconnected to other points in the debate — and valid.
Board chair Leia Shilobod also made a valid point: the college president has the ability to make such decisions without board input.
And here’s the confusion. It’s an example of how an action can follow the letter of the law but still skirt the spirit.
A school administrator’s power always emanates not from the administrator’s office but from the board to whom that person answers. The freedom that a superintendent or president or other official has to act in the best interest of the school always carries an unspoken subtext. Every action may not come with a board vote, but they still are done in the board’s name.
That is why Stanley may have been within her power to initiate the mandate. But as that power is only borrowed from the board, those trustees should have been consulted before the action was taken. At the very least, they should have been notified before it went into effect, rather than at Aug. 25 meeting.
This is not about the masks at all. The districts throughout Allegheny and Westmoreland counties have fallen on both sides of the debate as the issue has risen at board meetings. The important thing is that it came up at meetings where both the board members and the public had an opportunity to raise questions and concerns.
Masks can protect people from a lot, but they should never interfere with transparent government.