As with other district's around our area lately, the issue of wearing a mask and requiring children to wear a mask during their school day, was the topic of discussion at North Schuylkill Wednesday evening.Prior to the start of the meeting, scheduled for 7:00pm, many began arrive at the meeting, some wearing masks, some not.
For those that arrived without a mask, the Butler Township Police Officer on duty offered masks, with most refusing.
At roughly 6:50pm, the School Board's committee of the whole meeting ended, and the board went into executive session for personnel reasons.
By 7:00pm, approximately 30 to 40 people had arrived to attend the meeting, with half of those not wearing a mask. It was unclear how many of those in attendance were from the district or just there to argue the mask policy.
School Board Member Glenn Weist returned to the high school cafeteria where the meeting was taking place with the district's policy in hand, explaining to those in attendance, that those not wearing a mask would need to wear a mask or be escorted out of the building by police.
Weist was met with defiance by those not wearing masks, to which he gave them 5 minutes to comply.
Weist returned to the executive session with the whole board returning later to start the meeting around 7:40pm.
After officially starting the meeting with Pledge of Allegiance, Board Member Tom Fletcher asked to have the floor and made a motion to adjourn the meeting due to "Health and Safety Issues".
This angered those in attendance with many shouting "Cowards" at the board.
All of the board member in attendance agreed to the adjournment with the meeting to be scheduled for a later date.
Butler Township were at the school for the meeting with additional help from Ashland Police.