Alpena Public Schools defends masking policy in lawsuit
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ALPENA -- In the first three weeks of the school year, health officials detected nearly 30 COVID-19 cases in Alpena schools, and hundreds of students had to quarantine and learn remotely because of the sickness, an Alpena Public Schools attorney said in a response to a lawsuit against the school district.
A parent group calling itself Freedom to Breathe filed the suit in early October, claiming the school overstepped state school and health codes when on Sept. 21 it ordered students to wear masks in school and at indoor school events.
Court documents did not name any individual involved in Freedom to Breathe. The News could not reach the group's attorney for comment.
The group asked a judge to suspend the mask mandate until the lawsuit makes its way through court. Judge Ed Black will consider that request today in Alpena's 26th Circuit Court.
In the lawsuit, the parent group claims APS officials violated the Michigan Health Code by requiring masks and suspending students who refused to wear them.
The parent group's attorney suggested in the suit that schools could issue written warnings to students they consider a health threat or report alleged health violations to the local health department instead of requiring masks.
In a response filed last week, APS attorneys said state law gives schools the right to adopt "reasonable rules and regulations to ensure the safety and welfare of students."
Statements by the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services and local health officials, issued before the start of the school year and cited in the APS response, recommended all-school masking to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. MDHHS said in its statement that "school districts may have additional rules that must be followed," APS attorneys noted.
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer's administration has left it up to local health departments and school districts to decide whether or not to mandate masks or other coronavirus protocols.
Both students' education and the health of the community could suffer if Black suspends the mask policy, the school district's attorneys said.
"The COVID-19 virus does not care if an injunction is issued," the attorneys wrote. "Regardless of an injunction, the virus will run its course of expanding contamination and COVID cases without safeguards in place."
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While wearing masks poses no long-term harm to students, letting students attend school without masks while the court addresses the lawsuit increases the likelihood students will spread sickness in their classrooms and homes, the APS response said.
School officials instituted the mask mandate less than four weeks after the first day of school. By then, 231 students had quarantined and six elementary classrooms and 805 Thunder Bay Junior High School students had transitioned to remote learning. Health officials had reported 29 confirmed COVID-19 cases among APS staff and students in the first weeks of the school year, the school district's attorneys claimed in court records.
At the end of July, 20 local medical professionals, including a psychologist, a pediatrician, and family medicine practitioners, signed a letter cautioning the school district that leaving masking decisions up to families would lead to more illness and fewer days of in-person instruction, the attorneys said.
This afternoon, Black will hear both parties' arguments about the proposed court order to halt the schools' masking policy.