Three Montgomery County residents are suing to stop county officials from forcing all schools there to move entirely online for two weeks.
The county’s Board of Health voted Nov. 13 to require all K-12 public and private school students to learn virtually from Nov. 23 to Dec. 6, in order to slow the spread of the coronavirus. The vote followed a contentious meeting a day earlier when dozens of parents and residents spoke out against the idea.
“What you are proposing is causing irreparable damage to countless children and their families,” Elizabeth Weir, a plaintiff in the lawsuit, said at the Nov. 12 meeting. “ And the callousness with which you are talking about it makes it seem so simple to return to virtual learning … it is astounding in its arrogance.”
The plaintiffs also include Kaitlin Derstine and John Niehls, head of the Coventry Christian Schools in Pottstown.
The lawsuit, filed Wednesday, hopes to have the decision invalidated by claiming that county officials violated Pennsylvania’s Sunshine Act by failing to provide 24 hours notice of the Nov. 13 meeting.
It also alleges a number of other violations of the Sunshine Act by the county, including not publishing notice of the vote in a newspaper and limiting public comment.
The suit is being funded by Niehls’ crowdfunding campaign, which has raised more than $10,000 in the last five days.
“I am not a Covid denier….I AM absolutely committed to science and data,” Niehls wrote on his GoFundMe post. “And right now, ALL available science and data shows this virus is not a threat to kids and young people and that it is not being spread in our schools.”