Email Shows Bucks County School Closures Weren’t Just Bad For Kids, They Were Illegal

Emails uncovered by concerned parents in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, home of the state’s third-largest School district officials reveal that they knew they were breaking state law when they barred students from the classrooms after the 2019-2020 academic school year. Years later, it’s finally coming to light.

John Kopicki, the then-Central Bucks Superintendent at the time, sent an email in July 2020 confirming the legal limits on online instruction for the coming school year.

“Hybrid options and staggered schedule options are NOT legal as of today, absent a waiver or legislative change,” The email was read. However, the schools were still closed because they did not receive a waiver from the state.

At the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, state lawmakers offered schools flexibility from Pennsylvania’s 180/990/900 ruleThe law, which requires students be present in the classroom for 180 days for 990 hours in secondary schools and 900 hours for elementary school, is called “The Act of Education”. The legislature granted districts suspension of this requirement until the end of the 2019-202020 academic calendar, but declined to renew it for subsequent school year.

Nevertheless, Bucks County School District closed schools for the next two-years. Schools were closed again again Even though there was no legislative waiver, the school year 2019-2020 will continue.

A spokesman for Pennsylvania Sen. Scott Martin, who chairs the Appropriations Committee, told The Federalist schools that violated the state’s 180/990/900 rule could face a “significant financial penalty if they fail to get a waiver.”

“If there are violations of [the] 990 rule, that can influence whether schools get their reimbursements from the state,” The spokesman stated that.

On whether Central Bucks County violated the rule, Martin’s office deferred to the state Department of Education. The department did not respond to The Federalist’s inquiries, leaving the possibility for substantive accountability in doubt two years later.

The Central Bucks School District also did not respond to The Federalist’s request for comment.

“It was never legal to shut schools down,” Jamie Walker, a mother of three children from Bucks County Schools, told The Federalist. “It was always illegal. They knew it.”

Walker and a group parents are fighting with administrators to halt repeated closures of Central Bucks School District schools. This is just one of many battles Walker has waged since 2020. The closures have been protested by parents, who were also accompanied with seemingly endless mask protocols. Six-foot social distancing was also used, which is an impractical standard that forced school shutdowns.

David Damsker, director of Bucks County Health Department issued a June 2020 statement guidance On opening classrooms again for fall, the policy included a three-foot distancing and an optional face mask policy due to the difficulty in keeping children’s faces covered. However, teachers unions launched an immediate operation to discredit Damsker. They demanded a six foot distancing policy which forced students into virtual learning.

Pennsylvania State Education Association, Mideastern Region President Bill Senathiis published this article in July 2020. op-ed A local paper headlined the story “David Damsker’s remarks about 3-foot social distancing in schools are harmful.”

“The Bucks County

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