WARREN, Pa. — Local response to the Pennsylvania school mask mandate announced on Tuesday has ranged from the surprised to the strongly negative.

Gov. Tom Wolf announced the mandate in conjunction with the state departments of health, human services, and education.

“My office has received an outpouring of messages from parents asking the administration to protect all children by requiring masks in schools,” Wolf said in a Tuesday afternoon release. “The science is clear. The Delta variant is highly transmissible and dangerous to the unvaccinated, many of whom are children too young to receive the vaccine. Requiring masks in schools will keep our students safer and in the classroom, where we all want them to be.”

On the first day of school, officials in Warren County School District had other things on their minds.

“The timing of the order was less than ideal,” Superintendent Amy Stewart said. “On the afternoon of the first day of school, our focus needs to be on getting kids on the right buses, not on a change of messaging from the state.”

The school board will be considering the mandate.

“We are in the process of unpacking the contents of the order,” Stewart said. “The board president will be calling a meeting sometime this week to receive legal advice regarding the order from our solicitor. We will be working on updates to our Health and Safety Plan.”

Officials at Tidioute Community Charter School didn’t have the same timing issues – school at TCCS started last week. Administrators will be discussing the issue today and expect to move to a mandatory mask policy before the statewide mandate is in effect.

CEO Doug Allen said the school “will comply with the PA state mask mandate effective this Thursday.”

“I preferred for local school boards to make this decision,” Wolf said. “Unfortunately, an aggressive nationwide campaign is spreading misinformation about mask-wearing and pressuring and intimidating school districts to reject mask policies that will keep kids safe and in school. As we see cases among children increase in Pennsylvania and throughout the country, this is especially dangerous and challenging as we seek to keep kids in school and maintain a safe and healthy learning environment.”

“The masking topic creates a lot of debate,” Stewart said. “There is a great deal of frustration out there right now. We are hearing, primarily, from those who want to keep masking a choice.”

A local group is strongly in favor of local control.

“We are tired of putting up with this,” Jewel Rozanski, speaking for Parents’ Right to Choose, Warren, PA, said Tuesday after the mandate was announced.

Rozanski spoke Monday night at the special meeting of the school board, presenting the results of an online petition – reportedly bearing 544 WCSD parent signatures at the time – and encouraging the board to continue with its stated goal not requiring masks in school.

“We were very serious when it was stated that we will fight this and that is what we plan on doing,” Rozanski said.

She said the group is gathering information regarding the mandate before taking its next steps.

State Rep. Kathy Rapp is also in favor of local control on this issue.

She said legislators would be discussing the issue in caucus Tuesday evening. As of Tuesday afternoon, she said, “I still believe that this issue should be decided at the local level.”

“The reality we are living in now is much different than it was just a month ago,” Acting Health Secretary Alison Beam said. “With case counts increasing, the situation has reached the point that we need to take this action to protect our children, teachers and staff. The science is clear. If we want to keep our schools open, maintain classroom learning and allow sports and other activities to continue, masking significantly increases our chances of doing so.”

“Universal masking in schools, which the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the American Academy of Pediatrics recommend, reduces the risk that entire classrooms will need to quarantine due to a positive COVID-19 case,” according to the governor’s release. “This order ensures Pennsylvania’s children are participating in classroom learning without the constant disruptions.”