The PA Supreme Court issued an order on November 30, 2021 extending the duration of the mask mandate to December 8, 2021. The PA Supreme Court is scheduled to hear the appeal on that date and may or may not decide to keep the mandate in place during the appeal process. The District will continue to keep you updated on the situation.
Earlier this week, the Commonwealth Court issued a ruling voiding Acting Secretary Beam’s school mask order. The state filed an appeal immediately, which could trigger a stay of the Court’s ruling and keep the order in effect.
Secretary of Education Noe Ortega advised that schools should continue to observe the school masking order throughout the duration of the court’s proceedings. Until we have a clearer direction from the PA Supreme Court, we will continue to implement the mask mandate within the school building until we have a clearer direction on the matter. It is important to note that the current ruling does not overturn the CDC's federal mandate of wearing masks on school buses. Students are required to wear masks on buses, regardless of the PA Court ruling.
The safety and welfare of our students and staff are our highest priorities in the Marion Center Area School District. For this reason, we practice safety drills throughout the year to help our staff and students know what to do in an emergency. On Tuesday, October 26, 2021, the Marion Center Area School District conducted a lockdown drill in our buildings.
Click on "Read full story" to view the parent letter sent home with students regarding the mask mandate starting Tuesday, September 7th.
The mask order issued by the DOH and Governor Wolf as of yesterday has sparked additional concern and questions with in our school community. Currently, I am working with our school solicitor to provide clarity to the order. It is clear that all students and staff are required to wear a mask while in the building beginning September 7th. It is also clear that the district must follow the order, as it is a mandate. If the district does not enforce the order, we are subject to willful negligence charges. As of now, I ask everyone to please reference the order set forth by the acting secretary of the department of health. Also please reference the link to the FAQs posted by the Pennsylvania Department of Education. It is my goal to provide our students with a letter to bring home tomorrow that will outline the expectations set forth within the order and how our district intends to enforce those expectations.
Thank you for your understanding.
Clint Weimer, Superintendent
If you plan to enroll your child in the Marion Center Cyber Academy for the 2021-22 school year, please click the link to complete the form by Friday, September 3rd at noon. If you have questions regarding the district's cyber program, please contact the Mr. Peterson in the High School Office at 724-397-5551 Ext. 1000.
The Heritage Conference met on September 21 at 1:00pm to discuss the recent ruling on House Bill 2787 and Governor Wolf’s veto of that bill. The PIAA has issued the following statement to schools, “PDE’s request that schools voluntarily adhere to the 25 and 250 caps recognizes that they, at least for the moment, are not mandatory and adherence is up to each school.” The Heritage Conference decided by a member vote to issue each student athlete 2 tickets to be used by family members for both home and away events. This includes Volleyball, Cross Country, and Football. Marching Band and Cheer will only participate at home events and will be issued 2 ticket per student at those events. Marion Center is committed to provide a safe environment for our student and community and will be adhering to the face covering and social distancing requirements. The Marion Center silver and gold passes issued to our community members unfortunately cannot be honored at this time, only two tickets can be awarded per athlete.
All children enrolled in the district will be served free meals! USDA announced the extension of the Summer Food Service Program and MCASD has chosen to participate. All kids will be able to eat free, with or without an application on file.
*Eligible families should fill out the Free and Reduced Meal Application for the 2020-21 school year. Funding for our schools depends on our Free/Reduced percentage.
The USDA has extended the summer FREE meal program. All students can now eat FREE breakfast and lunch. Please see attached file for more information.