The Butler Area School District is going along with a state mandate under protest but also preparing to file legal action against the state.
At an emergency board meeting Monday night, the board voted by an 8-1 margin to approve the Attestation of Ensuring Implementation of Mitigation Efforts which is required by the PA Departments of Health and Education in order to continue offering some special needs students in-person instruction.
The board also added the required addendum to the district’s mode of operation chart in the Phased School Reopening Health and Safety Plan. Both of those actions were taken with the stipulation that the board was signing “under protest”.
“The big change in the attestation form in one sense could be an advantage in reopening our schools, but sustaining that reopening could be challenging,” White said. “It allows to move away from community spread, and look at active cases inside buildings.”
“I want to make it clear that while we could implement this legally tomorrow, we don’t have the capacity to do so yet,” White added.
Finally, by an 8-1 margin the board approved a motion to undertake legal action against the state.
No immediate details were available about where the suit would be filed or how it would proceed but the undetermined amount of money to pay for the suit will come from the budget line item assigned to district legal expenses which is under budget so far this year.