What Josh Shapiro Wants To Let Health Officials Do Inside Schools

Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro’s proposed overhaul of his state’s health code places schools in an “untenable position between parents and public health authorities,” according to America’s oldest association of school board directors.

The Shapiro administration’s proposed regulatory changes would give public health officials unfettered power to enter schools and have private conversations with students during disease investigation, without needing a warrant or parental consent. The Pennsylvania School Boards Association (PSBA) is concerned the proposed changes threaten partnerships with parents place schools in indefensible situations, as stated in a letter it submitted to the state’s Independent Regulatory Review Commission.

“We are concerned that the proposed regulation places schools in an untenable position between parents and public health authorities,” PSBA writes. “Specifically, the proposal would require schools to provide health authorities with timely access to students and permit private communications between health officials and students during the school day, while limiting the ability of school personnel to involve parents or guardians in those interactions.”

Added clauses in Shapiro’s 502-page proposal, unveiled by the Pennsylvania Department of Health on August 8, explicitly state that bureaucrats will have the power “to meet and speak with a student or other person in private” and that school employees “may not obstruct or interfere” with the investigation of a student.

“A person, including an employee or official of a school, shall permit the Department or local health authority to meet and speak with a student or other person in private, and may not interfere with the student or other person’s ability to exercise their right to give consent,” states the proposal. “A person, including an employee or official of a school, may not obstruct or interfere, with the Department or local health authority conducting contract tracing or partner services.”

The Daily Wire previously reported that the Shapiro administration’s proposed changes to Pennsylvania’s health code would give thestate’s health department centralized police powers under the guise of “disease control measures.” This includes the ability to access confidential medical records, impose statewide school mask mandates for disease prevention, and the power to exclude K-12 and college students from receiving an in-person education if they are deemed “susceptible” to a disease. The Department of Health reports to the governor’s office, meaning this change would give Shapiro — and his successors — the ability to single-handedly implement draconian policies across the state.

The PSBA letter was written on behalf of “the more that 5,000 public school directors and administrators” who govern Pennsylvania public schools. The September 4 letter asks the Pennsylvania Department of Health for clarity on how the changes would impact the daily operations of schools and to recognize the importance of “maintaining strong parent-school relationships.”

“The Department states that schools would retain flexibility through the requirement that access be provided in a ‘reasonable and timely’ manner,” the letter reads. “However, the proposal offers limited guidance regarding how schools should balance obligations to public health authorities, parental expectations, student rights, and existing school policies.”

“As a result, school personnel may be forced to make difficult real-time decisions involving sensitive legal and medical issues that extend beyond their expertise and primary educational responsibilities creating the opportunity to run afoul of state and federal law.”

PSBA also asked the Department of Health to provide “explicit guidance regarding parental notification requirements and limitations” and to clarify that schools are not responsible for “facilitating, defending, or explaining public health determinations made by state or local health authorities.”

The Pennsylvania School Boards Association says these public health measures could place school personnel in “direct conflict with parental expectation.”

“Parents reasonably expect schools to serve as trusted partners in their children’s education, safety, and well-being. The proposed regulation risks placing school administrators, teachers, nurses, and other personnel in direct conflict with parental expectations by requiring them to facilitate interactions involving highly sensitive health matters while restricting their ability to communicate with families regarding those interactions,” the letter reads.

PSBA is a nonpartisan organization that supports local leaders of Pennsylvania’s public schools. A PSBA representative told The Daily Wire the group did not wish to provide a comment beyond the contents of its letter.

Shapiro’s proposal has not been finalized and the public can submit a comment about the regulation to the Independent Regulatory Review Commission.  until September 21.

The Pennsylvania Department of Health states in the proposal that giving itself “access to students, unobstructed and in private, for the purpose of contract tracing or partner services,” is a first-of-its kind authority amongst northeastern states that “will place Pennsylvania ahead of other states in the region.”

“None of the states surrounding Pennsylvania address partner services or contact tracing within their communicable disease regulations,” states the proposal. “Enabling Department personnel to utilize these important public health strategies to prevent the spread of disease in schools will place Pennsylvania ahead of other states in the region.”

Andrew Pry, Executive Director of the Pennsylvania Christian Education Network, told The Daily Wire the rights of faith-based schools are also threatened by the Shapiro administrations radical proposed health code changes.

“As a former public-school principal, I know how essential trust between parents and schools is. These regulations undermine that trust when it bypasses parents and gives unlimited access to the government to meet privately with our children,” Pry told The Daily Wire.

“For the Christian schools I represent today, that concern is even more serious,” Pry continued. “Parents choose these schools precisely because they expect schools to respect their rights as parents, along with their faith, and seek to serve as partners in helping parents protect and guide their children. To make schools complicit in government interference with these fundamental rights offends the most basic precepts of religious freedom and breaks the bond of trust between parents and educators.”

Pennsylvania Democrats have publicly insisted the regulation does not give the Department of Health any new authority and have accused Republicans of spreading “misinformation and fear.”

“Unfortunately, Republicans are seizing on this opportunity to jump to extreme conclusions and spread misinformation and fear,” a spokeswoman for Pennsylvania’s state House Majority Leader, Democrat Rep. Matt Bradford, told the MonValley Independent. “No new authority is created in this proposal; it simply clarifies existing authority. We encourage the public to comment as part of this process.”

The Pennsylvania Department of Health and Democrat Pennsylvania State House Majority Leader Matt Bradford did not respond to The Daily Wire’s requests for comment.

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