The Peters Township School Board met Monday evening and compared to recent meetings, the tone of the meeting was much quieter. Much of the meeting was taken up by public comment. That comment centered on the district’s health and safety plan, push back on the mask mandate in schools and an effort to bring better dialogue between residents and the school board. Fifteen people spoke in two comment periods. The main topics were asking board members why they could not have a dialogue at the meeting instead of the public stating their concerns and waiting for an answer. Board members were called out in general for not responding to emails. The mask mandate continues to be a topic with some residents wondering why Peters Twp. does not push back against the mandate as other school districts allegedly are doing. The solicitor answered questions about the mandate indicating that the school district is following guidelines from the Department of Health and pointed out the penalties associated with not following the mandate, including loss of accreditation in certain areas and legal jeopardy for individual board members. Director Lisa Anderson pointed out that the district is tied up in litigation and certain questions simply cannot be answered until the litigation is complete. In the business section of the meeting, the agenda included a first reading of changes to the district’s policy manual. One of the policy items concerns revisions to the public participation in board meetings. Anderson explained that this was brought about by the recent changes in Pennsylvania’s Sunshine Act law. Anderson stated that the policy was derived from language provided by the Pennsylvania School Board Association and a study of surrounding area school districts policies on public comment. The board will vote on all policy changes at their November 15 voting meeting.