The Sept. 14 Saucon Valley School Board meeting was fairly short, and with the exception of the announcement of Superintendent Dr. Craig Butler’s impending October retirement, somewhat uneventful.

However, in a common scene throughout the country, the meeting maintained a sense of tension, albeit not as broad or fierce as what’s transpired elsewhere. The conflict stemmed from the district’s enforcement – or lack thereof, according to some – of Governor Tom Wolf’s recently-enacted statewide mask mandate.

The meeting began with board member Sandra Miller asking to file a verbal protest against a member of the audience, later self-identified as Keith Gerstenberg. Gerstenberg entered the building maskless and refused to wear one when asked, sitting with a smirk as Miller expressed her discontent that board President Susan Baxter refused to address the issue.

The business portion of the meeting moved swiftly and without much discussion aside from Butler’s departure, which was first communicated to district parents via email at the end of August. Butler has been superintendent at Saucon Valley since moving from the Hazelton Area School District in 2017.

Board Vice President Dr. Shamim Pakzad shared some kind words regarding Butler’s tenure, saying, “lots of good things happened” during his four years Baxter added that the board would be accepting his resignation “with regret.”

Butler then said a few words, thanking the board for the opportunity to lead the district through a period which he called “a challenge, but also a joy.” He publicly thanked his wife Kathleen and his sons, as well as district personnel, saying “This is a fine school with a great faculty and staff.” He closed by thanking the community, with whom he described his dealings as overwhelmingly positive.

The public comment portion of the meeting initially featured only one email submitted by a district parent who had a few suggestions regarding the elementary school’s lunch offerings. However, board member Shawn Welch spoke up before Baxter could close the session, asking, “are we sure there’s nobody who wants to say anything?” He was referring to Gerstenberg, who then suggested that he did wish to speak.

“I came here purposely without a mask because this is a mandate, not a law,” he said. “It’s stated in there that you can’t physically remove me or take me out of here, so I don’t know what that act was tonight when I came in here,” he added, referring to the aforementioned conflict at the beginning of the meeting.

Gerstenberg went on to suggest that the school board has the authority to “supersede the government,” saying he believes “it is borderline child abuse to interfere with the breathing of a child.” He also criticized the district’s procedure for requesting masking exemptions, saying, “I’m not going to take my child to a doctor and ask to get a thing saying they don’t need to wear a mask. This is still the United States - our Constitution still gives us the freedom.”

Welch thanked him for his comments and encouraged another maskless man, whose name was not audible but who said he had a child in sixth grade in the district, to step up to the podium. The man brought up the July parent survey regarding masking and did not seem to understand or follow the developments of the last few months, calling the survey an “illegal census.”

He continued in this manner briefly, with board member Bryan Eichfeld answering, “I’m against the masking, and a lot of the board members feel that way too… we are up against some very tough issues.” Solicitor Mark Fitzgerald said the Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court will be hearing arguments over the next two weeks and that a decision would likely come by Oct. 1 whether or not the statewide mask mandate would be upheld.

“I understand your frustration, but your frustration is not with these nine members,” Fitzgerald said, adding, “I get it, trust me.” Welch affirmed Eichfeld and Fitzgerald’s opinions and personally thanked the men for coming.

Baxter allowed the unidentified man one more question, in which he broadly inquired about the board’s intent to adopt Critical Race Theory (CRT), a niche, university-level course of study which has not been adopted in any school district across the country. Butler and the board affirmed that CRT is not under consideration, although when the man asked if “the state” could “sneak it in” to curriculum materials, Welch simply urged him to pay attention to what his child was bringing home.