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PARKERSBURG -- A lawsuit filed by two parents over Wood County Schools' COVID-19 masking requirement was dismissed last month because the policy is no longer in effect.
"The children in Wood County Schools no longer are required or mandated to wear face coverings," Wood County Circuit Court Judge J.D. Beane wrote in an order dated Sept. 6. "A decision at this point would not grant the petitioners any more relief than they already have, enjoying an education free from the forced mandate of wearing masks."
The lawsuit was filed in October 2021 on behalf of John R. Davis and Felsie C. Pierce, who asked the court to declare the school district's mask mandate illegal and unconstitutional. In the complaint, they said the requirement caused their three children, who were students at Parkersburg High School, to suffer from medical conditions, including hypercapnia (buildup of carbon dioxide in the blood), cephalgia (headaches), enhanced allergies and candida and thrush, referring to fungal infections.
The attorney for the district argued in a motion to dismiss the case that school boards have a constitutional duty "to provide a safe and secure school environment" and that studies cited by the plaintiffs showing prolonged facemask use is harmful have been "discredited, retracted or misrepresented."
Beane did not rule on the arguments by the plaintiffs or the school district's attorneys, instead declaring the lawsuit moot.
The Wood County Board of Education enacted the mask mandate on a 3-2 vote on Aug. 31, 2021. It required masks to be worn by all students, staff and visitors indoors or on buses when the county was classified as red or orange, the two highest levels of spread on the state's County Alert System map.
The board voted to end the mandate in February.