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Carolyn Austin’s friends returned to school on August 30 for personal study at Goodnoe Elementary in the Council Rock School District.
To her disappointment, Carolyn didn’t.
“I miss being with my friends on break,” she said.
The 9-year-old, travel and cooking enthusiast was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia in June 2020.
Carolyn’s health was put to the test in just over a year, with her small body enduring lumbar punctures, nasogastric feeding tubes, bone marrow biopsies, and chemotherapy treatments, in addition to taking dozens of medications.
Contagion with COVID-19 would only serve as another complication, explained her mother Elizabeth.
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Prior to the Wolf Administration’s masking order that required face-covering on K-12 campus, Elizabeth Austin was too concerned that her daughter’s health could be at further risk from exposure to COVID-19 for her to be sent back to the classroom .
Carolyn is one of the dozens of children that parents advocate for face-covering battles at school council meetings advocating for mandatory masking in Bucks schools. They said diseases like childhood cancer and other underlying health concerns make some children more susceptible to the coronavirus. And while infection might not be serious to most children, it could be devastating to those already infected.
The Council Rock School District had started the 2020-21 school year as an optional mask, and if it weren’t for all children to be masked, Carolyn would have to be homeschooled.
“I think the least you can do is only wear a mask during a pandemic if experts recommend it, not just because my child is sick and I want people around them to be careful but because this is a recommendation from experts in the field as what we should do, ”said Austin, who is also the mother of 11 year old Jack.
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In the week before school started, Carolyn was excited about the opportunity to return, her mother posted on Facebook.
“She insisted on going to her meet and greet (with her teacher) even though she had medication, chemotherapy and a needle inserted into her spine,” Austin wrote online.
“Do you know how much you have to love your school to put a needle in your spine and then beg to go to a meeting with a teacher you may or may not spend the year with?” She said of her daughter’s strength and love for education.
Despite meeting her teacher, given Council Rock’s decision to start the school year with optional masks, Carolyn would not be able to study in the classroom.
The message on Facebook isn’t the only letter Austin wrote.
In the days leading up to the new school year, she reached out to the Superintendent and Council Rock school board members, shared her daughter’s situation and advocated switching from optional to mandatory masks.
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“I got a nice email back from one person, a cold email from another, and nobody else replied to me,” said Austin, who was a Council Rock student herself. Superintendent Robert Fraser didn’t answer, she said.
The concerned parent noted that students with peanut allergy are asking other students to leave nut-free products at home.
She asked why a similar mask placement could not be made for her cancer-fighting daughter.
“Since the school cannot afford this housing, I teach them at home and pay for it out of my own pocket to make sure they get an adequate education,” she said.
She wrote online: “I hope Council Rock board members think of Carolyn every day… You took something away that motivated them to treat cancer and I’ll never look at you again without seeing that stain on your face. “
Luckily for Austin, she can work completely remotely while homeschooling Jack and Carolyn.
Given the recent nationwide mask mandate, she remains doubtful about sending her children back to face-to-face study.
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Now that the masking order and parents have the opportunity to submit mask exemption forms for their children in Council Rock and other local school districts, the mother thinks the mandate is “pretty pointless”.
“It really depends on Council Rock doing the right thing by following the mandate (and) if Council Rock had enough reason to listen to experts and do the right thing to make proactive decisions about child safety to hit, we weren’t in that position at all, ”said Austin.
“I am waiting for an official statement from CR confirming that they must comply with the mandate before I make any changes to our plans and I really hope this is the wake-up call they need to do that.” She said.
According to the Council Rock School District’s COVID-19 dashboard, 52 cases of the virus have been reported in its schools since the start of the new school year.
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