I’ve been waiting 354 days to write this letter.

All those days ago, on March 9th, 2021, you submitted a message to the Bucks County Sports Association website, chiding us for daring to allow children to play sports without wearing face masks. You called our policy “dangerous,” “self-serving,” and “hypocritical.”

Indeed, you were correct that BCSA did not comply with the Pennsylvania Department of Health’s Updated Order which called for every single child in Pennsylvania to wear a face mask while actively engaged in athletics. Not only did we not comply with the order, we openly flouted it by prohibiting masks altogether. While the vast majority of intramural leagues cancelled their season, we had a fully normal one. That was the whole point.

Because of our actions, the Bucks County Health Department eventually joined us in opposing the PA DoH’s Updated Order. The Health Department’s letter came out less than two weeks before your message. Maybe you weren’t even aware that our policy was in line with county guidance at the time?

At the same time that we received your message, folks much like yourself were reporting BCSA to various “authorities”, like health departments, the police, and even the FBI (lol). Some even went so far as to attack the league’s sponsors. But our sponsors remained steadfast, and so did we.

The reason that I waited until now to respond is because I knew that this day would eventually come.

I knew that your position, the position that children should be masked while they actively play sports in a youth league that you have nothing to do with, would eventually be seen for what it is: complete lunacy.

I wondered how you would handle that shift in public opinion. I wondered how you would fare once you were the one in the extreme minority.

And now here we are.

As of today, 97% of Bucks County public school students already attend school in a mask-optional environment. Children in New Hope-Solebury School District, over which you preside as Board President, are in the mere 3% who do not. I wonder what it’s like to be so alone, so abandoned, that you are the only Board President left in Bucks County clinging to mask mandates that clearly don’t work.

Yesterday, the CDC released new guidance under which all organizations in Bucks County should immediately be mask-optional for everyone. As you’ve already decided that New Hope-Solebury will maintain its mask requirement until March 7th, you are now choosing to defy that guidance. My, how the tables have turned. I wonder what that feels like, after two years of claiming to “follow the science.“

On March 9, 2021, the day that you sent your message to BCSA, the 7-day average of Pennsylvania COVID deaths was 44 (source). Today that number is 66, and it has not been as low as 44 since September, five months ago. Yet New Hope-Solebury athletes have played sports this entire school year without masks.

So you chided us for allowing kids to play sports without masks back when COVID mortality was lower, but make no admonition upon your own district for doing the same thing now when COVID mortality is higher.

I wonder how you justify that.

Public opinion has left you behind. People have moved on. While the accelerated return to normal continues, it seems that you are one of the few intent on keeping your own perverted sense of control for as long as possible. I wonder why.

Two days ago, you cemented your legacy at the February 2022 meeting of the New Hope-Solebury School Board of Directors. Throughout the meeting, you repeatedly showed clear disdain for all parents who desire mask choice. You kicked several parents out of the meeting for not pulling their masks up. I lost count of how many times you barked, “Mask up or leave.” The meeting audio was muted during every round of applause given to mask-choice parents.

The image below captures your role in this moment stunningly well.

The man in this picture is a father in your district. His views represent nearly half of the parents who have children in the district. And yet you stand over him, arms crossed, cold and indifferent to anything he might have to say. You eventually had him removed from the meeting, too, because he didn’t pull his mask up quickly enough after delivering a public comment that you apparently did not like.

That picture reminded me so poignantly of your message to BCSA, and helped me decide that it’s finally time to respond.

You were on the wrong side of history 354 days ago, and you’re on the wrong side of history now.

Those of us with whom you disagree have weathered much worse than your contempt. We’ve actually become quite hardened by the challenges of the last two years. We are stronger. We are more united. We look forward to the future, and we are ready to seize it.

On the other hand, people like you seem to be spiraling, cut off from family, friends, and institutions whose support you so obviously need during this time of transition. Society is returning to normal, with or without you.

There could be no better illustration of this dichotomy than what took place outside of this week’s school board meeting. While you shouted at people about masks and tossed parents out of the meeting, a completely normal, pre-pandemic basketball game was in progress right across the hall. I encourage you to watch the clip here.

For what it’s worth, that basketball game looked an awful lot like Bucks County Sports Association did 354 days ago. Normal.

I hope you are ready for the societal change that is about to happen. You, as much as anyone, need it.