Woodkirk Stone
A potential change in the Central Bucks School District’s mask policy on Wednesday raised fears of a militia presence in Bucks County over the weekend.
Twitter and Facebook posted online that a group called the Proud American Patriots Network is planning to meet near the regular district meeting room at 16 Weldon Dr. in Doylestown at noon on Wednesday.
The leaflet “No mask warrant” was published a few hours after a late Friday afternoon announcement district that he would hold a special meeting on his health and safety plan starting at 6:45 p.m. Wednesday evening.
The district previously approved an optional mask policy for students and staff on July 27, but the Bucks County Health Department recently recommended that schools require indoor masks as coronavirus cases continue to rise in the region.
Among posts calling the relatively unknown Patriots Network over the weekend, the group planned to take over the limited public comment slots available for the meeting.
Wednesday’s public comment period will be limited to the first 30 people who register in person, with a two-minute limit for all speakers. Anyone who signs up after those 30 people will be placed at the top of the public comments section for the regular board meeting on August 31.
Multiple social networks posts over the weekend made comparisons between the Patriots Network and the Three Percenters, a right-wing group militia group recently tagged a terrorist entity by the Canadian government.
One of the messages of particular concern against the network included an image posted to Facebook on July 18 that appears to show a dozen suspected members posing with military-style rifles and other firearms with the text “#trainingday” on it. above.
The group has since said the photo was taken at an airsoft multiple sclerosis charity event and has denounced accusations that it is an activist group. Airsoft guns use compressed gases to shoot spherical plastic pellets at opponents, usually in team fights.
“Recently it was declared that we are a militia, a racist right-wing organization. I can unequivocally state that we are not. We have members who come from all walks of life, from many cultures, diverse backgrounds. and religions, â€Facebook post reports Monday morning.
The group canceled plans for an hour-long rally before this week’s school board meeting due to what it described as an online “mass hysteria” campaign. The group supports schools without masks.
While the Patriots Network rebuffed criticism, comparisons with the three percent were not entirely unfounded.
The store page on the group’s website, www.pa-pn.org, included a special section for “three percent merchandise†as late as this weekend.
Network members are required to take a variety of online courses, which include courses in constitution, disaster emergency response, and basic life sustaining.
This website previously included other lessons in close combat tactics and field trauma medicine, but those lessons have been taken offline for at least Saturday evening.
The Patriots Network appears to have been started by TJ Kosin, a Warwick resident and military veteran, in March.
The group’s Facebook, MeWe and Gab social media accounts were all created between March and May. The Facebook account seems to be the only one that is regularly updated.
Kosin’s wife Brittany appears to have registered the group’s name on March 22, 2021.
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An account for TJ Kosin on the cloud document sharing platform www.flipsnack.com previously included a “command structure†form that listed a “TJ K†as the president of the organization. A “Brittany K” is listed as the group’s chief of staff and “national doctor”.
The Kosins have already spoken at Central Bucks meetings, with TJ Kosin telling the board on July 27 that online lessons were implemented at the start of the pandemic last year. were detrimental the development of her autistic son.
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The Patriots Network also removed endorsements posted in late July for school board candidates Jim Pepper, Debra Cannon and Lisa Sciscio.
Fears that a militia group will attend school meetings are just another in the more and more controversial debate around masks in schools.
Much of this debate has revolved around decisions made in Central dollars, which has the fourth highest number of students of any public school district in the state.
Fierce comments against mask rules and other coronavirus mitigation efforts have permeated public commentary at school board meetings for months now.
The July meeting at Central Bucks brought one of the ugliest showdowns to date, as healthcare professionals across the region were booed and cursed at a press conference.
Township of New Britain supervisor Cynthia Jones was cited for summary harassment Days later the meeting. Jones said she placed a notice board over the head of Megan Brock, of Northampton.
Jones later apologized for the altercation against Brock, who was photographing protesters attempting to disrupt the press conference.
The school board’s optional mask decision sparked a public outcry against the county, which could only make recommendations but could not force a district to take particular action.
In the first weeks of August, however, public demand for formal school boards from the Bucks County Department of Health as county districts became optional for the mask.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has since July 27 recommended students in kindergarten to grade 12 schools, wear masks indoors, regardless of immunization status. There is currently no vaccine for children under 12 years old.
The count initially offered advice which still supported the optional mask, but these recommendations changed the August 17 after a meeting with hospitals in the region.
With the county and most of the Commonwealth in a state of “high transmission” according to the CDC, concerns that pediatric units could be quickly overwhelmed in the next few months led to the change, county officials said on the week. last.
The change in recommendations could trigger a domino effect among many countries School districts that previously went with optional mask plans.
Pennsbury School District canceled optional mask plan Last week, and Board rock The school district has scheduled a special meeting Thursday night to assess its options.
Pennridge at Upper Bucks last week announced plans to retain its optional mask plan after officials looked at health data in the Upper Bucks community that they said supported the move.
The news organization attempted to reach Kosin via the Patriots Network Facebook page on Monday, but the group deferred the posted comment and declined to comment further.
Central Bucks did not immediately respond to a request for comment from that news agency on Monday morning.