With Huntley District 158’s change to mask optional and removal of close-contact quarantining, we have heard from parents whose children are having issues regarding discrimination since this policy change.
The district’s 2/6/22 email to parents stated “we are now in a position in which we cannot enforce masking or exclusion from school for close contacts in our district.”
If you would like to share your story with us, you may email it to info@district158parentunion.org or call our tip line at 224-241-7764.
If you’re calling about a specific incident at your child’s school, please leave the following information:
- Name of the school
- Name of the teacher
- The grade your child is in
- A brief description of what happened
All emails and calls are anonymous unless you would like to identify yourself, and we will never use your name or information without permission. If you would like a representative from our organization to call you back to discuss the incident, please include your phone number.
Additionally, the district’s monthly school board meeting is this Thursday night, 2/10/22 at 7:00pm at the Administration building on Academic Drive. Families and children are welcome to attend and speak to what’s going on in the schools.
Note: We are getting many calls and emails about masking on school buses.
The court decision does not specifically address this issue. Attorney Thomas Devore, who represented the named parents in D158 and other Illinois districts, maintains that the buses are each district’s property, and the mask mandate does not apply to school uses because it is a federal mandate for public transportation only. Legally, under Section 5302 of Title 49, our government specifically excludes school buses from the definition of public transportation.
We encourage you to read the president’s Executive Order on Promoting COVID-19 Safety in Domestic and International Travel on Whitehouse.gov, which states that the mask order applies to “all forms of public transportation as defined in section 5302 of title 49, United States Code.”
Next, read Section 5302 of Title 49 on House.gov, which defines public transportation:
(15) Public transportation.—The term “public transportation”—
(A) means regular, continuing shared-ride surface transportation services that are open to the general public or open to a segment of the general public defined by age, disability, or low income; and
(B) does not include—
(i) intercity passenger rail transportation provided by the entity described in chapter 243 (or a successor to such entity);
(ii) intercity bus service;
(iii) charter bus service;
(iv) school bus service;
(v) sightseeing service;
(vi) courtesy shuttle service for patrons of one or more specific establishments; or
(vii) intra-terminal or intra-facility shuttle services.
The president’s executive order on masking never legally applied to school buses under the government’s own definitions of both. We presented this at the 2/6/22 D158 board meeting. The board disagreed.