View the public comments and noteworthy statements from the 2/11/2022 D158 School Board Meeting below. This meeting had the most public attendees we have seen since our group was formed. More than 150 audience members filled the board room, board overflow room, and the lobby of the Administration building.
1:28– Mother says how wonderful this week has been for her children as they have unmasked at school, and that her daughter chose to wear a mask in one class because the teacher’s daughter is immunocompromised. Applauds allowing the kids to make choices.
1:30 – Father states that he hopes the Parent Union gains more influence with the board as it supports parents, and he wants to see it have as much power as the Teachers’ Union. He is concerned about the kids’ ongoing mental health.
1:32 – Mother points out that the Parent Union raised $5,000 in four days to join the unmasking lawsuit because of all of the support and influence from the community. Questions why the District is still involved in appealing the lawsuit to overturn the court ruling to re-mask kids.
1:35 – Father states that he removed all three of his children from D158 last year because he has lost faith in the district, and their decision to try to appeal the unmasking lawsuit does not reinforce his faith, especially when we are only one of a handful of states with a mandate.
1:38 – Mother addresses the issue of masking on the buses and how the federal mandate for masks on public transportation does not apply to school buses. (Our Parent Union website has the text of the mandate and transportation law citations at this link you would like to know more.) She also asks why masking is being enforced for school sports.
1:41 – Student says he has not enjoyed wearing masks for two years and feels punished and wants them to continue to be optional. Says school is telling them to “follow the science” and wear masks, but when adults don’t have to wear them, he feels punished. “Why can’t school be like restaurants?”
1:44 – Mother says she does not understand the opposition to masks and says her child has never come home upset that he is wearing a mask because she has told him it’s something that’s necessary.
1:46 – Mother says that her kids had a great week and the masks must remain optional. The masks only provide a barrier to growth and opportunity. Discusses how her first grader has been masked her entire school career until this week and now has a speech impediment which she is receiving speech therapy for.
1:50 – Mother reads emails and voicemails from parents and teachers from the Parent Union tip line sharing positive experiences, and unfortunately a few negative ones, including D158 teachers posting negative social media posts swearing at their own students for unmasking.
1:54 – Mother of graduated students of D158 thanks them for giving a wonderful education to her children. She is the waste co-chair for the Environmental Defenders and was happy that D158 participated in this initiative to reduce food waste.
1:56 – Mother says her maskless children are the happiest she has seen them in a couple years. She pivots to discuss inappropriate Youtube videos getting through the district’s Chromebook and was unable to install a filter or channel blocker. She would like one to be installed on the school end.
1:59 – Mother pulled her children from the district and wants them to return but is having second thoughts knowing that the district is appealing the mask lawsuit. She asks how the district can truly heal when they are appealing the lawsuit and notes that they will likely be served with many lawsuits if they re-instate masking.
2:03 – Father says the board embraced questionable practices without looking at the actual science and data and that indoctrination is coming from the top down, both on this and on curriculum. Asks the board to stand up for the students, or put someone in their seats that can.
2:08 – Mother thanks for making masks optional. She says her mind is still not at ease on the masking though because the district is appealing the mask-removal lawsuit, and it breaks her heart. She stresses that we need personal choice.
2:12 – Mother brings her five-year-old to the podium to show them that she was denied a public education because this district would not stand up for her rights to begin kindergarten without a mask. She points out that the Leggee kindergarten teacher who wrote that unmasked students need to “kindly go F” themselves would likely have been her child’s teacher had she not been driven to homeschool.
2:15 – Mother says she is concerned that the school board is appealing the mask lawsuit and says she is concerned that they are using our taxpayer dollars to fight it. Why would the district join this appeal if, as they stated, they wanted to go mask-optional all the way back in August?
2:20 – Father shares his struggle with getting a mask exemption for his child’s IEP who has health issues with shortness of breath and dizziness. Despite information provided by his doctor, the health department sent it back saying dizziness was not a medical diagnosis.
2:25 – Mother says she is happy to see so many parents supporting tonight. Thanks the board for acting professional through this process and that she has heard 80% of students are now mask free. She felt so defeated to hear that the district is trying to overturn the mask ruling now and asks Dr. Rowe to set an example as a leader.
2:27 – Mother states that the parents’ trust has been eroded. We presented a great deal of research for months that masks did not work and were not slowing the spread. We are told our children are resilient, but parents are too, and we are not going away.
(This marks the conclusion of public comment.)
Dr. Rowe addressed some of the issues raised by parents later in the night that may interest our parents who did not stay for the entire meeting.
4:45 – Dr. Rowe understands that while many parents are happy with the unmasking, some are upset. He points out that our district’s experience, both with students and parents, was more positive than what is happening both in neighboring districts and around the country. He believes it’s time to focus on life beyond masking at school.
4:48 – The virus has mutated a few times but has gotten less contagious. He states that the vaccine is safe and proven effective scientifically. We also need to acknowledge the declining risk of the virus and is something we have to live with. At some point we must live with a level of risk. Higher-quality masks do exist for those who elect to utilize them. It is time to look past the crisis portion of this event. Our local views do not necessarily align with the decisions we have had to make. He is happy we are heading in this direction and metrics are in an extremely good place.
4:52 – Regarding the lawsuit appeal: “I listened and I heard every word of what was shared tonight. And they hit hard, to be honest with you. There’s nothing underhanded about our involvement in this appeal, we are not trying to overturn this decision or secretly want to be in a masked environment. That could not be further from the truth. But some questions have been raised.”
“We are listed in the appeal, and the fact of the matter is that we had to sign onto the appeal days before we even heard the outcome of the verdict. As a named defender in the case, we were forced to make that decision whether to be added before we knew the outcome so our attorneys could prepare that file. At that time, the direction the district was going to take was unknown. We were expecting six or seven different variations of what that court decision was. But to be totally clear, we fully accept the court decision. We are not in any way trying to overturn it in an underhanded way, because a masked environment is not an environment that we like… we were in a tough spot. I don’t know how else to explain it.”
“The attorneys explained, as I raised the question, and in fact did attempt to question why are we involved in the appeal when the governor is appealing from the state and as a named defendant, we would be subject to the appeal regardless, with the documents already filed there is no way of pulling our name off. The state is seeking the governor’s ability for a widespread mask mandate. The districts listed are seeking something different, local control and to not be restricted by the ruling of the original court case.”
He states that it has been frustrating and challenging to have different attorney groups offering different advice. “To be honest, we had a fantastic week at school. It was probably one of the best weeks we’ve had in a long time. Our students were happy, our teachers were pleased, and as I look around the state of Illinois, I want nothing to do with that, with what other schools are experiencing. I hope this path forward continues and that we don’t see what some fear will come with an unmasked environment.”
He says that he looked at data from similar states unmasked and said that the data does not show lower positivity rate or cases in similar populations from our state to others. He says he is thrilled that the board made the decision that it made, as he thinks it was the right one.
5:07 – Powerpoint of Covid-19 Mitigations is presented on screen and discussed.
5:23 – Dr. Rowe: “I have zero desire to experience what I’ve seen other schools around the state experience. We will not put children in a gym and not have their education,. I can’t do that. I’ve seen some horrific things occurring in schools around the state enforcing the mandate because they feel they are still supposed to, and I sympathize with them because I know what it feels like. They were told that they had to. But I fear for our kids if we had to go do something like that because that’s not who we are, that’s not how we treat our kids, that’s not how we fight for our kids.”
5:27 – Mr. Quagliano states that there are false narratives around the ESSR relief funds and that those are not the reason the school was doing mitigations.
5:30: Mr. Quagliano states that $350 was spent on the lawsuit appeal.