Category: Covid

Categories
Covid

D158 Parent Union Tip Line: 224-241-7764‬

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.

Categories
Covid

Our response to 2021-MR-91 mask and quarantine lawsuit

In light of the recent 2/4/22 Illinois mask and quarantine lawsuit court ruling, many of our parents have asked for a letter they can provide to their child’s school supporting their decision to send their child to school mask-free next week. The D158 Parent Union is happy to provide you with a letter below. Simply copy the text and paste it into your email, or print and send with your child.

________________________

My name is ___ and I have ____ children within your district.

On February 4, 2022, Sangamon County Judge Grischow ruled that the emergency mask mandate and guidance from the Governor, IDPH & ISBE are void. The mask mandates in our schools are illegal. No authority exists under the law to mandate masks in our schools for children or for staff without due process.

Although my child is not listed on the lawsuit, I understand that with this judge’s ruling all children and teachers are afforded due process of the law.

As the judge stated, “Non-named Plaintiffs and School Districts throughout this State may govern themselves accordingly.” We are informing District 158 board members and administration that we expect you to follow the law as declared by the judge.

If District 158 chooses to continue the masks mandates, vaccination requirements for staff, and close-contact quarantine, you are knowingly breaking the law and exposing yourself to significant liability. Parents are putting you on notice and are ready to take immediate legal action, including but not limited to, filing a civil rights violation claim.

Quarantines, test-to-stays, exposures, masking, testing requirements, and excluding children from school for close contact cannot be requested or enforced by our schools without giving that child or staff due process under the law.

Therefore, we expect our D158 board, staff, and parents to simply follow the law. By continuing to enforce any of these policies, the school would be willingly engaging in illegal activity. It was made clear that the mandates by the Governor and these agencies were deemed unlawful for the named students. By design, if they are unlawful for named students, they are unlawful for all students. Any legal reasoning behind your initial mandates has been voided.

We expect that when our children come to school with no masks, they will not be presented with masks to wear or pressured to put one on, nor will they be removed from their regular scheduled day in the same environment as their classmates. We expect their day not to be disrupted and that they will be allowed a proper education through their normal scheduled day. We expect our civil rights to be upheld. Additionally, under the terms of the order, school districts cannot refuse admittance to teachers and students deemed a “close contact” of a probable COVID-19 case without due process of law.

It must be noted that school boards have no authority to enforce mitigations and suspend our children’s due process rights by a show of hands. Children have been subject to the illegal actions of ISBE, IDPH, and this school board for the past two years. It is past time for this board to respect every child’s right to due process before masking, exclusion, and testing can be required.

If you attempt to mask our children or enforce close contact quarantines, in or out of school, understand that we have plans for seeking due process if needed, and we will take legal action.

Signed,

________________________

1) Personalize and email this letter to your child’s principal and every teacher your child comes in contact with at school. (Here’s a link to D158 email contacts.) Print a copy for your child to carry in his or her backpack.

2) Role-play with younger children how to respond if they are ask to mask. Encourage them to be respectful but to say that wearing the mask is no longer legal.

3) Encourage your child to tell you how their day went and report back to you. If your child has a phone, encourage him or her to reach out to you if there are any issues during the day.

4) Please share this email widely with ANY parent in the district that would also like their child to have due process.

And join us at the school board meeting this Thursday night, 2/9 at 7:00pm (650 Dr. John Burkey Drive, Algonquin, IL). It is very important that we show up in numbers in light of this recent decision.

* Even if your child still wishes to wear their mask, but you do not want to unnecessarily quarantine anymore, we encourage you to take part in this and note that you do not want your child quarantined for close contact anymore as it is unlawful. There are benefits to all families in this ruling beyond the mask.

tquagliano@district158.org
kgentry@district158.org
ptroy@district158.org
scratty@district158.org
wgeheren@district158.org
mmaiorino@district158.org
lmelendy@district158.org
superintendent@district158.org
wjohnson@district158.org (Marlowe)
mbelin@district158.org (HHS)
bfaulkner@district158.org (Heineman)
mhappold@district158.org (Martin)
rhenson@district158.org (Chesak)
ahoyou@district158.org (Conley)
siddings@district158.org (Leggee)
pmoan@district158.org (Mackeben)
spauwels@district158.org (ECC)

 

Categories
Covid

Statistics related to Covid, quarantine, and vaccine policies

Our group has been researching the school policies related to Covid.

Jump to:

Number of Covid cases | Deaths under age 18 |How other states are handling | How nearby schools are handling | D158 Covid relief funds | Parent questions | Vaccine mandate concerns | 42 peer-reviewed studies regarding negative effects of masking

Covid cases nationally have declined 33% over the past four weeks (as of 9/29/21.)

In McHenry County, as of 9/26/21, these are the current Covid positivity statistics. McHenry County’s positivity rate is 3.14%.

Nationally, rates below 9.99% are considered “low transmission.” Why are we told that we’re still considered “high” when the county rate is so low?

As of 9/30/21, Illinois is ranked #46 on the national list of states with highest Covid infection rates, meaning 45 other states have higher rates than Illinois does. Illinois currently has one of the lowest infection rates in the country.

The number of people in Illinois under the age of 18 who have died of Covid throughout both 2020 and 2021 is 19. Just 19.

 

Covid has a .02% mortality rate for those under 18. This is lower than the flu death rate for under-18s.Since 1/1/20, 478 children under the age of 18 died of Covid in the entire nation. While any loss of life is tragic, there are currently 73.1 million children in the USA under the age of 18. Statistically,  0.0006539% of children under 18 have died of Covid – on average, fewer than ten children per state.

To compare, during the 2018-2019 flu season, 477 children died of the flu. Statistically, the pediatric Covid death rate for 2020-2021 of 478 deaths is in line with the previous 2018-2019 flu deaths of 477.

A UK study notes that of 627 children hospitalized for Covid, just six out of 627 pediatric patients died, “all of whom had profound comorbidity.”

The 2020 teen suicide statistics do not yet appear to be available, but the 2019 data shows that 2756 children under the age of 19 took their own lives, and that was in a pre-pandemic year. Children are more than five times as likely to die of suicide than of Covid.

Currently, there are only five states with statewide mask mandates: Illinois, Louisiana, Washington, Oregon, and New Mexico.

Illinois’ neighboring states are handling Covid school policies very differently than Illinois is.

Iowa

Indiana

How nearby schools are handling Covid response

Township District 211 is the largest high school district in Illinois, encompassing areas of Schaumburg, Hoffman Estates, and Palatine. Despite the district’s size, 211 has had only 17 Covid-related quarantines since the 2021-2022 school year began. View their live counter of school quarantines by school at this link.

Township also has 11857 students to Huntley’s 8900 students. Currently, D158 has 77 students in quarantine this week alone as of 9/29/21.

The Illinois State Board of Education “affirms the fundamental importance of in-person learning for the well-being of students, families, and communities. We know that children learn best –
and educators teach best – when they are physically present together in the same space.

“In-person learning with the appropriate protective measures should be both safe and essential to students’ mental health and academic growth.

“The majority of students need full-time in-person access to their teachers and support network at school to stay engaged, to learn effectively, and to maintain social-emotional wellness. A recent study released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) suggests that remote learning can be challenging for many students, leading not only to learning loss but also worsening mental health for children as well as parents. “

Huntley District 158 has received $2,521,955.00 in Covid relief ESSER funds. In order to receive this money from the government, schools were told that they needed to agree to the five prevention strategies shown above.

However, Indiana has also received ESSER funds, as has Iowa, and neither state is adhering to these strategy steps the way that Illinois is. We have been led to believe these steps must be put in place to receive the money, but that appears not to be the case as other states have not implemented them.

Questions our parents are asking:

  • How many students placed in quarantine actually become symptomatic / positive cases?
  • How many students have been double quarantined? Triple?
  • How many hours of education have been lost?
  • We were told at last month’s meeting that the turnaround for SHIELD tests is 2-3 days. Is that still the case, or is it longer now?
  • Are you aware that students with close-contact quarantines are not actually being placed into quarantine up to six days after the contact?
  • How many students were quarantined pre-2020 when exposed to a virus?
  • How much time and money is being spent on contact tracing? Is there a written policy on exclusion?
  • Does the teachers’ union have influence over our district’s policies?
  • Why is the assistant superintendent Rocio del Castillo declining mask exemptions from students’ own doctors?
  • Is calling DCFS on students who refuse to quarantine a current D158 protocol? Was Dr. Belin disciplined when he did this? Who gave authority for Dr. Belin to call DCFS on a student?
  • Recently, an entire class was quarantined at Conley. It took three hours to call the parents as the entire class was moved from the classroom to the gym. How does this reduce their contact when they still remained together?
  • Quarantine policies are very different for classroom, athletics, and activities.
  • Parents are currently avoiding putting children on buses to avoid the close-contact quarantines affecting busing “for safety.” Yet students are still seated on the floors of buses — also “for safety?”
  • Currently, 15% of the D158 staff is not vaccinated. How many will you terminate if they continue to choose not to be vaccinated?
  • Why does each different school’s nurse have different policies?
  • Will you force vaccination on our children if one of the vaccines is approved for 5-year-olds and up?
  • We now know that those vaccinated can still catch and spread Covid, which is a change from what the CDC initially said. Have you researched the viral load and spread of vaccinated people versus unvaccinated? Fully vaccinated people carry the same viral load as the unvaccinated.
  • The district is recommending 2.5 hours of Zoom instruction for students in quarantine. Are you aware that some students are only receiving 45 minutes of instruction per day while home?
  • Are you aware that five Illinois school districts are being sued for their quarantine policies?

If our school district is planning a vaccine mandate, please consider that the following groups are currently exempt from vaccine mandates. If all of these are exempt, why must schools enforce a mandate?

  • White House staff
  • Congress and congressional staff
  • Judicial branch
  • CDC employees
  • FDA employees
  • USPS employees
  • NIAID (National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases) employees
  • Pfizer employees
  • Moderna employees
  • Illegal aliens

According to the VAERS database, Covid vaccines have already injured and killed more people than all other vaccine-related deaths over the past 30 years combined. As of August 28, 2021, the CDC notes that more than 150,000 people’s deaths have been caused by the Covid vaccines.

Additionally, the FDA issued a briefing document on 9/17/21 discussing the Pfizer / Comirnaty vaccine. On page 22, this document notes that people receiving the Pfizer vaccine are actually more likely to contract Covid:

An additional analysis appears to indicate that incidence of COVID-19 generally increased in each group of study participants with increasing time post-Dose 2 at the start of the analysis period.

 

Categories
Covid

SHIELD testing fulfillment by Gift of Hope Organ & Tissue Donor Network

SHIELD testing in Illinois schools is being fulfilled in part by the Gift of Hope Organ & Tissue Donor Network.

An excerpt from their site:

“Gift of Hope Organ & Tissue Donor Network today announced its partnership with SHIELD Illinois to serve as one of seven labs across the state enabling broader distribution of the University of Illinois’ saliva-based COVID-19 PCR (polymerase chain reaction) test.

“Gift of Hope is a nonprofit organization that coordinates organ and tissue donation and provides public education on donation in Illinois and northwest Indiana. The decision to expand its laboratory services to include COVID-19 testing for residents is an extension of its mission to save and enhance lives through organ and tissue donation.”

Some parents in our group have strong concerns about an organ and tissue donation laboratory handling and potentially keeping a record of their children’s genetic material.