View the intro, public comments, and conclusion of the 2/6/2022 Emergency D158 School Board Meeting below. This meeting was announced two hours prior, and more than 100 parents attended in support of making masks optional and removing close-contact quarantine.
No members of the public spoke in opposition to these topics.
WGN News attended as well, and here is their clip from the 9pm news.
Introduction
Mother who is a named parent in the lawsuit speaks to the board about her expectations for the vote.
Mother reads excerpts from the court ruling and urges the school board to follow the law.
Mother discusses school’s policy of punishing “inconsistent mask wearing” that caused her healthy son to miss two weeks of school.
Father discusses how connected he feels with the parents in the community who disagree with the unlawful mask and quarantine mandates.
Father points out that historically, making rules to divide different groups of people has not ended well.
Mother of a child with a mask exemption discusses how sad her child is because she cannot see everyone else’s faces under their masks.
Mother thanks the D158 Parent Union for constantly fighting for her children and for freedom.
Mother points out that while the ruling was on Friday, we waited for two weeks for the answer. The board had plenty of time to make a decision on what they would do prior to today.
Mother says we are past “we’re trying to do the right thing.” The judge has ruled it unlawful.
Mother says that while she has not agreed with the rules, they have followed them. Now the board needs to follow the judge’s rules.
7th grader gives an incredibly impassioned speech outlining that their entire day is spent in mask compliance and not in learning. She says her teacher has never seen her unmasked face, and that she has not had a normal school year since 4th grade. She points out that the initial Covid initiatives were called “an extra week of Spring Break. But it wasn’t an extra week. It was two years.”
Mother says they moved to D158 for the quality of their 504 plan and asks how they can simultaneously have such a strong 504 plan while failing the children on so many other levels right now.
8th grader says that she is over Covid, the teachers are obsessed with why masks need to be over noses instead of teaching. She is tired of quarantining for close contact and ready to get back to normal.
A senior at the high school points out how often children are sent to detention for mask violations and sit in the dean’s office for the entire hour instead of remaining in class, and that she will not be wearing her mask tomorrow.
Mother points out that her daughter has never seen her friends’ faces since she started school in District 158 two years ago.
Father feels that the words of the families present are falling on deaf ears to the board. He is a teacher in another district and says because of the mask mandate, he still does not know what his students look like.
Mother recalls conversation with Dr. Rowe regarding remote learning because the district was at too big of a risk. But now, there is no risk anymore.
Board votes to make masks optional.
Post-vote discussion and conclusion of meeting.