Tag: school board meeting

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.)

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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.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

View the public comment portion of the 8/5/21 D158 School Board Committee of the Whole Meeting below.

(Note that our group typically does not attend the COTW meetings, but based on the volume of parents who spoke against masks and testing at the previous school board meeting on 7/22/21, board members were encouraging pro-mask viewpoints to attend and speak at this meeting.)

The first five parents to speak shared time at the opening of public comments to read a joint statement from the D158 Parent Union regarding COVID response, masks, and quarantines.

This meeting took place 13 days prior to the 2021-2022 first day of school, one day after Governor Pritzker mandated masks for back-to-school.

3:15 – Quarantines legally cannot be implemented without a court order or consent. Mandate does not even specify what kind of mask should be worn. Under the governor’s mandate, a mesh mask qualifies.

3:18 – Our Parent Union has presented many questions which remain unanswered. If masks are a “medical product,” legally, they should be treated as biohazardous waste.  If you believe the pandemic is deadly, virally-contaminated masks are medical waste that cannot be discarded in the trash.

3:21 – Parent Union will further our effort to fight for voluntary COVID protocols. The CDC has been consistently inconsistent for the past 18 months. They said COVID spread on surfaces, was airborne, and spread asymptomatically. They told people not to mask, then to mask, then to wear two masks.

3:24 – There are three kinds of people in the world: Leaders, leaners, and followers. We are asking you to lead. Other states are leading and have lifted mask mandates for schools while providing N95s for those that want them. We are extremely disappointed to learn that $20,000 was spent on Critical Race Theory training called “White Fragility” instead of working on COVID response. We will be holding this board accountable for the actions they have taken.

3:26 – You promised to debate these issues tonight publicly. You are the board of education, not the board of health. We want to see expert data behind the decisions you’re making. At what point will our board stand up and fight for us? How far are you going to let this go before you say “enough is enough?”

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3:31 – Internet safety for Chromebooks without safety stickers. LIGHT district issues: How can the district spend millions on a new coffee bar at the high school, but the LIGHT program students are being shuttled to Marlowe, where grown adults in special education will be sharing a building with middle schoolers?

3:35 – Mother discussing son’s entry into LIGHT program. District has $700,000 worth of COVID funds but does not have money to move post-high-school LIGHT students into their own facility.

3:39 – Man states 600,000 people have died from COVID, he knows someone who has died, and that masks are needed to protect as many lives as possible. He says more deadly variants are coming and to follow the science. “Today I’ve heard some of the most dangerous misinformation of all time.”

3:42 – Father does not want mask-wearing imposed without considering the risks of wearing them all day. “Death” is not considered a metric for the current masking policies. He cites a study that 4X Co2 builds up inside masks in just 9 minutes. There are no peer-reviewed studies saying that prolonged mask wearing is healthy and safe. Parents are against vaccine centers in school. Asks the board to have a town hall with parents.

 

 

 

 

 

 

View the public comment portion of the 7/22/21 D158 School Board Special Meeting below.

Our Parent Union composed and released a joint statement which was read by one parent. This is the first speaker presented during public comments.

8:01 – Concerns regarding district’s legal right to enforce mask and testing mandates. Outlines many of the Illinois and school codes and asking board to simply follow the law on masks and testing, which states that discrimination and forcefully using medical devices or health examinations.

Our Parent Union suggested making masks optional and having the district use their COVID relief funds to purchase N95 masks for those students that want them, giving a science-backed solution for the parents who want virus protection. Please choose this option which satisfies both sides of this issue.

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18:25 – Mother states infections are on the rise and more transmissible variants are coming. Asks board to abide by advice to mask children for the 2021-22 school year until every child has the opportunity to be vaccinated.

22:02 – Mother reads a letter from the state’s attorney regarding mask mandates stating that they are not needed in school and that fear-based closures result in lost educational time. Asks that they not mandate masks for healthy children over a small number of worried individuals.

26:26 – Father: “We can’t come here and ask questions and get answers from you” and it leads to everyone being divided and “leading to a lot of mistrust.” The masks have become a game, as we know they do not do a thing to prevent the spread. He and his wife have pulled their children out of the district due to indecision and hope the district can get back on track.

30:55 – Mother discusses LIGHT program inconsistencies and how it applies to her special needs daughter. Points out that they are an at-risk family with a spouse who is a paramedic and her Down Syndrome daughter had a waiver to go to school unmasked last year. She and her classmates are at risk but were allowed to unmask last year, so the board should do the right thing for all.

34:56 – Father cut family trip short to speak after he heard board encouraged giving pro-mask parents another opportunity to speak tonight. He says life is not without risk and children have resilient immune systems. Masks are all for show and imagery unless they are N95s.

38:00 – The board announces that they will hold a vote on masks at the Committee of the Whole meeting next week. Our Parent Union decided to attend this meeting on 8/5/21 and speak as well.

 

 

 

 

 

View the public comment portion of the 7/15/21 D158 School Board Meeting below.

Note: We had a very large number of Parent Union speakers at this meeting (36) representing concerns over masking children for the 2021-2022 school year. There were so many comments that the board took a break midway through and resumed later in this six-hour meeting.

1:29 – Mother points out that everyone has been unmasked and traveling all summer long, seeing friends and family. “The board told us to do our research, and we have. When will you answer our questions? Do what you have been elected to do.”

1:32 – 10-year old student says that it is difficult to breathe with masks on, especially for physical activity. Asks why school is making parents’ decisions for him.

1:33 – Mother says that she pulled her children from D158 during pandemic so they could attend school in person elsewhere. She is still very concerned about what is going on in schools teaching race-critical and anti-police views in school literature. Principal Belin wrote to her that the black population is underrepresented in school and needs their voices amplified. Asks to stop teaching them social justice.

1:38 – Mother says she withdrew her child to send her to a private school last year so she would be unmasked. She does not want her child masked again for this year. She is against critical race theory being taught in our schools.

1:41 – Mother says the district is the reason they moved here, but District 158 is no longer a leader. “I’m angry. I’m angry that you guys choose to run your school in fear, fear from upsetting the minority. The majority of us demand and deserve our freedom of choice when it comes to our kids.”

1:44 – Mother moved to Huntley because of great reviews of schools. She is concerned about critical race theory, sex ed, and masks. Offers facts on surgical masks and cloth masks offering no effectiveness against this virus, but they do raise chances of infection.

1:47 – Mother is concerned about permissions needed from pandemic. Permission slips are needed for field trips, medication, but they do not take parent concerns into account with mask choice.

1:50 – Mother points out that prior to Covid, masks were not asked to be worn by our children during flu seasons. Points out McHenry County has a 99% Covid recovery rate. Reads notes from D158 children’s opinions on wearing masks in class.

1:54 – Mother states that videos on how to create false positives with saliva SHIELD tests have been viewed more than 6000 times. CDC wrote this week that for every 1 million people vaccinated, just 1 life will be saved. Holds up surgical mask and reads from packaging, which states that this mask “does not protect from Covid or any other virus.”

1:58 – Mother states children’s risk of dying from Covid is %0.00195 and asks the board to leave the masking decision up to the parents. Lists side effects of wearing masks and how they carry 11 different pathogens after one day of wearing.

2:02 – Mother is concerned about discrimination between vaccinated and unvaccinated students. Discusses child with ADHD and how family traveled all summer without illness. Teachers need to be free to teach and not to be mask police.

2:05 – Mother is talking about discrimination and darkness/depression around children during pandemic. Does not want kids segregated based on vaccine status and is worried about child suicide.

2:08 – Mother reads another parent’s public comments who could not attend tonight. This parent moved out of Chicago to get away from CPS but feels our school system here is declining. Also discusses effects of wearing masks with runny noses.

2:13 – Mother says she has written multiple letters regarding Covid which have been ignored, so she is bringing attention of lack of security for Chromebooks which is allowing students to view adult content.

2:17 – Mother wants mask-optional return to school without Covid vaccination required. She discusses D158’s new equity committee and initiative and how it was designed to stop discrimination, but the school wants to discriminate against unvaccinated kids.

2:21 – Young student asks board to waive masks for fall and shares her previous experiences wearing masks in class.

2:23 – Father moved to Huntley specifically for this school district. Points out that district has $100 million budget and needs oversight. States that there is no diversity of thought on the board. He filed a FOIA for credit card expenses and is unhappy with how the district is spending money. Points out the left turn the district’s programming is taking, which is alienating half the community.

2:27 – Mother points out that “D158 has silenced a lot of parents in this district.” Reads rules for public comment and points out that this is the first live board meeting that the public can attend since Covid restrictions were lessened. Board agenda says public comments could be read publicly tonight, which was previously the protocol before returning to in-person meetings, but tonight the board decided not to read them. She is concerned about discrimination against the non-vaccinated, and she is vaccinated herself but will not vaccinate the children as they are not at risk.

2:32 – Mother has questions about contact tracing and mask wearing. She is also concerned about children who choose not to get vaccinated and points out vaccinated can still spread Covid, so how can they be discriminated against?

2:35 – Father points out the CDC recommendations are just that – recommendations. He doesn’t want the children discriminated against who choose to mask or not, or vaccinate or not. He challenges the board to be bold and authentic.

Board breaks from public comments to conduct other business.

4:26 – Meeting resumes. Mother says fear has driven every decision in the district. Now that we know the masks provide no protection, she does not want her children masked and said she has suffered from “air hunger” where her body does not think she is taking in enough air when masked. She also discusses the move of the LIGHT program children from HHS to Marlowe.

4:29 – Former HHS student reads a letter from a father who was unable to be present to speak today. He urges the board to listen to the taxpayers and parents and allow the children to be mask-free in school. She then discusses the effects of masking on her younger brother getting nosebleeds with the mask on.

4:32 – Father discusses masks and Covid policies being counterproductive. We were told “We’re all in this together,” but now the district wants to separate vaccinated from unvaccinated, and it is discriminatory to only mask the unvaccinated kids.

4:35 – Father asks the board to make the right, bold decision as infection levels are down to pre-pandemic. Points out curriculum changes in the school to point out racial and political differences instead of promoting how we are all together in a community.

4:38 – Mother pulled child out of school last year to go to private so her child could continue in-person learning. She wants normalcy and unmasked children without issues of segregation, which can be considered mental abuse.

4:39 – Father asks board to have courage, reflect on it, and take to heart what the parents are asking for.

4:41 – Father moved to this area for this district and cites numerous statistics of the massive surge of deaths that did not come. Discusses Sweden’s no-lockdown approach and notes that statistics note we are now technically at herd immunity. Masks build up Co2.

4:46 – Father notes that there is a palpable difference in the curriculum between what older, graduated children learned and his younger children bringing home an anti-American sentiment from school. Felt school from home was a blessing in disguise as he heard comments tainting what our country stands for. He feels we’re coming out of one pandemic but entering another one – equitable outcomes pushing CRT.

4:51 – Father says he has been behind the board the whole way believing once everything is safe enough, they would open up. Feels students need to be unmasked so they can benefit from facial expressions, inflections, and interactions. Discusses the low self esteem and also the low risk of the virus.

4:55 – Mother immigrated to the USA for freedoms – freedom of speech, religion, and choice. She wants parents to be able to decide, not to have someone else making these decisions because that is what our country is based on.

5:01 – Mother says her main concern is critical race theory being taught in classrooms. She does not want her children to be told they should be ashamed of themselves because of their white skin, or that they subliminal white supremacists, or are oppressors. Her children were raised to treat people well, and it will go out the window if they are brainwashed into feeling guilt.

5:06 – Local pastor says he is praying for the board to make the right decision for the community.