The email every Illinois parent deserves to get from a school leader

Jessica Hockett, PhD

Unless you were an Illinois parent who opposed Governor Pritzker’s pandemic response measures for schools and kids, it might be hard to understand why many of us can’t simply “move on” from the past 2-plus years, as though everything is suddenly okay. Most elected and appointed officials who directly harmed or failed to stand for our children are still in power and have no intention of owning the parts they played, let alone asking for forgiveness.

Most, but not all. 

Last February, soon after a temporary restraining order was issued in the so-called “DeVore mask case,”¹ Superintendent Jonathan Tallman of Red Bud CUSD 132 sent this email to parents.²

Text:

Red Bud CUSD #132 Parents,

This was sent out yesterday and I’m forwarding it on to all of you, though I’m sure you’re well aware. One thing I find a little bit interesting about this email is the comment about how they try to avoid sending an important email on a Friday…when it seems like for the past two years, I’ve had to communicate impactful and significant information to you on a Saturday or Sunday…because of a Friday email from ISBE. I also want to point out that the Governor’s claim that he has the authority to continue mandating things such as masking and exclusions, is not completely settled. That issue is unresolved, and certainly not decided.

Our district all along has advocated for local control, and at the start of the school year, we planned to follow the guidance of CDC and IDPH by recommending the use of masks but not requiring them. We thought it was important to allow you as parents to make a decision about whether or not your child should wear a mask. It was in line with both the CDC and IDPH. Unfortunately, our Governor took that decision away from local school districts, and instead mandated mitigations such as masking and excluding healthy students from entering our buildings. By doing that, the Governor dealt us a pretty tough hand because it is very challenging to blatantly not follow an order. I have communicated to you all that doing so puts a school district in a difficult position of needing to set some criteria for which rules to follow, as well as enforcing its own rules.

At the end of the day…those issues are behind us. I’ve never seen such contentious issues in public education as we’ve witnessed the past two years, and I hated watching them divide closely-knit communities throughout our state. As a district, we followed the rules that were handed to us, and it’s a decision that I still believe in. But saying that, as your superintendent, I’m sorry about how difficult it has been. I’m sorry that we forced your child to wear a mask, and excluded your healthy child from school if he/she was a close contact. Unfortunately, in these contentious times, even saying that will be controversial, but I feel compelled to do so.

As I said, the issues of forced masking and excluding healthy students from our buildings are behind us, and I hope that going forward that we will continue working together (district and families), supporting each other, and respecting each other…but most of all, continue promoting that same collective and respectful spirit with our students.

Thank you for your support of our schools,

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Here’s the key sentence:

I’m sorry that we forced your child to wear a mask, and excluded your healthy child from school if he/she was a close contact.

As far as I know, this is the only Illinois school administrator to date who has both 1) publicly admitted that forcing children to mask in order to be in school and keeping healthy children out of school was wrong, and 2) humbly apologized.

I’m not aware even of a head of any Illinois private religious school that has said, “What we did was wrong; I’m sorry.” Readers can apprise me of any who have made such admissions/apologies; I’d love to highlight their conviction and courage.

This may have been an easy-ish feat for Tallman, given the Red Bud community generally supported mask choice. Not all superintendents should be expected to apologize and keep their jobs. Some need to admit fault and then resign their positions, due to how vigorously they enforced unlawful mitigations and shamed or punished parents and students who dared to resist.

Still, Tallman’s apology sets a high standard and shows other Superintendents that real leaders take responsibility for their actions, even when those actions were compelled.

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Notes

1. Judge Raylene Grischow’s February 4th TRO explained why the order and emergency rules filed in August and September 2021 were beyond the bounds of the law. For various reasons in the sequence of legal and legislative events that followed the TRO, the issues Supt. Tallman references are still not fully resolved. ↩︎
2. h/t @gracialivie ↩︎