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Implementation of “COVID” policies in K12 schools, and their effects on students and staff, as reflected in artwork, letters, testimonies, & acts of courage.
Wearing a mask as a condition of attending in-person school
Most of my mask-related posts and advocacy was on Twitter, not on Substack, and began very early in 2020. I was against mandated masking from the day the Mayor of Evanston issued a mandate in April 2020 and sent him an email questioning the order.
A teen from a public high school in Wheaton, Illinois, pleaded with his school board to do something about social isolation. “I miss seeing others’ faces, and shudder to imagine that my fellow classmates might be as lonely as I am,” he wrote. The board never replied to the letter. (Artwork is by a middle school boy in a different west-suburban district – a very affluent one.)
In September 2021, parented from 145 school districts filed a lawsuit against the illegal school mask mandate. For some schools, the move was a catalyst for enforcing masks with even more gusto. Some especially mind-boggling examples comprise this “Wall of Shame.”
The ultimately-victorious lawsuit smartly identified that the Illinois communicable disease code defines as a mask as a form of modified quarantine subject to health department order and due process. I agreed but also argued masks that fall under dress code dictate school dress code (Hint: Not Governor Pritzker.)
Illegal & unethical “COVID” practices weaponized and degraded school nurses. Two emails are illustrative of the insanity.
It’s hard to listen to this passionate and heartbreaking in-person plea from sophomore Alyssa Casey to her school board without tearing up. “I only have two minutes, but I could talk for hours about everything wrong with the way children are being treated. This is abuse. For two years with no end.”
Many Illinois school districts took advantage of Judge Raylene Grischow’s temporary restraining order on February 4, 2022 and instantly made masks optional. Others, like Naperville 203, dug in, even when teachers like this one begged the Board to stop. “I am begging you to please stop this madness and allow for choice in masking. Your choice in continuing this policy is causing teachers, students and this community to break.”
Incredibly, even after the illegal mask mandate was lifted, the lawbreaking continued with exposure quarantines. The two anonymized examples here were both real students and events – both in the Chicago area (far north suburbs and North Shore, respectively).
The respiratory mortality burden for pediatric age groups (-017) did not increase with the advent of cause-of-death attribution code “COVID-19” (U.07.1). This was well-established even in early 2020 and became more obvious over time (with the CDC continually fudging data about the risks posed to children).
What did increase were the non-natural causes of deaths that typically lead teen deaths in any year.
In July 2022, Dr. Todd Porter, a pediatrician from Quincy, Illinois, wrote a thoughtful and compelling op-ed, urging county health departments and school districts to reject the state’s interim COVID-19 guidance for schools. “It is time for parents and all medical clinics to stop routine testing for the mere purpose of chasing COVID-19 case counts,” Porter said. “Instead, all children who are fever free for 24 hours and feeling well enough to attend school, childcare, or extracurriculars should be allowed to return as before regardless of etiology of infection.”
To date, Superintendent Jonathan Tallman is the only public or private school/district leader in the U.S. that I’m aware of who publicly apologized to parents. “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.” His email was good model for others to follow.
As challenging as this stroll down memory lane is to revisit, I look back fondly and with admiration for many Illinois parents, Moms in particular, who stood against what was happening to children in those dark days.
There are too many to list, but the Winnetka moms who launched Unmask the Kids come to mind, as do Shannon Adcock, Gracia Livie, MockingJay_IL (who also helped me document some of what was happening via KidsNCrisis), CDavi6, & Polly Ascher.
The nurse behind We Stand for Students is a true unsung heroine as well. I hope her full story of quiet courage, and her command of the state communicable disease code, will be told someday.
