Libertyville School District 70 is making masks optional at all its school buildings after the Board of Education approved changes to its pandemic policy at a special meeting Monday. They are effective immediately.
The meeting, which went for almost four hours, was heated at times, with both parents and board members voicing either their support or reservations for the current masking policy.
Board members at the meeting considered three options. The first would have kept both the masking and quarantine policy the same until it was revisited Feb. 28. The second would have made masking optional, but continued quarantining for close contacts and weekly testing of unvaccinated staff. The third would have made masking optional, and discontinued quarantining and weekly testing.
Ultimately, Board members voted 5-2 for option two, making masks optional, but maintaining quarantining and testing. Those opposed included board members Brian Lawton and Jennifer Khan.
Board President Wendy Schilling said at the meeting her personal belief is that she will wear a mask, particularly because of family members she has who are sick and receiving treatment for illnesses. Despite her personal beliefs, she said her grown child, who has dealt with learning disabilities, would have had a difficult time learning with a mask. She said rolling back all mitigations was, “a little problematic for me.”
“Whatever the decision is, I will have to … follow the collective whole,” she said.
Travis McGhee, who was elected last year to the board, campaigned on rolling back restrictions. At the meeting, he challenged various statements that masking has helped put children back in school. He added that if they continue the masking policy, there should be a plan going forward.
“Who am I to tell you what to do with your child?” McGee said. “I’m done with convenience.”
Before voting no, Khan said she worried that there were some children in the district who are unable to get vaccinated, saying she wanted to take into account all the children.
“We as a board need to take into consideration all children in the district, period,” she said. “What’s good for all children. Not this group of children, not this group of children, not my child … all children. And so for me, that’s what I’m going to do.”
The meeting comes after a recent court case that took place in Sangamon County, which ruled that Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s COVID-19 mandate was illegally authorized. Officials also noted that regardless of the decision, they cannot change the masking policy for buses since it’s a federal policy.
Before board members discussed the options, they received dozens of public comments from residents, including a few students, that took close to two hours. As has been the case, residents were fairly split on the issues of testing, vaccine mandates and masking.
However, most were in favor of rolling back mitigation, and making masks optional.
One resident, who said she was a lawyer, went as far as to say she would sue the district if the board did not make masking optional at the meeting. Others cited mental health concerns and a desire to return to a more “normal learning environment,” as one resident put it.
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“My main priority though is getting those disgusting, useless masks off their beautiful precious faces,” resident Edith Thompson said.
Some, however, said they thought pulling mitigations now was too soon, adding that in the near future health departments will advise lessening restrictions. At this point though, they said they wanted to keep them on, with some saying they did not believe masking was invasive.
Those residents also noted that some students are still too young to receive the vaccine, advocating to have the mitigations through the end of the school year and then reevaluate.
” (These mitigations) have kept our schools safe, it’s kept our schools in-person and it’s personally kept my children safe,” resident Meg Carter said.
To cap off the meeting, both board members and officials with the school asked the community to maintain civility. In a release from the district following the meeting, officials noted that it is to be expected that there will be people unhappy with the decision.
“We must all continue to model civility, kindness, and respect on behalf of our greatest natural resource — our children — and expect the same from them during this time of transition,” the release said.