"Do Your Jobs, Uphold the Law, or Resign": My Public Comment to the Illinois State Board of Education

May 18, 2022

I plan to continue urging the ISBE to follow the law, help schools follow the law, and to apologize for the false claim that it made in its September 7, 2021 resolution. I hope other parents, teachers, administrators, and local school board members communicate these expectations as well.

Comments delivered via phone.

Last month, I spoke to you and emailed you regarding claims the Board made in its September 7, 2021 resolution*. Namely, you claimed that schools had the independent legal authority under the communicable diseases code to exclude students from school.

This was not true.

Dr. Ayala & General Counsel Jeremy Duffy received emails from attorneys and other personnel letting them know this was not true. I again request that the Board publicly acknowledge the error and rescind that portion of the Sept 7th resolution.

I also request that that ISBE stop misleading schools and parents about what schools can’t and can’t do under the law, regarding the treatment of confirmed, suspected, or contacts of any communicable disease, including covid-19.

• Schools cannot contact trace.

• Schools cannot require a child to get a medical test.

• Schools cannot tell a student that he/she was “close” to a student who has been diagnosed with an illness and therefore they must stay home.

• Schools cannot require any child to wear a mask as a condition of being at school.

Only the local health department can do those things, and must do so according to a process. Especially in Chicagoland, we have thousands of healthy children whom schools are telling, “You have to stay home.” It’s wrong, and it needs to stop now.

There is no excuse for the Illinois State Board of Education, State Superintendent, and agency general counsel to continue to misconstrue the law, or to assist IDPH in doing so.

I, for one, am glad to hear that Mr. Reisberg will no longer be on the Board. He should not leave the state without apologizing to schools, parents, and students for his role in denying thousands of healthy children their right to be in school.

To everyone who remains, please do your jobs, uphold the law, or resign so that better, braver, more-informed people can take your places.

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*WHEREAS, 77 IL Admin Code 690.30 grants Illinois schools the authority to exclude Illinois students from school due to contacts related to communicable and infectious diseases, including COVID-19 [Note: This section of the code does nothing of the kind.]