Memory Lane: Posts that Captured the Effects of K12 School Policies on Kids & Staff in Illinois
Illinois-focused but applicable to many places.
I’ve begun to review all my Substack posts to date far so that I can put them into Sections/Categories.1
One “genre” that stood out is articles related to the effects of K-12 school policies on kids & school staff, as reflected in artwork, letters, testimonies, & acts of courage. The focus is Illinois — where I was very involved in the push against mandated masks in schools & public places — but the events and reactions speak to practices & consequences that were occurring many places.
UPDATE: Articles below are now on a separate page accessible via the home page navigation bar.
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.2 (Artwork is by a middle school boy in a different west-suburban district - a very affluent one.)
In some high schools, parents from 145 school districts filing a lawsuit against the illegal school mask mandate in September 2021, was a apparently an invitation to enforce and justify compelling masking 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 and also argued it was a violation of religious liberty, as well as of who has authority to 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).
Another example of anti-child policies that persisted at the end of the 2021-2022 school year in suburban Chicagoland.
The cause of death called “COVID-19” - whatever it is/was - did not increase the respiratory mortality burden for kids & teens. 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.
Dr. Todd Porter, a pediatrician from Quincy, Illinois, wrote a thoughtful and compelling op-ed in July 2022, 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. 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 school leader (public or private) 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.” A good model for others to follow.
As depressing as this stroll down memory lane seems, I look back fondly & 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
, Gracia Livie, Julie Neely, 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 & command of the state communicable disease code will be told someday. ❤️
Most of my mask-related posts/advocacy was on Twitter, not on Substack, and began in 2020. I was against mandated masking/the forced covering of the human face from the day the Mayor of Evanston issued a mandate in April 2020 - and sent him an email questioning the order. Mandated masks were the social-psychological training wheels for mandated shots.
To her credit, board member Angela Blatner stated her opposition to unlawful mask and quarantine mandates at the next month’s public meeting.