Elmhurst Pro- And Anti-Maskers Take Debate To School Board

Elmhurst IL

26 August, 2021

9:54 AM

Description

ELMHURST, IL — Across the country, the mask issue has become a big issue during public comment sessions at school board meetings. At last week's Lyons Township High School board meeting, mask opponents argued mask mandates were the first step toward greater tyranny, referring to communists and Nazis. At Monday's Elmhurst School District 205 board meeting, the discussion took a different tone. Most speakers favored mask mandates. At previous board sessions, the majority of commenters were opposed. In July, the school board approved Superintendent Keisha Campbell's proposal to go mask optional. One week later, Gov. J.B. Pritzker mandated masks for all schools. During public comment, resident Mary Young said the board's mask optional decision lowered the community's trust in the board. At the same time, she said the board did the right things in the pandemic last year. Resident Ioana Fernandez said she was disappointed with the board's decision to go mask optional, but "very thankful" the governor issued the mandate. Even if the governor lifts the mandate, she said, "I would like the board to consider keeping the mask mandate in place until such time our younger kids can get a vaccine." Another resident, Guido Nardini, agreed with keeping the mandate. "In the quiet moments when you make a decision, I'm sure you consider what's right and what's wrong, and you consider who am I going to piss off by making this decision," Nardini said. "History isn't going to care so much about who you are going to piss off. It's going to remember what was done right or done wrong." He also dismissed the arguments of mask opponents that mask mandates violate individual rights. "My body, my choice doesn't make any sense when you're talking about an airborne contagion," Nardini said. "Masks work. If we're worried about freedoms, our freedom to smoke in a library, our freedom to cough whooping cough on one another, our freedom to drive through red lights, those have come and gone. The government's jack boot is on our throat with those freedoms." Resident Tim Grebs, an opponent of mask mandates, had a different take on freedom. "The personal freedom of everyone in this community is more important than my personal safety. I say this not to be pompous or self-righteous. This is truly how I feel," Grebs said. "I served two combat tours in Afghanistan and flew missions in South Korea patrolling the demilitarized zone. That time afforded me uncommon perspective. It came through firsthand experience, interacting with people who don't realize the benefits of freedom." In the United States, he said, freedom is a "tangible part of our identity." "We enjoy it every day, but recently, it's been treated like a gift, a gift that can be given but also taken away," he said. Another mask mandate opponent, Hilary Reiff, said she felt "pride and relief" when the board decided to go mask optional. "When Gov. Pritzker pushed down his mask mandate, I held out hope that this board would continue to stand its ground and protect our children," Reiff said. "When I heard D-205 moved to a mask mandate, my reaction was visceral. This is now a battle between we the people and an elected Illinois governing body that is now acting and ruling as a dictatorship." She added, "Once we start moving the line of freedom, it's a very slippery slope." A number of parents asked District 205 to bring back its online dashboard on the coronavirus, which tracked the number of the district's COVID-19 cases and those in quarantine. Superintendent Campbell said the district aimed to relaunch it by Sept. 6.