Parent Defends Lyons Township High School Board

La Grange IL

22 September, 2021

2:31 PM

Description

LA GRANGE, IL — A month ago, a few local mask opponents charged that the Lyons Township High School board was taking part in a sinister agenda to allow Marxism and Nazism to take hold. However, at a board meeting last week, resident Mike Layden came to the defense of the board and teachers. "After watching the video from last month's board meeting, I have to say I was a bit dismayed," said Layden, a parent of a LTHS student. "I wanted to come here tonight to thank LT board members, the teachers and the staff for all you're doing during this difficult time." He said some people work remotely or in an office with little contact with others. But he said teachers and staff did not get that choice. "They literally came into contact with hundreds of students every day, every week they came to their job," he said. He said most parents in the community generally feel the same way, thankful for the work of the board, teachers and staff. At last month's meeting, the mask foes said the school board was helping the government control every aspect of their lives. Resident Dessi Marinov contended the school's enforcement of the governor's mask mandate is no different from the methods that communist regimes used to control and rule the population. That was no minor statement, given some historians estimate that Soviet leader Joseph Stalin killed 20 million people to assert his power. A man who identified himself only as Bill said mask mandates were torturing children. He compared the mask requirement to the work of the Nazis, who killed about 6 million Jews in the Holocaust. The mask opponents were cheered by an appreciative audience. Patch reported on the comments in a story last month.