2/9/2022 Rockton School District Committee of the Whole Meeting

001subscribe all the games are ordered at 6pm to the emergency cheer at this point the agenda we're using comments from the community uh if you sign up this week in the back public the public comment portion of the meeting is a time for answer policy security the board does not allow our discuss personal management public comment verbal or personal tax code board members or any School District staff will not be allowed and that occur that nursing speaking will be asked to kick them and not be able to continue with their company information with the board if you have any other further comments or questions subscribe [Music] thank you where do I stand right there okay okay and my name is Natalie moberg okay so I kind of did a little Spiel so if I'm kind

002of all over I'm sorry I'm kind of nervous um so I have three children in the Rockton School District I have one at Whitman Post and she has Steven Mack the last few years have been hard on all of us but most of all it's been hard on our children as adults the weight of a world is on our shoulders and that's okay that's how it's supposed to be or how it should be but somewhere along the way in the last few years we've decided to put some of the burden of the world on the weight of our children and this isn't right our kids need to be free to be just that children we have forced them into masks for over two years we have taken away their ability to smile at each other

003express emotions hug share and even at times play or interact with each other this is detrimental to Children there was a study that was done it was a phase experiment act the still face experiment and it was done by Dr edtronic and in that study there is a baby and a mother that were interacting with each other the mother was smiling back at the baby the baby's smiling and they interact then the mother's face goes stoic just like when kids are in masks you can see no expression at all the baby instantly noticed it and looks at its mother and tries to get the attention of the mother it's at first happy but then they turn into negative and then the kid totally within two minutes this is only two minutes of a stoic expression

004the kid shut down and was just shut down except essentially so what do you think we've done to our kids after two and a half years of being in Mass there's some kids that don't even know what life in school is like without a mass I don't know about most people but I would think a lot of my memories at Stephen Mack rocks in grade school it's having fun and socializing and being a part of your friend group that's a huge part of their mental abilities and how we're developing them as people and individuals I can't help but think that this lack of emotion and interaction is why suicide rates is so high among these young kids there was a study that was done that I read about in Children's Hospital Association they did a

005study and Justin the third first three quarters of 2001 suicide and self-harm was up 47 between the ages of five and eight 182 percent higher in ages 9 to 12. I'm really hoping you heard those numbers because they're disturbing and they should disturb all of us to our core because these are young kids we've never seen any suicide rate like this before and I think it all comes back to that emotional connection that we're lacking with the mass we also have children young children learning letters b say B B how can they learn as well you can't see it b b they can't share pencils my son came home from school one day he's nine and said that he was scolded for sharing a pencil what are we teaching the kids these are young kids

006that were developing and we can't they can't even share a pencil it's just really sad what's happening to these poor kids and honestly I know that we didn't have a choice before we had mandates and you guys had to file them I guess that's public school I understand but now we have the opportunity to let our kids have a choice and it's being robbed for some reason I get it I'm not saying take away Mass completely but everyone needs to have their choice the ports order voided those mandates and the whole time we were told we're following State mandates we're filing state mandates well now they're gone so what's our excuse now our decrease in numbers in the Winnebago County should also help encourage you guys to help take these masks off of the kids

007that would like to and stand up for their freedoms our numbers are going down they're not climbing up overall I just think that for these kids as strong as they are I am so proud of all of them it's been a heck of a day for these kids the last three days for them have been awful and I'm sure the staff is kind of struggling with it as well but what I don't like to hear is that when kids are standing up for their freedom they're being laughed at face that having pictures taken of them by the staff they're being told to put you have two choices either put your mask on and get on with your life or don't put your mask on and sit down here being put in what is called the

008segregation Zone like then today we find out they're in their segregation Zone covering up Windows I don't see what the point of that is we're treating them different for standing up for something and if you ask me these kids are so strong that they deserve to be heard and I know all of you here foreign I know all of you here came into the school system because you care about our kids but I feel like somewhere along the way we've lost that and now we're just stuck on a political agenda and we're forgetting what we're doing to the kids this is all about our kids and they have a choice they have a voice and you guys should listen to them and let them be heard without any discrimination against them and at this point

009I'm worried about what kind of education are they getting right now they shouldn't be second-class citizens in our school because they're standing up and speaking their voice they deserve the same education the same treatment as the kids that choose to exercise their right of wearing a mask foreign my name is Brian Wall I have two students in the district I have a son jack in seventh grade at Stephen Mack and my daughter Leah is 10 years old and she goes to Whitman Post since the last time I spoke to the board last fall it seems as though nothing has changed in fact it seems as though this Administration has only doubled down on the covet Insanity as other school districts continue to make progress by making masks optional and offering students opportunities to socialize outside

010of the classroom at Rec nights or dances as the boys basketball season came to an end and the girl season started I'm still confused as to why it's okay to pack the gym full of hundreds of parents wearing masks and not wearing masks but we can't figure out a way to do in in-person parent-teacher conferences my son has been at Steven Mack for two years my wife and I haven't seen the inside of the school aside from the gym and the cafeteria we haven't met his teachers and we haven't seen his learning environment according to Mr Terry's email this morning you want to offer in-person conferences if quote the numbers improve I think that's a great idea unfortunately I see this statement is vague and it only gives you the ability to determine what number

011of positive cases is caused to cancel those in-person conferences average coverage average coveted cases across the country are down 69 percent since January 15th over the last three weeks coveted numbers in the school district have dropped from 3.6 percent of students testing positive to 1.7 percent of students testing positive unfortunately I can't say that I have much hope for seeing any changes we have a governor who tells our kids that it's okay to go to church without a mask it's okay to go to the malls without a mask it's okay to go to a restaurant without a mess but come Monday you better strap that thing on when you go to school if it doesn't make a lot a lot of sense to me I think it's time to stop making decisions based on your

012feelings based on your fears and based on perceptions it's time to start using data science evidence and facts not feelings thank you good evening Mark first I'd like to thank the board for keeping our students in class throughout the last three years my son who's currently in Miss Williams third grade Whitman Post classroom has not had a regular year in school since kindergarten I'd also like to remind the board that we have an entire school here at RGS that the students have never seen a regular school year and how sad that is I'd like to address the current situation happening in our schools I'd like to see our board openly follow the tro for the mass mandate and let our kids breathe freely and have the choice to wear a mask or not in addition

013I'd like to address our students currently being segregated for their freedom of choice chief justice Earl Warren wrote that the doctrine of separate but equal has no place in public education he called segregated schools inherently unequal and declared in the Brown case the students were being deprived of the equal protection of the laws guaranteed by the 14th Amendment the 14th amendment requires equal and civil legal rights for all I'm very concerned our school and our district is opening itself up to litigation operating in this manner I ask that you allow our students freedom of choice and equal education in their classrooms thank you hi my name is Chris McCloud and I have three students in this District I moved to Rockton School District about six years ago I chose Rockton because of the schools I

014came from Suburban Detroit and the schools out here are much much better than what my children were used to where we moved from I want to appreciate thank you guys for allowing me to speak tonight I wanted to speak on a few issues that I see uh happening in the middle school first of all one of my daughters plays on the eighth grade varsity basketball team I've had the pleasure to watch her play basketball since third grade as along with many parents in here many of these girls learn through Arts Adler's League along with my daughter taught her the game of basketball so she missed out last year unfortunately due to Colvin and that was heartbreaking one of the best things I heard was when I was home from a work trip she told me

015dad does that's what I made the eighth grade basketball team potentially this could be her last year playing basketball she's excited but she's afraid to stand up for what she feels is right because of retaliation that that has been threatened with some of the students where if they don't wear a mask they may be removed from the team on Monday we received an email that there was a game a home game now mind you Steven Mack Warriors only had three home games scheduled all season Monday was going to be another home game against Harlem that game got postponed and moved to Harlem next week because of covet protocol now according to the Kobe protocols there was no explanation it was just stated with covert protocols according to the emails that are sent out weekly by

016our uh our superintendent last week I believe it was 26 previous week 55 55 and 46. so the numbers have been decreasing everything in Winnebago County tells us that things are decreasing as well so I was a little bit disappointed also that when I got home yesterday from work uh that my daughter said Dad they had a quiz Bowl match at see the Mac but our game on Monday was canceled so I just find that to be a little bit fair and I feel there is some retaliation going against the students for standing up in what they believe and I applaud every single student that is standing up for what they firmly believe in whether it's masked or no mouse they're doing what they feel in their heart is the right thing to do but

017I feel there is retaliation going on against the student body and just hearing some of the things that have occurred the last three days that Stephen Mack is very disheartening so again thank you for your time that's all I had to speak about thank you hello my name is Logan Schultz I am a seventh grader at Stephen Mack Middle School I am the vice president of student council which I have been elected for I am an njhs peer support I am here on behalf of myself and my peers because we feel that mass need to be optional at our district make Mass mask make it hard for me to breathe in after seven hours of the day I want a I want to be back in my classroom without a mask learning for my teachers

018I showed up to school without a mask Monday and have not been taught by my teachers since then we were kicked out of school Monday and denied in education Tuesday we walked into school and got ex um and got exported to the office right away a couple of minutes later we went into a room room 103 because there were too much people in the office today we were in a different room they were there were two full rooms in which I've been concerned um today I had to go to the bathroom really really bad and Mrs Johnston the sub that was in her classroom would not let me go after two people because they were in front of me and I really had to go um we cannot go out of class um only one

019person can go out of class without a mask on I was trying to ask my classmate a question on a homework assignment that the sub didn't understand and she yelled at me for it because I had a question we don't get to have recesses with other people that don't want to wear a mask I don't get that because it doesn't make sense because we all don't want to wear a mask and we're all the same type of people we're all students and that's why I'm here today thank you for your time foreign I have four children three of them are attending school one this school another one and Stephen Mack and third one hananiga so guess which one comes home has me coming home Happy youthful energized that you can see a huge difference you

020don't need science you need data we we're living it my daughter's actually over there you can huge difference so I don't need uh Governor telling me Oh you know you have to wear a mask uh it's just absolutely uh crazy to see that it does taking the mask I'll have any option it does change the child okay uh before I came here this is my first time in front of you guys I actually looked online on the bio for each one of you guys to see who I'm speaking with and every one of you is a parent are your children are probably friends with our children uh and it's with that said I think uh it's I don't know if you guys know what's been happening in that uh in the classroom with the unmatched

021kids you know a parent was a trespassed from all School properties right for bringing in Pizza a child was left alone in the cold uh you know outside the school Stephen Mack another one in the closet that's that's you can't do that absolutely not we need to change this given the option you see the kids over here and they that you know they've been standing up they've been kind of creating a movement here right uh I hope it's not all driven by uh money I really don't I you know I know that 2.1 million was uh funded to you guys I hope that's not the main drive you guys are in your positions please make a change please for our children not not for me for our children they're here you're here let's let's make

022it happen please thank you foreign Mike my name is Sarah myborn I am the only name plaintiff on both the lawsuits for hananiga and Prairie Hill one of my favorite lines from Judge Kershaw was this type of evil is exactly what the law was intended to constrain foreign s have explained to you but I want everybody here to be clear because I don't know if everybody had a chance to read the order the executive branch fails to recognize Oradell as the legislator granted ibph which you are not the supreme authority in matters of quarantine and isolation how do they Define quarantine and isolation might we say well prior to idph's emergency Amendment on September 17 2021 idph found that masks AKA devices and tests and vaccines AKA procedures were a form of modifying quarantine because

023they were a procedure intended to limit disease transmission under the IPA idph ACT people had the right to object to these procedures if they objected they were afforded due process due process means that they have 48 hours they can get their way then they have to go before a judge and they have to prove that you or children children are a public health threat they have to go in front of a judge and prove that one of these children not wearing a mask is a public health threat not positive for coven not pending covet test results but just breathing the air around them I want you to follow fully understand similarly ibph concluded exclusive exclude from school was also a form of modifying quarantine because it considered a partial limitation of freedom of movement or

024actions to those who may have been exposed to a contagious disease I hope you all have also read 20 ilcs 2305 the Illinois Department of Public Health act for which I'm getting all this information from this this tro said that that's where you have to follow due process the general assembly head foresight when it created certain Provisions limiting the authority of administrative agencies when the legislature created our laws they did so knowing individuals have a fundamental right to due process when one's Liberty and freedom is taken away by forcing them to do something not otherwise required of all citizens Illinois Law prohibits Illinois State Board of Education for making policies affecting school districts which have the effective rules without following the procedures absence of statutory provision the Illinois State Board of Education will be able

025to on impulse and depending on who held the executive branch mandate whatever it felt necessary in the most arbitrary and capricious manner without having to follow any due process under the iapa As for the matters at hand it is clear that the Illinois Department of Public Health and the Illinois State Board of Education were attempting to force local school districts to comply with this guidance without without any compliance with rulemaking again this type of evil is exactly what the law was intended to constrain let me read another section of the Illinois Department of Public Health act that was not in the judge's order so I know several of you I know Mr Floyd is an employee of the state superintendent you'd be the employee of the state I don't know if we have another principal

026here but I 20 ilcs 2305 section 2A States all local Boards of health health authorities and officers police officers sheriffs and all other officers and employees of the state or any locality shall enforce the rules and regulations so adopted and orders issued by the department pursuant to this section therefore if you do not afford due process rights and you overstep your Authority you're violating due process rights and as employees of the state is your responsibility to uphold it if you have fiduciary responsibility to interacting Board of Education you're not in compliance think about it read it you have a copy now it's up to you what side industry do you want to stand on do you want to be the type of evil that is exactly what the law was intended to constrain I hope

027not this report you can vote you can't talk because you're on the board right now but he can tell you how many kids at Willowbrook or not at Willowbrook are being able to have a normal education or being able to socialize what difference in their day does it make they're not being quarantined thrown into many concentration camps and I get the Nazi comparison is old but I'm polish guess what it hits home wasn't just the Jews that were put into the camps y'all need to think about that side of History you want to be on thank you for your time [Applause] experience of being here yes I understand covet is going on it's really not fun for anybody however other schools are doing dances and other fun activities because that's a part of your middle

028school experience so I do understand that there does have to be safety protocols within those fun activities but that does not mean to just take it away overall as the police station the kids that were kicked out of school have stated that our school's two faces only nice for the parents they've also stated our school only cares about their reputation than the kids themselves I'm so sad that our school nurse quit and I also feel like that she just quit because she can't handle this anymore now here's the thing we've worn mass for two years now because the law said we had to as soon as the law changed to our Viewpoint all of the other things you had said got washed away the law fairly States all schools in the ill in Illinois have

029the option to wear masks are not so this school is choosing to not allow us to try it like many other schools in the area they've made 11 through 14 year olds stand up for what they both think is right and is carrying other friendships apart that do not believe the same thing as other students I thought I lived in the US a free country not a dictatorship after this wake up being in the classroom I no longer feel safe or feel like most teachers and Staff Care About Us I thought schools always told us to stand up for what we believe in thank you so much I had a lot disabled people are covering the points my name is Josh LaBrie I've lived here 35 years I was raised by my grandparents and they

030were active members of the community a lot of business and one thing I learned is to speak to speak real good for Greece you're always told Mel at first and it's how you proceed respectfully of course but I want to take a second to introduce my daughter Layla she used to go to the school we moved to a different districts and now she's over at Stone Creek she was the first and only child of her school today to say enough to us and not put a mask on they asked her if she wanted to do it or she'd have to be segregated and she said you got to do what you got to do with me and my parents talking foreign anybody I think we all have the same common goal here and that's education

031for our children but what you see here is growing and it's not going to stop and this is probably a 10th of of what could be here I mean I had to cancel dinner plans but how many people didn't cancel these things this is probably a tenth of what's really out there it's spreading like wildfire it's it's tyranny and it's not going to stop foreign Mr Terry my name is Lori Miller and I have lived here almost my whole life since I was a 10 year old little girl my husband's lived here his whole life we have raised our four kids and send them to these beautiful schools here okay and I want to thank all of you and I want to thank all of you behind me for standing up for what is very

032important and it's their children and what we want to do is we want to take government control away from what they know is best for their children foreign of their well-being that's where it needs to be and I I just am very very saddened by I not only have four kids that were sent through this school system and all of you know my children they are good and decent children a lot of you know them too Adam Holly Eric and Heidi Miller we have taught them to be kind and loving to everybody respect even if you disagree with them somewhere along the line we've learned to disagree with people that we don't see things the way they do that's so wrong and we need to get away from that and I have a sixth grade

033granddaughter that decided not to wear her mask and she was put into a separate room and she had her phone taken from her and I'm glad that she is standing up for what she believes I said whatever you believe in I will support but it makes me sad that you're putting these kids in a separate room to make them feel like there's something wrong with them and there's not they are treasured beautiful God's children and because sadly each and every one of us and while I have your attention this is a little bit off subject but my granddaughter had a student come up to her recently a week and a half ago and she was handing out some lgbtq material that happened to be a transgender flag and my granddaughter very gracefully said no thank

034you okay and this student proceeded to tell her that oh you're a homophobic racist trumpet now that's not what I want in my school and I do not want my any of my precious kids I stand for all children I love all those kids and I will stand up for each and every one of them I have I it just breaks my heart to see that these hateful things are being said and I understand that this student was reprimanded I don't know to what extent but should my husband and I decide to maybe take our children out of public schools and send them to Christian Schools where I know that this stuff is not going to happen it's going to be more than Limited oh if that being the case then the tax dollars that

035I am paying for these beautiful schools then I want that money so I can make my choice to send my children elsewhere hi my name is Alicia gadine and I'm a Rockton resident you might recognize me from being here in the fall I wrote many letters that came up on top I sent you guys facts and information and unfortunately we didn't win that um I'm back and I brought some friends this time but I did want to say that now you guys have another option to where you guys can go maskless I know that you had mentioned before you were gonna wait till you met a certain metric I don't think that metric ever was met and it said in months and the kids are still wearing masks which is why I decided to take

036my children out of public schools I found a school in Rockford that is math free and that's where my children have been going but yet I have to pay with my own money outside of what the tax dollars I already paid the sister so I would love to use this school I love to send my children here but I knew that was gonna happen and that's why I took my children elsewhere and there's other topics that I could go on about and for reasons that I took my children out of school but I know we're here to talk about masks tonight and I just wanted to say I I support everyone that's here I'm glad other people showed up to this meeting um and I hope you guys do what's right and not follow the

037money hey I'm Pastor Steve Castle uh I was the first minister in the nation to file a lawsuit against the our Governors but also many Governors illegal dictates to shut down the church and uh based on things based on the First Amendment so I'm just a regular guy uh father husband and I realized that when they were doing these illegal dictates that it violated the Constitution of the United States I honestly could not find any support in that opinion until finally I got picked up by a law firm out of Chicago and our our suit finally went to the Supreme Court and the Supreme Court said Pastor Steve Castle's interpretation of the first amendment is right and Governor pritzker is a tyrant so uh so here I am again within the same exact situation so

038the Supreme Court of the United States says that Governor pritzker has done tyrannical dictatorial things that are illegal now we have another judge in the Illinois judicial system that says Governor pritzker has done illegal dictatorial uh mandates and even went so far as to call them evil and so most of the schools in Illinois At Last At Last check it was over 90 percent of all the schools in Illinois said you're right uh he's he's a dictatorial tyrant we're not going to play that game we don't want to position ourselves to any for any lawsuits and cost the parents any more than they've already lost we're going to go ahead and go mask optional and agree with the law and then here we are in a room with 200 parents and students who are saying

039why aren't you so I don't know any of you so none of this is personal but I can tell you that uh these cases have already gone to seven different state Supreme Courts and they've either ruled in favor of giving parents back their civil rights or they are currently in litigation or appeal to make that happen so the bottom line is it's going to happen so here here's the reality I I pray that you guys do the right thing the non-evil thing tonight and rule that hey maybe we missed it we're super sorry we're going to Humble ourselves we're gonna uh honestly do the right thing by the parents do the right thing by the students do the right thing by civil law by judicial law by Illinois Law by constitutional law and we're going

040to go ahead and give them back their rights um I hope that you do that if you don't I need to I need to let you guys know that I'm in constant communication right now with five different attorneys two law firms one of them is a national law firm who are ready to take on these kind of cases and just to be clear these cases will be civil suits that will be directly against you yes any person that talks and I know that many of you think that you're going to stand behind qualified immunity which is a federal law that says that anybody that's acting under the color of law as an elected official is not personally held liable for any of the decisions or the dictates that they make just so you know qualified

041immunity is not qualified when you are taking away people's civil rights so you are not going to be protected by qualified immunity if that's what you're hoping for and I know also many of you have Surety bonds and you think that those are going to protect you when you are actually doing things that are violating people's civil rights which is constitutional Bill of Rights and you are currently violating the Fourth Amendment rights of every one of these parents and the Fifth Amendment rights of every one of these students because they have a right to the liberty and to the free use of oxygen unless they have it taken away from them by due process of law which is why judge grishau called it evil because none of them have had due process of law and

042so I just wanted to make you guys aware of the fact that if you don't do the right thing by the Illinois constitution by the Federal Constitution by Illinois statutes that you are going to make yourself liable for personal civil suits and these uh civil suits are also not only going to be monetary but they are going to Care carry with them the uh the adjunction of the fact that you are going to be named as child abusers because there are 200 current studies there are 200 current Studies by medical doctors by scientists and by psychologists that say and I'm just going to quote them to you if anybody wants the studies I will send them to you I have them all in one document that says Force masking of children causes psychological abuse physical

043abuse emotional abuse medical abuse Social Development abuse educational retardation Suicidal Tendencies and many of these studies say that it is considered grooming children for future sexual abuse and so these these civil suits will also bring up all of these scientific peer-reviewed medical uh um proofs that state that anybody that forces a child to do the things that are contradictory to their conscience and to their physical body they will be liable for those kind of things so those civil suits would not only be against you monetarily but they will also attach to your name for the rest of your life the title child abuser that will go with you for the rest of your life now obviously I don't know any of you so this is not personal I'm just telling you the law now the

044Supreme Courts already agreed with me the Supreme Court of the United States has already agreed with me that I know how to interpret the Constitution this judge grishau has already agreed that we know how to interpret Illinois Law and Illinois constitution and if you're going to gamble and play the game that you think that pritzker who's already lost multiple suits that his mandates are legal then you are in a very tenuous place and you are probably siding on the wrong side of what your craps game might end up having uh pan out and so I again I don't know any of you and I'm a pastor I'm just trying to rescue people to give opportunity for people to live in freedom to relive in Liberty to do the right thing and I honestly believe that

045all of you if you guys are all parents just like one of the other ones said if you're all parents and you all care about kids and all that kind of stuff and maybe you just found yourself on the wrong side let me tell you this you're a lawyer your school lawyer who works for an insurance company who does not have a uh does not have a personal vested interest in Rockton School District 140. he works for an insurance company and he's given you legal advice based upon what an insurance company thinks is the right thing for the insurance company not for Rockton 140. and if you're gonna side with his opinion and maintain your stance then you're going to set yourself up for everything that I just said now again I'm not trying to

046threat I'm not trying to make it sound terrible or evil or anything like that it's already been determined that it's evil the Supreme Court's agreed with it these these kind of uh understandings of the Constitution I'm just making you aware and giving you information maybe you didn't have before this moment that there is some greater gravity to the decisions that you're about to make so I honor you I thank you for your service to to these parents to these kids to these good so this is nothing personal whatsoever and I'll be happy to give anybody all this information all the documentation that proves everything that I said is judicially solid and is also medically solid now I'm going to end with the Nelson Mandela said there is no Keener Revelation as to the soul of

047a society than the way in which they treat their children and I would say I would say I'm one of those crazy people that still believes that our society has a soul and that we're still human even going through two years of covert that there's still Humanity left in US and this is a time for us to reclaim humanity and just to do the right thing give the parents back their children let them make decisions over the Medical Treatments of their own children and you guys do what you do educate legislate and make all the rules that you need to make but let the parents be the parents thank you very much foreign Hutchison and that's actually my pastor and I'm super proud to call my pastor um You probably have not heard of me

048but I am the parent that brought a lawsuit along with three other families to Winnebago and we Winnebago has heard from us at every single board meeting so I'm here to tell you since last summer we have been fighting this fight and we're not giving in and now that the other schools have listened to the law and have done the right thing of going mask optional including our school I want you to know that all of us who've been fighting this bike since July or before and waking up a lot of the parents were coming here now because we're done we're done at our schools for right now because they have done the right thing so now I want you to know that you are the ones in this area that are what you did

049to these kids today is absolutely disgusting I am a Special Needs Mom my son has cerebral palsy and he's in a wheelchair so first of all what I tell every board is I don't ever want to hear the excuse of we're doing this for the special needs Community we're doing this for kids who are high risk it's not your job to take away their freedom for my child ever foreign I'm telling you if my child is high risk it's my responsibility to take care of him whether that be keep him home whatever that may be we don't get to take away the right of bodily autonomy from anybody because we are uncomfortable and that's what we have fought for we're not saying that you have to ban masks or anything like that what our goal

050is and will continue to be is that we are giving freedoms back where they belong so that the parents and the students can make the choice because it should have always been that way and now it's time you guys are like the only School in this area and that's what I'm saying you see all these people just like the other dad said there are way more I had to change a bunch of things around and have people help me with my kids so I could be here I live out in Pecatonica but I will come out here I will come we will come to every board meeting and I'm not saying that in a mean way or a threatening way but I'm telling you we're not going away because now you are going to be

051our children I want you to know that we had one day of notice Winnebago or well myself we had one day of notice for Winnebago to get them on the lawsuit with Tom Devore and this community in this area rallied to raise a large amount of funds in a very very short amount of time because as many people as there are here we have networks of people who are willing to financially help so if these parents decide to bring this suit against you guys which I don't think you guys even want I don't think you want that and so just like what Steve was saying and a lot of the other parents are saying just do the right thing we don't want to do this and I told Winnebago the same thing we don't want

052to do this to you guys but we will I will back them and we will raise the funds I already have fun set aside we will raise the funds and they will get freedom for their children like my children have and I watched my child the last two days excitedly go on the bus she's five years old she's in kindergarten she's never had a single day of school without a mask on her face and that child the spark is back in her eyes okay and that's what these things to them the last two days because I've been watching all of it doing what you did to them the last two days that is terrorizing them and I understand that that sounds extreme but this was extreme having teachers cover the window that is sick it's

053not even like it was a screen it was a window there was not nothing that could even get through it you are so whoever is doing this is purposefully terrorizing these children and you will be held accountable and if it's if it's teachers doing it I want you to know that it's also going to fall on you guys you can't allow them to be doing this to kids what are we doing to them I don't care what our political views are we're adults we have every right if you don't agree with me I want you to have the right to have that freedom to not agree with me but let's not drag the kids into it we're done we're done dragging the kids all right hi my name is Terry Johnson I'm a taxpayer here

054in this in this community there is just one thing that I wanted to read on Judge grischel's tro although this court denied plaintiff's request for class certification this court has declared idph's emergency rules void any non-named plaintiffs and school districts throughout this state may govern themselves accordingly they're governing themselves accordingly hello some of you already know me okay oh wait hi my name is Kelly Liz and I am actually here to speak on behalf of my husband who is not allowed to be here tonight um when Brad and I were married and started having kids we were in the Harlem school district and from day one we started saving and sacrificing to get our kids in this District my husband was the first state champion at hananika high school there was a brad Linde named

055after him when he was in college he came back in volunteer coached within this district for 14 years didn't take a penny from the district he said I just want to volunteer and give back to the community when we came here with our kids we went on multiple field trips with these school districts we served for hours in these classrooms to help the teachers out my husband went on a field trip with Stephen Mack two years ago when my son was there and he was assigned a a handicapped child who wasn't asked they just assigned him to him he spent three days making that field trip the best experience of that kid's life he did everything he could to make that the best experience for his life every single staff member and teacher that was

056on that trip at the end of that weekend came to him and thanked him they said we cannot thank you enough for what you did you were not asked you were not expected to do this but you did this out of the goodness of your heart until this week we have been very respected in these schools our kids have never had a problem in any of these schools I walk into the staff and the staff tells me how great our kids are I walk into the office they tell me how much they appreciate our girls our kids and how respected they are and how respectful they are to them because my husband came this week and asked a few questions on Monday and then he came yesterday as a favor to another parent to handle

057a situation regarding food being delivered to the school he got into a disagreement with the staff from her he was not disrespectful he did not threaten her he did not he was not asked to leave and refuse to leave none of that in fact one time she asked him to lower his voice which anyone that knows my husband knows he's a very loud speaker when he was asked to raise his lower his voice he immediately lowered his voice he stepped to that he talked very respectfully this is he actually said to her the teacher he apologized to her and he respectfully talked to her he actually went back to our house and 20 minutes later sent her an email and he asked me to read it this is exactly what he said to her in

058person then he also went home 20 minutes later and sent this to her I'm very sorry for raising my voice it is a habit I have when I get excitable and it's not meant to be in any way and met in the way that it came off I don't mean it to be yelling at you it's a fault of mine that I struggle with and I deal with daily I hope you know that I don't have anything personal against you frankly we're just done with this most likely we will end up homeschooling our daughter like we did our other daughter we are just trying to determine if it's best to do that now or later regardless of your position on this issue I don't mean anything to be directed at you personally I will however

059have to continue as a stadium for my daughter it might be hard for you to believe but I really truly wish the best for you we never got a response back we never got a phone call never a phone call of saying can we talk about this can we discuss what happened today instead the police showed it up at our house at 5 30 last night and told him he was not allowed on any of the Rockford School District properties again or he will be arrested I just want to say that seems like a lot of years and a lot we've poured into this District in one incident one incident it wasn't addressed it wasn't talked about one disagreement we'd have one after years and years and that's what happened so I'm asking you today

060to remove that trespass order is there anyone else that wants to talk Mr Pappy with what you did to that family does that bring you Joy for one conversation I hope you're held accountable before God for what you do amen that's a yes or no what do you think dude yes or no do the right thing emails you have to consider human beings as a whole physical spiritual and psychological even if a mask is shown to to protecting the children that are really of no significant risk no relevant risk the permanent damage that would directly caused to the psychological and the spiritual harm far outweighs any potential granted by the horse to wear a mask so I think just remembering that aspect I was an adult as a grown man as a grown woman when

061choosing to wear a mask or being in that environment you're more out to handle the psychological stretch and where is that when you're in the development stages of life facial interactions are huge personal touches friendship excuse the friends are your life at this age and they're being torn farther apart your personal relationships develop you not only physically but psychologically and spiritually you learn how to behave you learn how to be a husband how to be a life how to be a father how to be a mother when you're a child so again any potential game that could be gained by forcing a child to wear a mask would be far outweighed by the physical by the spiritual and the psychological trauma that would surely be enacted upon anyone else get free I just want to

062say to all you parents that are here good job remember you're raised Warriors you're raising Patriots you're raising people that respect the law and the Constitution and to all you kids I don't care what anybody says this is what makes character this is what makes Integrity you stand up for yourself every damn time I didn't realize and a number of law enforcement I want to know why the police are coming if this is disorderly issued fine but when my fifth grader comes home her parents are in law enforcement her cousins are in law enforcement they come home and they're scared of the cops because they're in our school district because they're they're fearing that they're not wearing a mask that they're going to get a couple of cops I have a problem with that you're

063tying up our resources for emergency purposes this is not a criminal issue this is a civil issue and you guys should be taking care of it on your level foreign what I think we've got here is a difference of opinion and how to treat our kids the best way we think we can do we have your opinion we have our opinion when you say that's a fair assessment um does anyone know your mission statement can anyone recite it you guys know it off the top of your head you should right I'll read it real quick to work together with families and the community to inspire each child and to provide an outstanding Educational Foundation their own mission statement okay I came from Willowbrook I was on the board we made it really easy right kids

064first always okay that should be the guiding principle on all of this okay um I've spoke at the board before I've contacted all of you have left you all emails copied you on all my correspondence so that we could foil if needed um I've tried to communicate try to do things the right way and now I'm the teeth okay there's some people have been talking about here this is the teeth so if you guys know Huntley District they actually had an emergency board meeting over the weekend to get the community involved to decide what was best for them okay they overwhelmingly voted that what was best for the community to go was mass Choice okay that's something that could have happened here that's something that we could have come together on now I might my

065sneaking suspicions on on why we go down this path and some of them are around the essers and the money that's funneled into these communities by the government to support the support of these mandates I get it you think that the money is going to make your District better in some cases it does but is it better than taking putting these masks on the kids is that better um even Rockford Public Schools the largest school district in Winnebago County is not enforcing math do you think they have any idea what this could impel them to do if a judge got involved or lawyer got involved yes they obviously did so um I've tried the cordials I've tried the nice I've tried the negotiation I've tried to reach out tried to give you options so tonight

066we're putting a notice of intent to file a claim against your risk management plan Glenn Terry this is for you we have plenty more parents willing to risk and put this in front of all of you and I don't know if you guys know what this means this is your Surety box okay the gentleman before talked about this so Glenn Terry Cynthia Driggers Carson breed Mary Newman Kelsey Lucian Stephen Harkness Scott Robinson and Mike Fleer uh Rockton School District 140 superintendent and Board of Education members Matthew and Amy Milan of Old River Road convict you not convict you indict you on eight State violations several seven Federal violations in seven International I'm not going to go through every single one but here's a few of them your violation of the oath of office you have

067sworn to uphold the Constitution the state of Illinois and the Constitution of the United States you have failed to uphold both of these constitutions we live in America and we're free to live our lives without restrictions abuse and unlawful mandates from elected government officials judicial relief in a person's exercise of religion has been burdened in violation of of this act that person may assert that the violation as a claim defense to the judicial to produce uh proceeding and may obtain appropriate relief against the government each parent for a sought a medical exemption or religious exemption in this district has been denied I specifically know a young little girl with Down Syndrome is told that her quarantine has to go longer because she's bad at wearing masks yes Section 105 ilcs 522-12 preventing or interfering with

068a child's attendance at school whoever by threat Menace or intimidation prevents any child entitled to attend a public or non-public school in a state from attending such a school or interferes with such a child's attendance at a school shall be guilty of a Class A misdemeanor actually talk to the police officers this is enforceable on two seven there were multiple kids denied an education and were sent home you must have come to your senses a little bit because the next day you admitted him to me that's admission anyone else yeah yeah correct ilcs 527-23-7 General Assembly fines bullying includes cyber bullying it means any severe or precise pervasive physical or verbal act or conduct including this or Communications made in writing or electronical or electronically directed toward a student or students that has a reasonable

069predicted to have the effect of one or more of the following causing a substantial detrimental effect the students or students physical or mental health I sat here last fall and talked about Mental Health we didn't change anything I talked about how 700 kids in the entire pandemic died 700 kids and 42 million and do you know how many kids are dying to Suicide right now you guys remember we talked about this right anything you could shake your heads thousands and thousands okay substantial interfering with the students students academic performance substantially interfering with the students or students ability to participate or benefit from the services activities or privileges provided by a school covering Windows blocking food laughing at kids when they come into the office kept from counseling U.S code Federal violation 1983 civil active uh

070action of deprivation of Rights forcing mandates on children has caused behavioral problems learning disabilities and damaged social skills conspiracy to interfere with civil rights you have placed restrictions on schools and principals to force them to follow these mandates requirements or to be believed or relieved of their duties you've made them police for the governor and their mandates I don't believe they like to be in that position it's either write them up or be written up do you like to be in that position teachers of the districts have been coerced into accepting experimental vaccines that are not FDA approved in order to continue their employment do you understand why the government would say I'm not going to tell you what's in these vaccines until 2024 federal law title 21 USC of the federal drug and food

071and cosmetic act any product that is not deemed FDA approved cannot be enforced and mandated Mass PCR testing vaccines are under emergency use authorization use only if it's illegal on any federal or state government mandate such items title seven of the Civil Rights Act 1964 restricting children's freedoms and forcing them to wear a mask that is dangerous and no concrete scientific backing is a direct violation of civil rights the individuals with Disabilities Act the tool fit States individuals who cannot safely wear a mask are exempt however you and your school board have not adhered to this conversely you've demanded that all children including that little girl wear a mask and be subject to longer quarantine periods than by law in your own mandate killer of law section 242 of Title 18 if you're if even

072one child I don't think you guys realize it even if one child injured as you explained before or died as a result of a mass requirement PCR testing or receiving a vaccine because you've coerced them as a result of the coercion you and the entire school board members are liable for the injuries personally the Hague International violations the Hague conference on private international law yes we went internationally the hch protects our children and their families against abuse inflicted upon them from a public school system the U.N child protection act our Public School Systems have become a hostile environment for our children the school board has enforced illegal Mass policies the U.N protects our children and the United States of America has signed a treaty with the U.N in order to ensure our children are protected

073at home in the public schools the U.N level International humanitarian humanitarian law our children are not nor have ever been involved in direct hostilities in order to conquer an illness that has a 99.8 percent survival rate Geneva Declaration of Rights of a child every child that has the right to help education and protection in every society has a stake in expanding children's opportunities in life that's only some of them I didn't read all of them a bond claim may be filed against your Surety liability insurance policy if these mandates do not stop today total amount owed to the notifying party 2bd because we pointed the act of information and they find ways not to respond we do have the policy number and we do know it's for glenter this notice [Applause] this notice is to

074provide and inform you that the notifying party has provided the above descriptions of the unconstitutional legal actions that have endangered the health of my children attending this school district if these illegal mandates do not stop today I'll seek damages of the full amounts listed yeah if this action does not stop today the notifying party will claim against Lloyds of London Arthur J Gallagher company pk101-0721 you have five days upon the receipt of this notice to correct these violations at this school in the Rockton District 140. foreign clinics on school grounds and or coordination with local schools call all all enforcement policies that require Universal masking without parental consent this includes forcing vaccines on teachers and masking the teachers of the district discontinue segregation segregation of mass versus Mass Free students cult testing on non-vaccinated students

075and quarantine stop forcing all forms of covid-19 propaganda concerning how dangerous this is to our parents and our grandparents that all children should want to save their lives by getting a vaccine and they should choose for themselves and do not need the consent of their parents to do this stop requesting new funds answer funds Esther funds are written so that they can claim extra funds to the end of 2024. what incentive do they have to stop this hmm zero I understand the money makes a difference in the district let's find a different way to do that revoke and reverse your trespass notice for Brad Lind a yeah and finally the immediate resignation of our superintendent Glenn Terry foreign failure to comply with the aforementioned demands within five days after receiving this notice will result in

076a claim being filed against Lords of London Arthur Jake Galler company policy number PK 1010721 for the full amount of the coverage a furthermore look into the federal court filings as that gentleman suggested yeah um we sincerely hoped a reasonable resolution could be worked out I really did countless emails calls meetings not a single response from a board um even after even after asking for an outside dance when covid levels for your own board meetings were at zero zero okay what hopes do we have in the next two years to 2024 when we can still receive funds they received 1.7 million dollars right now to buy air conditioning more computers I get the understanding it makes this District better we've got to find a better way all of which is unacceptable thank you foreign I

077don't want to wear a mask I was very happy today I was not wearing a mask I think it was very good to not have a mask it was just very sensible and very good idea anyone else in these people foreign like I said we're gonna keep coming it's going to keep happening this will not end thank you everyone for coming out we all got out here this was great guys good job some might call it to come to Jesus woman thank you my yellow boxes foreign [Music] um thank you foreign the following item will be added to Executive sessions topic other matters relating to individual students any other I was going to make a motion that we moved to covid discussion to this point in the meeting which seems to make sense to me

078okay sounds like a bit good thanks buddy do any other additions or corrections to the agenda well then we're going to move on to number 11 covid this guy yeah I was expecting that a larger audience but um you're not interested in this they just want to they don't want you know they don't want to hear the discussions throughout there so you know I uh what I was going to say when I was I wanted to say to the folks who were here is that you know personally I I think excuse me yeah it's a little extra I'm always speaking for myself and I'm not the boards I had a great joke lined up too I was going to say I'm an attorney I've been an attorney for almost 20 years I was also a

079high school teacher and I'm used to speaking in front of rooms with pissed off people so this is so this is this isn't anything new new for me but um well that's good all right so and in fact uh what I was going to say and and I'll uh I'm gonna take my mask off so people can hear me one of the things I wanted to see and my name's Scott Robinson by the way um I I've got two kids in the district um I've got a student a freshman at hononega and um I uh you know I'm new to the board relatively new um I used to be a high school teacher I used to teach at how to dig up I'm an attorney I've been licensed to practice a lot for for almost

08020 years and you know what I guess we'll be just speaking for myself um not speaking as as the board's attorney but but as a as a lawyer I I have a perspective on this this tro have a perspective as a parent um and and I I just wanted to say first of all I don't I don't disagree with most of what people said here tonight um my wife and I get into fights because when we go to the store I don't wear my mask my wife's like Scott where are you masked and I'm like no I don't want to wear my mask um we got into it about whether my son my high schooler should wear his mask to school I don't I don't think he needs to keep things studied us she teaches

081she's a great lady I'm not trying to bad mouth her but we disagree we didn't disagree on this issue um I I have I'll just tell you and I'm probably gonna I don't I don't want to keep us here too late but here here's my Evolution when it came to masks right and I guess I should explain the reason that I wear the mask here not wearing it now because I'm talking to you guys the reason I wear it here is because our school board which I remember uh member of this body it has passed has passed a rule that requires me to do it so you know could I just say I'm not wearing my mask guys you know forget it I could I don't I choose not I choose to wear it at

082the school board meetings for that reason I don't wear it anywhere else I don't I don't wear it to church I don't wear it to the grocery store my again my wife gets mad at me she's like wear your mask Scott and I'm like I don't think it does anything I don't I don't think it protects from for the cold that's based on my personal re my experience I don't think so she disagrees with me reasonable people I think can disagree on on that issue this whole idea about you know what it's doing to kids I don't think I don't think you're wrong I think I think it's important for kids to be able to see things I I agree I I personally as as an individual I agree with that um you know I

083can't speak to a lot of you know what was brought up here about and nor should I because this is not a back and forth and I'm just one guy I can't really talk about you know these other issues but but what I wanted to do was just as as somebody who's educated in the law and experienced in the law to sort of give a perspective on and I think it's the perspective that our our board's attorney shares on where we're at as far as the law the tro the the the thing really the thing that has changed from the time that we enacted our policy that's kind of what I wanted to speak to um well I'm sorry if if I were the dictator of the school board I'd be like yeah sure let's

084go let's talk but I'm not so um this pandemic we all I think we we all know or if we don't if we don't know by now we should probably should the whole thing and I guess just my opinion has been mishandled from the beginning by our state and our national governments right I mean I don't don't even get me started like the whole thing has been a clown show it's it's shown it's shown us that it's pulled I guess I'll say it's pulling a mask off of some of the um at least for me and I think for a lot of you and I think for some some people on the board maybe everyone on the board it's showing us some things about our society and about our uh you know our governments governments

085plural national state governments that um maybe people were aware of before and and it just became more more pronounced as a result people have used this pandemic to gain political power they've used the pandemic to to gain money you know they've they've used the pandemic in a lot of ways most of which in my opinion have not than to ask what is best for the people what is best for you know sick people with health what what's what's best for for kids and I'm not talking about us as a school board because I and this is I'm going to get to that in a second but it's been to me a revelation on just how corrupt how uh you know mishandled ineffective our governments are again National and and state I'm talking about specifically um

086there's nothing that we can do about that as a school board all we can do is deal with this issue locally we we can we have to respond to the law we have to follow the law I mean obviously it sounds like there's some disagreements as to whether we're doing that or not I contend that we are following the law but you know as a school board as a school district I can assure you that there's there's only a really uh one reason why we're here we you know we to become school board members this is a volunteer position but I'd rather be home drinking beer right now I'm not I'm not gonna lie I appreciate you guys I appreciate you folks coming here to me to me seeing 200 people in a room saying

087look we care about this issue this is a problem you know we care about our kids please do something about it that's not a bad thing it's a good thing that's that's the way it's supposed to work this is a representative democracy we don't live in a democracy we live in a republic we we elect people like us you know to represent us in at the local level the state level Federal level and uh as far as I'm concerned and I know it's true of these other board members we're parents we live in this community we're here because we want to do the right thing for kids for first students in the school district that is the only reason we're not we're not getting paid for this I mean it's tough to sit up here

088and and listen to you know just just things that people are discussing that that happened at school um some of which sound when you you know when you're discussing them in a form like this they sound horrible you know it pains me like I don't I I didn't like sitting here listening to to some of this stuff I do it we do it because signed up for this because we want what's best for kids in this school district you know we're not I I guess I'm babbling on but again we need to focus on like what's what's within our ability to control as a local school board and so here's here's how here's how this Mass policy came to be and here's why I don't think that the judges the Sangamon County judge's order affects

089our policy now I'm not gonna but we enacted our policy after a lot of discussion um on I think it was August 4th of right before school started and there was we had we had a lot of back and forth about it um I personally had desired that gymnastics would be optional at the beginning of the school year these men and women I disagree and so we came up with a policy that seemed to us and I and I agree with it to be workable and of compromise something that that a took into account the perception that masks are what protects kids from covet also the masks are what protects kid you know kids family members at home that was part of our discussion um so we said if if the the numbers if the

090covid numbers uh get below a certain threshold then masks are optional that was our that was our remedy that was that was what we came up with it wasn't again my personal uh ideal outcome but I went along with it because it seemed reasonable at the time in fact uh well in retrospect things things have happened right we I thought I was pretty sure when we enacted that policy that our numbers the numbers the metric that we were gonna that we would have to hit in order for this uh Mass policy to become optional was going to was going to happen I was pretty sure um but then the uh the new variant okay and I you know don't even get me started about this variants the new covid variant came and the numbers shot

091way up right so now like I don't know I didn't look at them for today I looked at him you know earlier today for yesterday for what it's worth and it was like 500 something cases per 100 000. and when I saw that I was like look and this and this is part of the whole Madness of cobit I was like we'll be in that covet cases or 500 per hundred thousand you know like Yay hooray that's great because it was like two thousand per hundred thousand a couple weeks or a week a week ago I don't know um you know you look at the numbers in other countries like South Africa where they first discovered this variant it's like goes away so who knows it's scary but I guess my point is you know

092we're sort of and I think I again I'm not speaking for anyone else on the board I'm just talking I'm skipping my own thoughts like the numbers are they mean something different they don't what we what we passed in August is not necessarily uh you know conducive to life in February 2020. so you know take take that for a little bit but the point is we passed that policy on August 4th fully intending that masks would become optional once we hit those numbers the governor in his wisdom and again I I don't I don't know that I have my own opinions on whether the governor's executive emergency executive orders are lawful or not I have my own opinion about that as a school board we don't have the luxury of being you know giving the

093middle finger to the to the governor and saying look we don't we don't think you're acting within your lawful Authority you need to um you know we're going to do what we want to do right some school districts tried that some school districts said no uh Governor's mandate you know exactly I think it was executive order 18 requiring masks in school schools we're not going to do it and so what happened the State Board of Education said well if you don't do it uh you're we're going to take away um our recognition of you so you can't be a school district right that was the threat um so you know there was the executive order that came after it occurred subsequently to our passing our policy our policy didn't take that into consideration the only

094factor that um that executive order had on our policy was that it meant that if we hit that metric we couldn't you know again you can you can question whether the governor's executive orders are lawful or not we could not then say Oh masks are optional because at that point the executive order was was in effect and I'll get to this but I would argue that it still is that the executive orders are still still in effect although they've been neutered um to use a Veterinary term but uh at that point had had our Pilots had we had that metric we could we could not have said okay no no masks are optional now because the State Board of Education would have said no you can't do that because of the interaction between the executive

095order the Department of Public Health and ispe uh joint guidance on the issue right so all right so we get to this tro this is temporary strain order and probably I would imagine most people until like last week unless you were a party to the lawsuit following very closely probably had never heard of the tro what's a tro sounds like a Chrysler or a high performance automobile I I don't know but a temporary restraint order that that is a mechanism in the law designed to uh to pause things where they're at when a lawsuit's filed to say look the parties are enjoying from doing this that the other thing until we can until we can have a trial until we can figure out you know the bottom line the judge can decide the law on

096the facts and decide what what to do in this particular situation so the judge issues this temporary straining order we we were not defendants in that lawsuit I don't know why we weren't in fact things would be a lot easier for us now if we were so I wish one of you you guys want to see this that would have been uh that would have made our lives a little easier this this this past week but the way that I read the tro and people people during the meeting uh you know stated some some some language that was in in temporary Australian land the judge did talk about an evil vehicle the judge didn't say school boards didn't make kids wear masks are evil that that's not what the judge said the judge was referring

097to an evil okay and that's sometimes a legal term of our evil just means a negative you know something negative that shouldn't be happening of the lobby and violated that the evil that the judge was referring to and I I have the order here I haven't memorized it but I I think was the fact that the Illinois Department of Public Health decided that it could uh redefined terms in a state statute to implement the governor's executive order right so the the court was like no you can't do that um those terms will those definitions were related to quarantine what what is a quarantine and I in my understanding is that the Department of Public Health tried to say tried to redefine quarantine so that it didn't have to provide these new process rights to people

098that it wanted to quarantine so that the governor's executive order could apply to school so the judge said no you can't do that the judge said that the executive order the executive orders that were at issue in the case cannot be implemented by cannot be enforced by the defendants in in that case you said that um the Illinois Department of Public Health's um changes to its rules to implement these executive orders are null and void cannot cannot be cannot be relied upon they're not they're no longer valid but during you know tendency of this this tro there was language and disorder saying you know discussing whether school districts have Independence authority to say that kids have to wear masks during this pandemic and the judge missed my reading of new order was that she specifically

099said I'm not deciding that I'm not determining whether or not school districts have independent authority to you know to tell kids they have to wear masks because that that issue is in front of me there was the language that one of the uh one of the folks pointed out in the order in a footnote at the end saying that the government or the the judge had has decided that the um the um the rules the Department of Public Health's rules to implement the governor's executive order that redefined quarantine because of their health null and void the plaintiffs and defendants may act are not non-plaintish and non-defendants may act accordingly right so so what does that mean that means she's saying the the law like that executive order the executive orders are still in place the

100Department of Public Health's rules implementing the executive orders are no longer in place during the pendancy of the TR right so what does that mean for us my view my opinion is that that means that we can if we choose to do so uh we can make masks optional without any legal ramifications um it doesn't mean that it doesn't mean that we have to it doesn't mean that the judge is saying you have to make masses optional in your schools districts that aren't a party with this lawsuit but if you choose to do that you're not going to get in trouble you're not at least again I keep saying that during the tendency of this cro this cro could be stayed it could be stayed right now and I wouldn't know it I don't know

101what the Appellate Court is going to do as you know the governor the Attorney General filed an appeal asking the Appellate Court to to enter an emergency stay of this judge's order I don't know what the develop Court's going to do no idea I don't know what's going to happen in this case once it all gets hashed out but this is the the existence of this cro is the only thing that really has changed since we passed we enacted our policy I say that but in fact Everything Has Changed like this this judges uh issuance of this cro you know again it doesn't affect us directly it seems to mean that if we choose still we can change our policy and we can make masses optional if you know uh ramifications uh from our Republic

102health or state board of education and a lot of school districts have have done that right I mean you guys told us about something some of the school districts that have have decided to make masks optional now so on the one hand obviously legally speaking um you know our policies is still in effect and so at this moment in time we need to talk about whether we should revisit because Honda is now optional masking I don't know this but I assume that if if and when the uh Appellate Court stays this tro or if and when I don't know if it's going to happen or I have no idea if if this cro goes away I don't think that I mean I'm just kind of uh guessing here and I'm just sort of postulate and

103as to what might happen but I don't think that that that Genie is probably going to go back to that bottle I don't think that the school districts that have um decided that they're going to um make masses optional because they have to because the court ordered them to I don't think they're going to change their minds and part of the reason is because of public pressure right right you guys um and you know that's fine and there are other reasons too the change in the dynamic of covid since uh since these these uh masks Mass rules were were implemented like the the fact that you read in the news uh across the world other other countries again and I and great because of public pressure are like oh no cope it's over we're not

104going to do this anymore right I think Sweden it was in Sweden today their their government maybe they had never I don't I don't know some European country was like no we're done you know the governor today is like is like oh I'm gonna you know remove my mask mandate I didn't even to be quite honest with you I had forgotten that there was a mass mandate except for schools um in public places I mean I see the sign you know I see the sign at Walmart but the kid you know pushing the parts around isn't making people wear a mask I I'd forgotten that we were even under this I think probably in other parts of our state it's more obvious in the city that sort of thing but you know the the tide

105seems to be turning and this cro OK I think doesn't require us but I feel like it sort of means that we should at least revisit the issue um I I know no more than you do on this but my opinion about that is it's not that there could be repercussions as I said we're not subject to the pro because we weren't a party to the to the litigation and so there's a decent argument that this order doesn't apply to us at all it doesn't change anything for us we're still under the same things however the existence of the judge's evaluation and ruling and the fact that a lot of districts are acting on it even ones that aren't parties to the case does seem to me strikes me as an indication that the state

106would have a much more difficult time trying to make the threats they made earlier I mean it's one thing to say we have this thing in place I've issued an executive order no judge has ever challenged it and if a particular District doesn't do what I told them to we're going to let me certify them or whatever the thing was versus we're going despite the fact that everything's in the Appellate port and it's somewhat up in the air over there we're going to take that action against 25 districts just politically that's a different thing I mean the governor could decide that he's going to do that but I guess the only thing I would add to that is that but it seems locally unlikely like the judge globally has restrained Department of Public Health rules

107that Implement those executive orders so well that those those rules um you know would have uh the governor says you know the Department of Public Health shall shall make a little supplement this order right I'm asking in school the order doesn't say that the state border the order only refers to the State Board of Education as as it relates to the vaccine vaccine mandates in schools it doesn't say that the the guidance that the joint guidance that the Department of Public Health and state board enacted together is void I don't know why she didn't do that it seems like that would have been a little pretty pretty wise thing to do I'm sure there was a reason I think she was in a hurry when she wrote that in order to be free but um

108but like The Dominoes have fallen and there is the question that if I don't know I don't know the details well enough but we're not a party to this but the Illinois Department of Education is and so unless they get another Court to stay or reverse this I don't think they can rely on those rules that they've asked um to go after people outside this case either because they've been told that they're not valid unless they get the state and then something else might happen but I can't foresee a situation in which given that given what has happened with this cro and this the judge's language about the parties or the non non-partiest May conduct themselves accordingly and all this all these school districts acting accordingly that the State Board is going to be like

109you know let's see when this is lifted you know we're going to revoke all of your certifications unless you make kids wear masks I just don't see it happening I could I guess but I don't think so I mean can I share my perspective oh yeah please so um I think a unique position here but for a long time I have to enforce the policy right my role there is different wow parent and a school board member right now you know and I'm not pro mask I'm not I don't know I don't know whether they work or not I think you can find research on both sides so I don't know but what I do know is I've always tried to put students first in my decisions I started teaching 15 years ago I always

110tried to put the students first and um you know sometimes you've got to make some really tough decisions to do that more difficult for for people um and I do think it's I do think it's time to make that tough decision to deal with every coping problem probably you can think of in my role because it's families in all kinds of ways and I hear about it and I have to you know work with the families of the children and what they're going through so I feel for those who have been severely impacted I don't want to minimize that do you agree with you Scott the situation is different now when we've talked in August I believe that covet was as more serious disease with the up-and-coming Delta variants and the library was predominant at

111the time we know now amacron Omicron is the predominant period 97 98 of all the cases whatever it is right and you know the science is showing that yes it's more contagious more people are getting sick we saw that within our district but many people are not getting now sick and and I realized that there are people who are getting very sick and they are dying and I don't want to minimize the risk of that what I'm saying is it's a different disease now so you know I don't look at our situation the same as I do in August Okay so you know I want to put first and foremost here I think it's time to go math optional I also understand that we have put the policy in place and we cannot necessarily go

112against our policy right yeah you know so what what I am you know proposing if we if we if we can't as a board make that decision to go Mass hospital that we revisit our policy and and talk about what the current circumstances are because I I would like I would like to give kids and you know families that decision um and you know I think I think we need to adjust accordingly you know the pandemic is evolving and I think and I think this order has given us the opportunity to do that for the tro I don't think we've had any legal group there you know I would not have said let's go before that came but I think this provides us the safety that you guys are discussing but we're not necessarily worrying

113about funding licensure and accreditation and these sorts of things and if those if those threats do come back you know then I think we need to discuss you know what would that mean for us you know but at this point you know February 9th I'm not concerned about that concerned about our kids and the experience that they're having in our district and that's where I stand well it's becoming disruptive this whole issue is becoming corrupted your kids aren't as hard as it is to educate them with the mask it's not the ideal situation however it's becoming a big this this week wasn't there were disruptions since we're switching and changing and I'm going to do this and educating kids was very difficult this week you need to so that's something to consider but our numbers

114are also going up I don't know what they are now because you know they're going down this week our numbers our numbers are going down they're going down Okay Plus they're not but they're down from a pretty high number right right a couple weeks ago so it we need to take that into consider it nobody wants the kids to wear masks come on you know we're not doing this because it's political it's totally not political and I resent the fact I will say this that that was that that was kind of brought out somewhat tonight because I don't think this we all honestly want to be on this board and we love our kids we think we have wonderful teachers and staffs and the parents are phenomenal our kids are great we're not here because

115we want to punish anyone or make a political statement we honestly it's sincere we wanted to protect our students we had a school award number diaphobic for gosh sakes that's right so you know we're not and it's not you against us it's all of us together this affects everybody however I'm getting emails and talking to people too who are worried about their children not wearing a mask or other children not wearing a mask and you know we I have to look at what's best for everybody it's not you it's not me it's all of us and so that's what I'm concerned about I'll stay at that's my point of view and you know High School is one thing Elementary School I taught it you're right there with the kids you're in their face they're in

116your face there isn't a separation like there is at middle school or other grade levels little kids are right there they're touching each other they're speaking close to you you're speaking close to them it's kind of a different um situation than it is with older children even middle school kids so that concerns me that kids are going to be you know in close proximity to each other especially the kids that are you know that are not healthy and you know what frankly none of us know that you know I I think though you know I have to say concern but I think people will move Beyond this outside of our cool walls right you know so I don't know that keeping masks on kids is really saw our numbers go through the roof in January

117everybody had an outside you know that did that prevent others from getting sick I don't know but but I'm not real confident and you know what we were able to do you know with our mitigation strategies we have other mitigations as well and I I don't I I don't disagree with you I've never taught elementary kids but I looked in their classrooms yeah they're uh they're they're all over the place you know it's not like shopping at Walmart it's nothing like that my daughter said she played LeapFrog yesterday that sounds awesome but what about social distance um but you know but they do they they my daughter's always rubbing her face and you know like she's filthy 64. I don't know again I don't know my my my personal uh perspective is that I don't

118I don't think the mass Dover which again I don't know I wish we had I wish there was like a definitive study that would be like Mass Mass 100 don't work with kids in elementary school yeah we don't have that I like your perspective of where we were in August that my decision was made right now we have vaccines that are available for kids we have more mitigation and the Very ends are as dangerous originally last week and so there's two things that I think we should talk about one is the possibility revisiting the policy that we put in place and not to to their own corn but we talked about doing exactly that when we passed the policy in the first place that just because we passed the particular policy didn't mean that we

119were necessarily stuck with it forever that we have the power to do that the second thing though is one of the things that the judge talks about in her order that I don't know if people are using the right way but this due process among those things is we have to do that we can't jettison up all just get us in the policy that we have the question is if we do want to revisit it what are the requirements to change the school policy because before if we we went over it at one meeting and then voted on it at a future meeting is that a requirement well you know that is a requirement for our policy manual right you know we adopt things that we might call policy that are not actually section 2180

120so there's there's a set procedure for that I don't think there is a set procedure for an adoption of a plan that we call a policy because it is it is uh something that we've adopted right but we're talking about it but it's not a technical right although we're talking about changing something that's currently in our policy man it is not in our policy it's not you know it's our reopening plan that oh the reopening plan it's the real difference so so we're changing the reopening yep okay so the question is what is required to revisit the reopening uh all we need to do is all we need to do is talk make a motion we can't tonight right we did not have an action item on the agenda so when we pass it when

121we post an agenda 48 hours before you can't then you can have any discussion you want to have at a meeting like we can talk about to a boom face right so we can't actually change anything until we posted an agenda with okay so we can't change our policy that part with the masking and mitigation strategy without at least 48 hours notice before without without it being posted on an agenda to the Republicans to possibly take action right once we do that then we can otherwise we're in violation take action on something here so that we didn't tell the public ahead of time we were going to right so that's what we wanted so that's what we want to do is we want to make so we need I think obviously the time to revisit

122this is here and so we need to put that on the next agenda either the school board meeting in two weeks or if we decided it was necessary we'd have to schedule something before then more than 48 hours for them all right I suggest me have an emergency meeting to discuss our current policy our current action plan for reopening without mass or making an optional within it you know then at least the very soon is 48 hours from now that's my suggestion we're going to Oshkosh on Friday but it's Wednesday it's Wednesday it's eight o'clock on Wednesday night so the earliest we could have a meeting where we take action it's eight o'clock on Friday and I don't think we're doing that driveway talking next week I do want to get something off my chest

123here um I really have challenged with sitting here and listening to a lot of that stuff like I know all you guys are um I I know for myself and I know probably everybody sitting on this board that has children in our district does this out of wanting to give back and wanting to do the best for our children so some of the that they said up there really gets underneath everybody's skin here and I and I appreciate all you guys maintaining your cool probably better than I and I appreciate all the people that came forth what I do Wonder though is everybody that came forward tonight where were they when there was five open positions on this board to serve and only three people showed up right right and this this board meeting is

124open the whole time except for one part of this section here yeah this is the second time that we have actually had attendees and all those 200 people or whatever so they showed up where the hell are they now I know is the business that happens this is what goes on so you can bring that back to the people or the people I'm talking to on the on the on the thing there what amen amen so I I want to get that off my chest and and I know this is probably not the right place to do it but no I I do want to thank everybody for bringing that opinion because we are sitting here and we're here in one side of the store what the people in the in the peanut gallery didn't

125hear is all those other people that say please make Mass mandatory I'm afraid for my children and and that's that's that's where we have to struggle because that that is not going to be an easy easy vote on my part because if one child one child gets coveted and dies in our district how the hell am I going to feel about that when they're up there saying oh there's only 800 kids that died from Colvin really that's okay one child is not okay if I if I can stop that from happening I'm going to and if it's making Mass mandatory you know that is something that I'm going to have to weigh out in my head and then I'm gonna have to live with that decision and none of the other people out here have

126to make that decision and live with it if something bad happens so I understand what you guys are going through and I understand you know not making Mass mandatory and things like that and it can it's going to be a difficult decision uh do we listen to the squeaky wheels or do we listen to people that are that are too scared to come in here and voice their opinion but still say thank you so much for not you know lifting the mass Bank you know and and making making everybody as safe as possible as you can in school um yeah and I hate the rainbow stuff well and nobody spoken yes that aren't in our community come in right and a lot of people are confused by a lot of this a lot of it's

127very confusing I mean like I said we're talking about the governors uh the governor's orders were not but that's the state government that's part of our world that's public comment it's your job it's not really much I'm a superintendent you guys want to say great it's your job to listen to that and discern what right is valuable right right it's not it's not to judge it it's not you know it's a public forum but that's what it is and we take that information and we digest it discern it discard it if that is our opinion based on what people have said or based on other things we know or you know let it affect your decision making and that's a personal choice you have to make you know before you vote but that's kind of

128the purpose of what yeah what's going on but you have this but there was just one thing that people don't understand is the idea oh it's all about follow the money it's the answer money Esser is a federal program that has nothing to do with the governor's order or masked manifest at all the money even if I cared about that but understand like that that's what people hear right and I don't think people even hear it necessarily tied to conversations we've heck I don't think it's come up anymore but people hear that on the news they hear that in stories they read about it they hear it from the district it's in their Consciousness that that is part of what's going on so I don't fold anybody is that within our control why are we

129why are we letting it happen we just need good information to make decisions that are best for our kids constitutional democracy is messy it's both you don't have people in China well showing up to meetings of local governments it doesn't work that way it's okay this is it's good it's healthy well you're right you're right and I'm not mad at anybody either but I do think that uh um yeah just again for the record we we are here to make decisions in the best interest of kids that that is it that's all I care about and I know it's all you guys hear about let me just say one more thing I I I'm concerned I'm concerned about um these these uh these instances of kids potentially getting you know negative feedback from other kids

130or staff or to we have to address this you know whatever new policy we come up with we cannot we cannot have kids in our schools pressuring other kids to wear a mask or not wear a mask that's a medical decision that you know ultimately if it's optional in our school and you have the option to do it or not you you we can't have it well we need to do something about it it's a big deal that is so hard yeah it's peer pressure just like anything that goes on we can't uh if the TR will apply to us it would make our decision so much easier then we wouldn't have to worry about you know picking one side or the other that's the same thing for the kids if Master mandatory guess what

131you know I don't I can't you know everybody so the extent that the adults in the room can do something about it though right I feel like it needs to well but here's the problem that's one reason we have to address the Mandate because the problem we've had this week um quite frankly and it's probably not going to be very popular but I have some concern with the idea that there's that deciding not to follow rules that you don't like is something that is praised and is rather than obedience like you know I read I've read my Pharaoh um and my Martin Luther King Jr but yeah I mean it's that that is disrupted our educational process I mean this I guess it's a microcosm of the rest of the world and the rest of

132the country because it's disrupted everything it's disrupted a lot more than just the school day but it is disheartening because that because because and that was part of my point in like going over this because we we have a policy right that like like right now there's a rule and and then the rules should be followed so there's concerns me that if you're if your family or your parents disagree with a rule then you don't have to follow it and that should be okay and the school should have to be okay with that that's not the way it works right yeah right just good and I'm just being to see father you understand you understand the Dilemma that's right and because we need to talk about that still um how the school's going to operate

133going forward I think a lot of that will depend on what what decisions like I said I don't think it can make a change tonight tonight we can't make it tonight so we've set the wheels and motion to uh to make a a change of possible change and we'll move forward with that and yet they hear Point yeah I don't like wearing this mask and I but I wear it up here because I'm I'm setting an example because I'm following the rules so but anyway we need the motion to schedule an emergency now you could we can do it at your at your request and there is actually a process for that as well but it's not part of a meeting that that process has to happen because you guys can make the money happen

134without that all right Kelsey I have two attorneys here who talk a heck of a lot um and I don't want to put you on the spot that you need to talk but I just want to give you the opportunity before I feel like I'm always the quietest one to everybody and you know I try to bring oh you're not new to this and um this is it I'm a teacher and I teach in Harlem and you know obviously they lifted uh the mask mandate is optional and um so I have that pushed back to as a teacher knowing what that's like and um you know I see the different you guys mentioned like other kids peer pressuring kids into doing certain things or um just the confusion for teachers around what what you know

135if I'm truly terrified and I'm weird and I don't want to get sick like how do I handle a kid that comes up to my desk without their masks um and teachers struggle with that because it's not clear what you do and that's hard and you know we got emails all week about things that we probably shouldn't do and be careful not to do this and be aware of that and you know that's something we have to work through and to what extent the adult in the room can take care of and address issues that you know bullying or peer pressure you know I think that's going to happen regardless of our decision on masks and stuff But ultimately like making a decision about you know I think it's important to have that discussion and

136um I think we're right that like it's not it got really quiet you know I think addressing it is not the same you know it's a different variant than what we addressed in August and it not only has the variant changed um but you know the rules have changed what's going on in the state has changed and stuff so yeah I definitely think like you know let's let's have a discussion let's figure out what we want to do is we want to change something or not change something I do I do get as a teacher that I teach English I teach English to high schoolers and like one of the core things that I teach is like how to discern information and how to like figure that out and I I do I do find

137it frustrating that like there are valid points to why people should wear masks and there are valid points a lot of people shouldn't wear masks but it is so difficult in this world today to figure out what those are and and I do get frustrated when when people that I know clearly know better make inaccurate or intentionally misleading statements because they know they're on social media because they know that's going to get out there first right and then whatever happens afterwards doesn't matter um it's that for you know it's that first thing that gets it um and it's usually just winky wheel um so that you know that that does make the decision um more difficult but I think that's you know that's why we're we're here is because we can make those uh decisions

138and work through that so yeah I think definitely discussion is warranted and if we need to make a change we can make a change and like Scott said you guys get paid the money to make the hard decisions so you're going to make that decision um just I'm going to make two quick points and move on just that people have referenced the numbers and everything right so as of today 439 cases per 100.50 right so Scott made a brief mention that it was 2 000 less than two weeks ago two weeks ago right that's a huge drop right and parents have seen the positive numbers I send out you know we were 55 55. crazy I've got it never thought it would be that today is well you might as well say it's Thursday right

139we've had three days of school this week we have eight oh wow right so yes last week we were like 25 26 right so um that's what experts said was going to happen and sure enough it is happening I mean you know I think I think we'll be double digits but my best guess would be 10 to 15 probably on the low side of that by the end of the week and I would hopefully expect even less the following week that's what viruses do yep if viruses killed everybody viruses would not survive what did I laugh at that but it was our original metric our mini metric was 100 per 100 000 and one percent local right so we'll be under one percent local this week all right well oh yes right right now I

140think we will be under one percent local this week um so we'll have hit and the way that number is falling I have no idea to know what like the bottom threshold of that is going to be I would hate to look at the rate at which it's dropped as a math teacher and then apply that rate to what's it right that would probably not be accurate that's right but but it's a good indication that it's going to continue two weeks in a row right what's not what the what the metric stated right yep and what what is the number what is the number of one percent six about 16. around 16 16. um it's somewhere 16 to 18 I mean I I had to go back and look at our total population one more

141time I always keep 1600 my eggs that's an easy number for me to me and well I mean we'll almost certainly be under that this week um and I think Cynthia made a really good point um that I just want to reinforce is that you know there Everything Has Changed there are things out there that we did not have when we made these decisions in fall right there were not vaccinations for children at all right now we can vaccinate all the way down to five when we made that decision those that was not an option for parents to say you know because again people have concerns that when people were masked optional and maybe we have children that might contract covid right well that wasn't available then it's available now right there's a lot of

142things to think about when we get into making an episode I have a question regarding the plan you know it was a reopening plan did we put an end date to that um you know I don't know we did so we did we enacted our plan and then um like Scott said the governor's mandate happened right so that supersedes our plan we did not did not Choice over that so what we did was we we added to our plan that uh our metrics would go into effect when the governor's mandate disappeared right okay it hasn't disappeared that's the closest we put you know and it's and it's a plan for this year we we wouldn't just say that a plan applies to the next school year so I guess in that respect it's for this

143year because I'm asking is you know do we need to go back and revise that or can we just develop what we want moving forward we can develop what we want and you guys are we can do the community is on both sides of it so it's at that point in time we were debating whether we're going to be in person or will they be remote and with this plan we we were able to have in-person learning right and that was our goal yeah that was that was in goal at that point in time so that you know kids can actually come into the school let alone with a mask on but still they could be here so so Cynthia and I will work on a potential special purpose date and deep in communication with

144you guys about that um very shortly 50 years ago did School Board sit around and talked about how many basketballs to buy yeah yeah yeah yeah they're coming to board meeting for a long time when I was in the union that was my job I went to board I was like that paid for basketball anything else for kovid that we need tonight they can't wait till the special purpose can I just say one thing yeah I feel really bad and just all The Nasty the nastiness that they're dealing with when they're you know trying to do the best they can and I understand people don't agree you know but but I would like to see our community do better it's the just a the stuff that you know I'm reading on Facebook and you know

145people are telling me about and all this you know I feel like we we can be better than that you know so I just publicly want to encourage people to you know treat treat our staff better they're they're working for us because they love kids I believe they're trying to do the best that they they're all in very difficult position but I say that because I'm a principal in a school during the pandemic and it is the worst the worst and I know that they're dealing with all kinds of stuff too you know so um you know if you would please encourage you know your your people your your circles to to treat our staff with kindness because they're here for the kids and thank you the thing is it wasn't even denied everybody that

146got up there and spoke figures they moved here okay to be in the school district so there is still that respect there just just oh you know out loud you know we don't like good people quitting over this we want to we want to keep our our teachers and get them through this stronger and not broken absolutely no thank you for that okay um we have a bunch of stuff on the agenda um we could go with just the critical items and not stay here so long tonight um if you guys are okay with that we need to uh talk about the approval of Chromebooks because we have to get those ordered or we might run into a supply issue and then we do need to have executive session does anybody have any objection with

147um holding off building and grants Finance Personnel policy and education report until the board meeting okay thank you my second right now I move to uh approve the Chromebooks does anybody have any questions on uh approving proving the purchase of 360 Chromebooks and the amount of 105 960 dollars so there's no question it was in the budget correct um it is uh part of the professor it no it's not essary the state has a digital Equity Grant so we're paying for it through the digital electron somebody said um what I'm looking for right now uh what What's the difference what's the difference between the two like different Rumble yeah like why so one is like an Intel processor and one is not as good a processor um Dave had worked on getting those close together

148you can't get the Intel processors and if you think you can you're ordering them and you're not getting them for six seven eight months down the line okay so we took the grade level that we thought would be the most important fifth grade that is going to then go through the whole Middle School like those fifth graders will take those throughout and we want those to be um a one and then we're going to experiment with the other one and and if the other one performs well when we get it we might do that continually in the future but it'll be a good Force experiment because we really don't have much choice you can't get something a question all right nice second Mike Ford uh Kelsey Lucia aye Scott Robinson aye Steve harcus aye Mary

149Newman aye Kirsten Bree aye Cynthia Driggers aye passes thank you everybody for coming tonight um we do appreciate your comments we're all trying to work through this together I really appreciate you talking to everybody I did not want to shut this meeting down today and I appreciate the assistance with just how the meeting works that's why we have them so we're gonna move into executive sessions so this is a closed time for the board oh I'm gonna motion to move into executive session thank you guys to um give up nights I mean our children just start from school but I want to thank you guys thank you I know you're in you're in a hard position I mean a lot of people are but you guys are the ones and I think they're I guess

150from the outside looking in I see for one I don't think will happen today was the kids was