Barrington School District 220 board member Katie Karam said during the board meeting July 13, 2021 she supports giving parents discretion over their children wearing masks in school. (H. Rick Bamman / Pioneer Press)
Seven-year-old Elise Corcoran stepped up before the Arlington Heights School District 25 board of education Thursday night to deliver her top five reasons why she believes students should not be required to wear masks in the classroom when the new school year begins next month.
“When it is hot in the classroom, we sweat and it sticks to our faces,” said Elise, a rising third grader at Dryden Elementary School.
“I don’t like wearing masks because they make me feel claustrophobic and that makes me feel anxious,” added Jack Mungovan, 12, a rising seventh grader at Thomas Middle School.
The pleas of Elise, Jack and the 500 parents who signed an online petition asking that masks be optional in the fall appeared to resonate with the District 25 school board, which voted unanimously Thursday night to give parents at the kindergarten through eighth grade district the choice of whether or not their children wear masks in the classroom in the fall.
Despite the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the state health department’s recent recommendations that unvaccinated students and staff should continue wearing masks indoors to prevent the spread of the virus, District 25 is among a growing slate of suburban school districts that have passed policies this month that veer from the updated COVID-19 guidance for schools.
The updated recommendations arrive at a time when many families are enjoying the state’s loosened restrictions this summer, and some parents are determined that even unvaccinated children should be allowed the same liberties.
“We’re getting kids their freedom back,” said Marsha McClary, a mother of five children who attend Barrington Unit School District 220.
While the District 220 school board on Tuesday approved a plan that gives parents a choice about whether their middle and high school students wear masks in the classroom, officials are still discussing a “phased-in” approach for kids under 12, who are not yet eligible to receive the vaccine.
“I understand the need to still wear masks on airplanes, which is no big deal,” McClary said. “But with our kids, we’re talking about five days a week, for more than six hours a day … you can’t see their emotions and their expressions. So much learning has been lost, and it’s going to take a long time to get that back.”
Read more of the Chicago Tribune article here.
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