A 'Fashion Accessory' In Elmhurst D-205?

ELMHURST, IL — With temperatures plunging into the single digits, seven residents showed up to speak at Tuesday night's Elmhurst School District 205 board meeting. All but one of them focused on the same subject — masks.

Four of the residents urged the district to defy Gov. J.B. Pritzker's executive order requiring masks be worn in schools, while another questioned the mandate's enforcement. Another credited masks for keeping the coronavirus out of the schools. Still another praised the board's work in relation to the pandemic.

During public input, resident Jennifer Fiocca, who has two daughters at Emerson Elementary, said children were carrying the burden of wearing masks when adults were most at risk of the coronavirus. She argued that no measurable difference in outcomes existed between countries and states that enforce strict pandemic rules and those that don't.

Like others, she questioned the effectiveness of face coverings.

"Cloth masks are nothing more than a fashion accessory," she said.

Chris Lameka, a parent of two District 205 students, said masks don't prevent most transmission of the coronavirus, calling them "nothing more than face decorations." He suggested the district survey parents how they feel about the issue.

Courtney Bowman, a clinical counselor who has two children at Field Elementary, urged the district to go mask optional. That was the policy of the school district last summer until the governor issued his statewide mandate.

Bowman cited her credentials as a counselor to say that children lose their sense of control when everyone is masked. They cannot see others' faces, she said, so they are unable to exchange smiles with one another. That hurts their ability to make connections, she said.

Resident Tim Grebs took the district to task for the Bryan Middle School substitute teacher who recently made students do push-ups or jumping jacks when they didn't wear their masks properly. On Tuesday, Patch reported on the situation.

At work, he said he has never made an employee do push-ups or any other kind of physical exercise when they make mistakes.

"I sure as heck haven't done that in front of a large group of people," Grebs said.

About 20 years ago, he said he received wise advice while in the military: "You praise in public and punish in private."

Grebs said the district should "politely and gently" ask children to wear their masks correctly. The community has faith in the school district, he said, but with the Bryan incident, "a small shred of that faith was broken."

Another resident, Lisa Sullivan, noted the number of Elmhurst students getting the coronavirus from contacts at school has been zero much of the time the last few weeks.

"This is because we have a masking requirement," she said. "I would like to take the opportunity to thank the school board."

Resident Guido Nardini, who has supported the mask mandate, did not mention the issue specifically during Tuesday's board meeting. But he praised the school board's work.

"You guys are doing selfless work. This pandemic has been two years on, and all of us are angry and confused and trying to work our way through it," Nardini said. "You're doing work everyone needs, and come election time, don't think there isn't a big chunk of this community that appreciates your pretty much thankless work and has some sympathy for the heat that you catch while everyone is dealing with their most cherished resource, their kids."

The school board did not react to the comments about masks.