Anti-Mask Speakers Disrupt Lake Forest High School Board Meeting

LAKE FOREST, IL — The Lake Forest Community High School District 115 school board recessed and subsequently adjourned an in-person meeting this month after multiple people who spoke during the meeting's public comment period refused to wear face masks.

After ending the Sept. 13 meeting at Lake Forest High School's West Campus, board members reconvened two days later, completing the meeting's business remotely on the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur.

In a coordinated effort, about a dozen people urged district officials to defy Gov. J.B. Pritzker's Aug. 27 executive order mandating that masks be worn indoors, including in schools. Speakers who identified themselves included two men who ran unsuccessfully for local school boards in this spring's election, a former state racing board chairman and a congressional candidate.

Prior to the statewide mandate, Lake Forest High School administrators had announced plans for a "mask optional" policy. But the governor has directed the Illinois State Board of Education, or ISBE, to revoke certification for schools that refuse to comply.

According to ISBE, 12 districts are either on probation or unrecognized due to their failure to follow the mandate, as of Monday, with 50 others whose recognition was restored after providing verification they would comply. No new districts have been added since Sept. 8.

Jeff Brincat, who was appointed to the Illinois Racing Board by former Gov. Bruce Rauner and resigned at Pritzker's request after an amendment to state gambling law to forbid political donations from members of the board, urged the board to fight the state in court.

"ISBE's one-size-fits-all policy, mandating an all-encompassing mask position has rendered both parents and boards like this impotent on the most basic issues, namely: what's the best environment for our children's learning," said Brincat, whose Lake Forest mansion was featured in one of Rauner's television ads. "With a single piece of correspondence from ISBE, the state took elected and regulatory boards such as these completely out of the picture, not to mention parents."

Jeff Gianelli, the president of The Cortina Companies, fell about 350 votes short in his run for the District 115 board in the April 6 elections. He told board members he represented the voters who did not vote for them.

"Take back the school board. Take it away from the communist direction that we're in," Gianelli said. "You can call it what you will. This is evil in the world. These are our kids who are being corrupted."

Taylor Cottam, who finished in sixth place among six candidates for the Lake Forest District 67 school board, said his children now attend private schools.

"If they do not like being locked up, quarantined in a room, if they do not like being indoctrinated, there are other options," Cottam said. "Please, if the parents would talk to me and we can have a discussion offline. Because that's what we're doing. Because I am not going to allow my children to come here and be under these policies."

Andrea Baldi, who said she had pulled her children out of Lake Forest High School but had a middle schooler in District 67, said her daughter told her the best part of school was recess and lunch — when she was able to remove her mask and see the faces of her friends.

"There are plenty of smart people in this room. We have layers upon layers of salary in our district. What are you guys doing to push back on this? What are you doing? A mandate is not a law," Baldi said. "Is anyone pushing back on the Lake County Health Department? Is anyone calling them every day saying when can we take the masks off the kids? Do you guys have a plan or are you just sitting there like sheep?"

Lynn Ulrich, a nurse from Gurnee, connected restrictions associated with the coronavirus to those imposed following the 9/11 attacks and questioned what caused the collapse of World Trade Center Building 7.

The COVID-19 vaccine is a "poison cocktail" and efforts to require it consist of "horrible Nazi tyranny," asserted the certified registered nurse anesthetist, who did not specify her connection to the district.

"I think these violent extremists have many names: presidents, Congress, globalists, central bankers, United Nations, Davos Group, Rockefellers, health departments, the list goes on," Ulrich said. "Their ultimate goal is full control of humans with a vaccine passport and social credit system."

Related: Smattering Of Anti-Mask, Anti-Vax Protestors Gather At LFHS

Joe Severino, a candidate for the Republican nomination for 10th Congressional District, said he would "personally organize a recall" if board members refuse to resign. (Illinois law does not presently permit recalls of elected officials.)

"I'm sick and tired of seeing pseudointellectuals — and I went to Harvard Business School, so I know something about leadership. I studied it with the foremost leaders on Earth — to sit here and dictate to parents and try to be first educator when your responsibility is secondary education," Severino said. "Our kids come to school with our morals intact, and they should go home with them. You're indoctrinating kids, and the behavior of this board is appalling."

One attendee at the meeting pushed back during the public comment period.

Mike Kollasch, a Lake Bluff resident who teaches science at Lake Forest High School, pointed out the purpose of wearing masks is to protect others and said he had yet to hear a convincing argument against wearing them.

"It's a piece of cloth or whatever you put on your face. It is not a communist plot," Kollasch said. "It's really not that big of a deal."

Board President Jenny Zinser repeatedly admonished speakers to properly wear a mask while addressing the board. Most complied, but a few did not. After a commenter named Janice Scott refused to don a face covering, the board recessed for about 20 minutes.

A few speakers later, the same thing happened again. As a speaker who identified herself only as "Jolyn" and refused to don a mask yelled into the microphone about how face masks are medical devices and mask mandates violate federal law, district staff cut her microphone and the board voted to adjourn the meeting.

Board members reconvened remotely for a special meeting Thursday morning to conduct the rest of their business, including adopting a budget, approving spending and a pair of contracts, among other things. No one shared remarks during the public comment portion of the meeting.

Patch has requested comment from Zinser on behalf of the board about the disruption. Any response received will be added here.

The board is due to meet again in person at the Lake Forest High School West campus Tuesday.