D158 hopes to change the district’s approach to COVID-19: ‘Our practices and decision-making processes should now reflect our ability as a society to move forward with both realistic mitigations and a return to normal social behaviors’
HUNTLEY – At the most recent Huntley Community School District 158 (D158) Board of Education (BOE) meeting that took place on Feb. 10, attendees got the opportunity to hear from several community members regarding their opinions on the district’s changes in COVID-19 mitigations following a Feb. 4 Sangamon County court ruling.
Most of the public comments came from parents of students at the district, but one young speaker was able to detail his experience on optional masking during the Feb. 7 school week.
“I’m so happy that this week that we were able to take down our masks and have the option to. Again, I hope it can be optional for at least another week. Sometimes school teaches us to follow the science that masks are good for you even though doctors say they’re not,” said Camden Raya, a student at D158.
He continued, “When I see adults not have to wear masks and I have to, I feel punished once again because they get to take down their masks and I have to keep them on. I really don’t enjoy seeing that. Why can’t school just be like restaurants? When you enter the classroom, you can sit down at your desk and take your mask down. There is only one type of mask that we don’t even use that can prevent us from getting COVID and there are 45 states that don’t have to wear masks and I hope we can make that number 46.”
Later on in the meeting, D158 Superintendent Scott Rowe delivered his superintendent’s report, where he spoke on the district’s hope to change the way it handles COVID-19 mitigations moving forward, as well as clarified some misunderstandings.
“As I think about life in an endemic, which I believe we are on the verge of being in, it is one that includes the choice to wear a mask in all aspects of life. On a larger scale, I believe that everybody needs to make some concessions in order for us to move forward on all sides,” said Rowe in his message to the BOE. “I believe it’s time to look past the crisis portion of this historic event, but it’s not time to forget, and take all the tools that we have and the endurance that we’ve gained over the last couple of years to find a way to work together and focus on Huntley 158 and improve the community in which we live.”
Further, Rowe made it a point to tell meeting attendees that in no way was D158 trying to underhandedly approach the appeal Gov. JB Pritzker made to the Feb. 4 court ruling.
“We are listed in the appeal and the fact of the matter is we had to sign on to the appeal days before we even heard the outcome of the verdict. As a named defendant in the case, we were forced to make that decision,” said Rowe. “We’re not in any way trying to overturn in an underhanded way because as I said, a masked environment is not an environment that we all like. We want a return to normalcy. We want choice, but we were in a tough spot.”
Rowe added that D158 students and staff had a “fantastic week” following the district’s decision to uphold the terms of the temporary restraining order issued by Sangamon County Seventh Judicial Circuit Court Judge Raylene DeWitte Grischow.
“Our students were happy. Our teachers were pleased and as I look around the State of Illinois, I want nothing to do with that of what some of the other schools are experiencing,” Rowe said.
Rowe then moved on to present D158’s proposed plan for COVID-19 mitigations in hopes of sparking discussions with the BOE to better understand ways in which the district’s decision-making processes need to evolve to best serve students.
The new plan hopes to transition between mitigation measures using a framework associated with COVID-19 risk on an in-district community level instead of utilizing COVID-19 risk levels based on county metrics as the district’s older mitigation model did.
The newer structure will allow D158 to remove mitigations one at a time, which additionally gives the district time to monitor COVID-19 risk in consultation with the local health department.
While the BOE did not take any action regarding the district’s new proposed plan at the Feb. 10 meeting, Rowe stated that BOE members will move to vote on the proposal as necessary at an upcoming meeting (March 3 and March 17) to prepare for the next school year.
“As our district works to bridge the gap between changing school exclusion guidelines, the evolution of COVID-19, and high-quality instruction for all of our students, we know that our ability to adapt and remain flexible is an important element of our success,” added Rowe.
