Summit Hill D161 Approves School Opening Plan

FRANKFORT, IL — Despite a large contingency of parents and community members at the Summit Hill School District 161 Board of Education meeting Wednesday night who showed up to voice their disapproval of a mask mandate for all students, faculty and staff, the Board voted 6-1 to approve Superintendent Paul McDermott's school opening plan for the District. Board member Amy Berk was the lone "no" vote.

The plan, which will take effect when the school mask mandate is lifted, outlines policies for how to safely deal with any outbreaks of COVID-19 that may occur in the District during the upcoming school year, which McDermott speculated could happen this calendar year.

According to the plan, enhanced mitigation strategies for the District — including mandatory masking, quarantine for students, faculty and/or staff, and remote learning options — would be triggered if positive COVID cases topped 100 or the positivity rate exceeded 10 percent over a seven-day period; if those numbers remain below that threshold, masking will be optional.

“I anticipate masking students will be relatively short-lived but, at this time, necessary as we look to launch schools,” McDermott said.

McDermott said the District would focus on localized data from the ZIP codes that the District operates in, including Frankfort, Mokena and Tinley Park, to guide the masking policy.

In the event that a student tests positive for COVID-19 and has siblings in the same household, the District would likely require all the siblings to quarantine, McDermott said.

Related: Vaccines Mandatory For Some State Workers, School Masks Required

Prior to the vote on the District opening plan, several people spoke up during public comments to asked the Board to weigh physical dangers against emotional and psychological effects, saying that masking children is “child abuse," that the District would be discriminating against children and families who choose not to wear masks and that the decision to wear a mask is about freedom and choice. Some pointed out that people are not masked in many public spaces and private businesses. One parent threatened to sue each board member individually.

Dr. Paul Panzica, who is a pediatrician and internist providing primary care for all ages and whose office is in Mokena, called masking children “a pointless exercise.”

“The only thing that I can see this is really serving is some type of psychological, mind-control experiment that they’re perpetrating on our own children,” Panzica said.

Berk said she chose to vote "no" on the plan by stating: “As an elected official, I want to represent the community. Many parents in the community do want choice. I personally can’t sit up here and pretend that all summer my kid was masked or I didn’t take my kid on vacation, and sit here and vote to follow masking. I appreciate the time and work and effort that went into this plan, and the idea of putting the ability to move [to a voice of masking] once the mandate is lifted, but I can’t sit up here and vote to mask at this time.”

The full District opening plan is scheduled to be posted on the Summit Hill D161 website, but has not been posted as of press time.

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