Lake County Gazette

Lisa Katz has triplets – two seniors and a special needs student – at Stevenson High School in Lincolnshire.

One of her triplets has severe autism and as a result has been granted a medical exemption to masking.

However, Katz said the school system is keeping her son out indefinitely noting “exposure” rather than allowing him to continue to go to school without a mask.

“That's the reason he's out for 10 days, because he cannot wear a mask so that he's (being) penalized,” she told the Lake County Gazette.

Katz said her son has suffered mounting absences due to the punitive nature of the quarantine rules.

Many high schools across the region have adopted rules quarantining anyone who gets within three feet of someone who tests positive as a “close contact.” With those not wearing masks, that boundary extends to six feet, which could rightfully include the entire school population should her son walk down a crowded hallway.

Katz said the “close contact” measure appears to be arbitrary and is hurting her son’s education.

“He has now been out of school five times because he has been deemed a close contact with somebody else who tested positive,” Katz said. “Five times that he has missed out on instruction.”

Katz said her son does not do well without the interaction school provides.

“Zoom does not work for him. So basically, it's just him pacing at our house all day. There's no instruction. There is no schoolwork that he can do. He just misses out and there's no liability on the part of the state,” she said.  

She also noted that her son is limited in COVID testing due to being maskless as well which has resulted in even longer quarantine periods at home.

“Because he is not able to wear a mask, he was not even eligible to do the (COVID) test to stay,” she said. “So as it stands then, and as it still stands today, it is 10 days that he has to be out of school. If he has contact. It’s counted as an absence.”

She said his homework is piling up now.

“It's been over a month of schoolwork that he's missed and he's not permitted to come to school,” she said.

Katz said she respects the administrators, but questions the way they are currently handling the pandemic.

“I have a pretty good relationship with the administrators and they tell me that their hands are tied and that they can't do anything,” she said.

She said the Lake County Health Department is dictating the terms at the school. Katz said she contacted the Lake County Health Department who forwarded her to the Illinois State Board of Education.

“I had several names and contacts and you get the runaround,” she said. “You never get to actually speak to anybody that can make a difference, right? And here we're one of the last remaining states with these sort of restrictions.”

Katz said Gov. J.B. Pritzker is responsible for the situation all over the state, in Lake County and at Stevenson High School.

“This all stems from the state. It all stems from the state and trickles down to the counties,” she said. “The counties aren't making this just on their own. They have guidance from the state that they stick to.”

Katz said she has not lost hope that local government will come through.

She is looking forward to the day schools go mask-optional.

“We definitely support free faces,” she said.

Other parents of students with special needs have reported their voices are not being heard when it comes to continued mask mandates.