Geneva D-304 administration: Students who refuse masks won’t be allowed in classrooms

GENEVA – The Geneva District 304 School Board on Aug. 9 voted to approve the administration’s plan to require all students, teachers and staff to wear masks indoors regardless of vaccination status when school begins Aug. 18.

The vote was 6-0 with one absent. Board member Michael McCormick was absent.

“Safe and consistent in-person learning was the priority of Geneva 304 administration and board members,” board President Taylor Egan said.

“While we know the plan in place doesn’t return students to the normalcy of pre-pandemic days, we believe this is a step toward that goal. The layered mitigations will limit the quarantine numbers, protecting in-classroom instructional time for all of our students,” Egan said. “We know there are still obstacles ahead this year but believe this was the appropriate and necessary step at this time.”

An update on the district’s website states that masks are required to be worn indoors by all individuals in Geneva District 304 buildings regardless of vaccination status.

Masks will not be required for students participating in outdoor activities.

Also, according to an updated presentation Aug. 9, “Students who do not comply with the masking requirement will not be allowed to enter the classroom.”

The district will work with students “through a progressive process that begins with low-level interventions and moves toward more restrictive measures,” according to the presentation.

The board and administration said they support these measures because universal masking reduces the potential for quarantine due to close contact in school.

As in earlier meetings, some residents disagreed with the decision.

One resident, Matt Mason, said the district’s action “failed our family.”

Mason said he has four children and always supported public schools – until now.

“Fear cannot rule the day,” Mason said. “As for me and my house, we will choose life over fear, closeness with the community – not distance. And let this sink in – we are choosing God, not education. My prayer is that you will all do the same.”

Other parents in an earlier meeting had urged the board to adopt a universal mask policy. Among them was Christopher Benshoof, a math teacher at Northern Illinois University, who supported universal mask-wearing for the return to in-person learning.

“Consider the summer camp downstate with 85 COVID cases that were mostly unmasked and unvaccinated. That is not a result anyone should be comfortable with,” Benshoof had said.

“I have dedicated years of my life to defending the freedom of choice. But at times, we must make sacrifices of our individual liberty for the greater good,” Benshoof said. “We are the land of the free but we have speed limits. I would love to drive 100 miles an hour down the interstate but I can’t. Masking, like speed limits, works effectively as a mitigation.”