OSWEGO – District 308 parents told the Oswego School Board that the time has come for the masks to come off.

More than 200 people turned out at Oswego East High School’s performing arts center on Feb. 10 to object to the continuing mask mandate. At least half the audience members were not wearing masks.

They pointed to other area school districts, including Yorkville District 115, which have made the face coverings optional.

At the start of the session, Superintendent John Sparlin told the audience that no action on the mask requirement would be taken by the board that evening.

A Sangamon County judge recently issued a temporary restraining order blocking Gov. JB Pritzker’s mask mandate for all Illinois schools, with some school districts lifting the requirement while others are still enforcing the mandate. Pritzker is seeking an expedited appeal of the ruling.

Sparlin said the temporary restraining order does not prevent the district from requiring masks to be worn, “based on the metrics.”

“That does not mean there will be no decision in the near future,” Sparlin said.

As the COVID-19 positivity rate declines, “the district has plans in place for layers of mitigation to be peeled away.” Sparlin said.

The meeting was then opened up to public comment, during which the parents and students in the audience called on school board members to lift the requirement immediately.

“We elected you to do a job,” one woman told the board. “Take a vote tonight. Our children are literally begging you.”

“I did not sign over my rights to my child,” parent Joanne Johnson said. “I have all responsibility for her and medical decisions related to her.”

Johnson asked the board to lift the masking requirement immediately.

“You are making a horrible mistake,” Johnson said. “You’re hurting our children.”

After the meeting had been underway for about an hour, Jim Hugunin of Oswego addressed the board, charging that they had violated their oaths of office.

Hugunin continued to speak after his three minutes were up and would not yield the floor, despite a request from the board for him to stop. Some audience members called on him to stop speaking.

At that point, the school board suspended the meeting for 20 minutes and the members left the stage.

Students who addressed the board described the masks as restricting their breathing, uncomfortable and unnecessary.

After each of the student statements in favor of ending the mask requirement was read there was loud applause from audience members as they held aloft signs reading “Free the Smiles,” “Mask Choice,” and other phrases in opposition to the mandate.

As the board moved on to other business and audience members started to leave, others shouted to the board to take a vote on the mask issue, chanting “Vote! Vote! Vote!, before finally exiting.

At the start of the meeting three uniformed Oswego police officers took up positions in conspicuous locations near the theater stage, but never intervened.