Parents are taking issue with saliva testing being mandated for in-person learning at Elmhurst School District 205.
Parents Paul and Dana Van Sleet have high school students who attend school in the district.
"A lot of the parents are frustrated that our students should be having to give saliva and DNA samples for this COVID-19 mitigation," Paul Van Sleet said in an interview with North Cook News.
Paul Van Sleet said a lot of districts and communities are using saliva testing, but it seems somewhat excessive and possibly self-serving to a small group.
"Another thing that pushes it beyond just the fact of in-person learning is that the sports," Paul Van Sleet said. "The kids, they can stay remote but can't participate in sports if they're not subjecting themselves to the saliva testing."
Paul Van Sleet said he can't see a benefit to screening the student population.
"I don't know where the unions and school boards end and where responsibilities begin of that education system and it just seems that the students aren't recognized as the main objective," Paul Van Sleet said. "The wellbeing and education (of students) seem to come second to unions."
Paul Van Sleet said it seems like students should be back in schools with masks and protections at this time.
"I don't know that additional saliva testing will safeguard the teacher populations or the students -- especially since there are vaccination options for the teachers and staff," Paul Van Sleet said. "I don't know that any more measures are necessary. I think that they should be back with ever-relaxed regulations as we continue to drop in cases and rates."
Dana Van Sleet agrees with her husband.
"I feel like the district on one hand is saying, 'oh you know, we're going to follow these guidelines,' but then they're taking something so basic from their website and going against that," Dana Van Sleet said in an interview with North Cook News. "So, to me...there seems to be something more to that."
Dana Van Sleet said she has contacted board members and the superintendent about her concerns, but never heard back from them. She said she felt the school district was hiding behind "it's a pandemic" in why it is doing something unlawful and unethical.
"Prior to that deal being made, I emailed the board members and said I thought this was a bad idea and we shouldn't be doing this," Dana Van Sleet said. "The money could be better spent elsewhere."
The cost of the program is more than $600,000. Dana Van Sleet said she's concerned about that.
"Do we really need this?" Dana Van Sleet said. "We already have multiple mitigations in our district. Our kids are high school students and are only going part days. They're done early so they don't eat lunch there, they're wearing masks, they're three feet apart. It's not like we're pulling back and then adding the testing. It's like, on top of all that at a time when the numbers are going down and we're not high risk. They're mandating the students to be in-person to do this."
Dana Van Sleet said students who chose to do remote learning shouldn't be forced to do saliva testing to participate in sports.
"If they're so concerned to do mandatory testing, why is the vaccine not mandatory for staff?" Dana Van Sleet said."Why are they mandating screening and not vaccination?"
Several school districts across Illinois have adopted the screening program, including New Trier, Wheaton D200, Stevenson D215, CCSD89, Glenbrook D225, Glenbard School District 87 and Glen Ellyn District 41.
SafeGuard Screening LLC runs the program through many of the schools. During a January school board meeting, Brian Crowley and Franczek PC in Chicago were present to negotiate, which Stephanie Clark questioned.
“Why isn't he as legal cousel advising the board to get an expert medical opinion before spending millions,” Clark said, according to Chicago City Wire in January. “No one seems to have any data that demonstrates if these screeners are effective. How many false positives? How many positives were missed? If this can be done in LaGrange school science lab, can't it be replicated by other schools teaming up together?”
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