Dupage Policy Journal

Parents at Community Unit School District 99 in Downers Grove have been mounting a protest over the week since a downstate judge invalidated Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s mask mandate in schools.

One of those leading the charge in D99 is parent Terry Newsome who said 100 kids in Downers Grove South joined the protest Wednesday.

He has been the most vocal leader of a group of parents concerned about the direction of the school.

Newsome’s son Anthony has been a leader in the civil disobedience movement against masks at the school.

“I'm very proud of my son to be one of the first DGS students willing to stand up against (Superintendent) Hank Thiele’s arrogant decision to continue to force our children to wear masks after a judge ruled Friday that Pritzker's mandate is illegal,” Newsome told DuPage Policy Journal.

Anthony has been isolated like many other students across the state who refuse to wear masks.

Newsome said his son was put in a glass room as an example where the rest of the student body could see him.

He said he is afraid Anthony is suffering due to his vocal opposition to school leadership.

Only two of the children at D99 are affected by the ruling handed down by Sangamon County Judge Raylene Grischow.

Despite the narrow ruling, some legal analysts for other districts have said administration, faculty and staff who enforce mask and other protocols are likely breaking the law by violating students' constitutional rights and they may be held accountable.

“If it's illegal for two children to be forced to wear a mask, it should be illegal for all children,” Newsome said.

Grischow’s 30-page ruling said Pritzker’s emergency school guidelines on masks and tests through The Illinois Department of Public Health were "null and void.”

She said the governor and his agencies were imposing rules on students without their consent.

“Statutory rights have attempted to be bypassed through the issuance of Executive Orders and Emergency Rules … This type of evil is exactly what the law was intended to constrain," she wrote.

Despite the ruling, Thiele and D99 school board members continue to push masks on students.

Newsome said the continued push-back by D99 administration has made him more determined to get results.

“(Masking) should be illegal for all children,” he said. “It's no different than the Equal Rights Act, a civil rights act of the 1960s between African-American children and the white children and forcing them to have equality for all.”

Newsome and Anthony held a meeting on Feb. 10  with Turning Point USA members. A local chapter of that group who wanted to hold meetings at the school was turned down by Lyons Township High School whose administration was then accused of anti-conservative bias. 

Newsome and others have been printing out a copy of the letter below for parents to deliver to the school noting the mask mandate is illegal and children should not be subjected to it. 

Newsome said it can be used by any parent who chooses to send their child to school without a mask. 

In a November school board meeting, Newsome addressed the board to have books he feels are pronographic removed from the libraries at Downers Grove South and Downers Grove North.

After loud protests at that meeting, Superintendent Hank Thiele instituted a rule limiting the size of audiences at school board meetings and also limited speakers; a move  Newsome said was made to curb his influence and that of other parents.

“I previously told Thiele in an email that I'm going after his job,” Newsome said. “We need to win enough board seats to get him fired.”

After the meeting Thiele was investigated for an Open Meetings Act violation filed by Newsome and reportedly – while not officially cited – had to make concessions.