Students deserve the right to decide if they wear a mask or not. I have yet to meet a kid who is vaccinated because they genuinely wanted to be. Most are vaccinated because they thought that they wouldn’t have to wear a mask at school or because their parents made them. St. Bede, Mendota High School, and others have near the same disciplinary action when having a mask down and getting caught with a vape. How does this make sense?
     This started as a conversation with friends and family about a Circuit Court Judge recently issuing a temporary restraining order allowing students the choice to wear a mask. Hopefully this turns into a positive force to give students a voice and the courage to stand up to their school and these restrictions. 
     All staff and a majority of students are tested weekly at public schools. They’re on top of contact tracing. Desks are separate, lunch is separate. Stairwells are one direction. With all this students are still required to hide their face behind masks. Most kids don’t wear masks in public, or when gathering outside of school. Yet we go back to school the next day for 7 hours to get yelled at all day to pull our masks up.

     Schools care more about petty dress code violations such as wearing a hat or sunglasses because it conceals your identity, but wearing a  mask that covers three fourths of the face is mandated.

     It is time for all Illinois schools to listen to the students and citizens of the community that they serve and make masks optional. These schools need to stop caring about their reputations and donors more than their students’ wellbeing, and stop blindly follow the words of a hypocritical governor.