My name is Lesley Ongyaco, and I am a member of the District 219 Community, and an alum of Niles West High School. I started this petition to allow students who do not feel heard in their fear of safety in schools given the potential transition from a mask mandate to a mask recommendation a sense of community support. This is to bring your attention to the amount of students who wish to expand their options for education in a time where they feel that the granting of options for individuals who wish to forgo the mask mandate have limited theirs, as well as the community support behind these individuals.

Given District 219's plan to lift the mask mandate and make mask-wearing optional at Niles West and Niles North high schools, there is some concern regarding students that are attending school in-person and coming home to immunocompromised family members, potentially putting those folks in danger. As there is a mask mandate still in place for the school buses, I am simply a community member expressing confusion between the difference in safety precautions on the bus and in the classroom, as distancing procedures and the nature of enforcing such rules seem about the same for both.

This being said, information regarding the vaccination rate across the district are not up to par with general public health standards, and this is not necessarily a request to mandate vaccines, nor mandate masks in the schools.

All students, mask or not, have the right to an education. As there will be an option to forgo the mask-wearing inside school buildings, I ask that the schools also provide an option for students who are worried about the transition between mask mandate and mask recommendation to attend school virtually, so as to foster a safe environment for the community as a whole.