Want to Come Inside? Show Us Your Vaccination Papers First
Illinois school districts going down dangerous road with pay-to-play proof-of-vaccine attendance requirement
Most parents have found themselves in the following situation with their child.
Up late, helping him or her study for an exam. The answer to that math or science problem remains out of reach.
In exhausted desperation, said parent thinks this thought:
We could just Google it and get this over with and I can get to bed
They almost do it but they don’t. Because there’s principle involved. And a life lesson to teach—process matters. How one gets to an answer is just as important as the result itself.
Just when we seem to be gaining traction in the fight against Covid and #ReturnToPlay, there’s another fly in the ointment. In this case, the desired end result is a noble one. But the process to get there sets a dangerous precedent.
Wednesday, Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker held a press conference to give the folks an update, mostly about the vaccine rollout.
Of course, old habits die hard with the governor. Any opportunity to dispense fear, he seizes it.
Pritzker’s gonna Pritzker, right?
The reasoned and rational have tuned out at this point and are either vaccinated, or will be soon, living their lives and planning for an enjoyable, normalized spring and summer.
But there is a troublesome development this week in the sphere of spectators and outdoor events.
A high school in Maroa, IL, Maroa-Forsyth High School, sent out the below tweet Tuesday, an item pulled from the school’s official ‘Outdoor Spring Sports Guidelines’:
The ‘proof of full COVID vaccination’ condition to entrance stated in the tweet is not something Maroa-Forsyth school officials pulled out of thin air.
They are implementing a guideline from the Illinois Department of Public Health’s ‘Bridge to Phase 5’ plan.
The guideline is written as such:
In an update to current Phase 4 mitigations, individuals with proof of vaccination – defined as 14 days after receiving final vaccine dose – or a negative COVID-19 test (PCR) 1-3 prior to an event do not count against capacity limits.
Here is the link to full document.
What the provision in the ‘Bridge to Phase 5’ plan is saying is this—for fans who want to attend an outdoor event, if they can present a paper copy of a proof of vaccination form, they could be allowed into the game and not count toward the 20 percent spectator capacity limit.
Maroa-Forsyth, in an effort at transparency, publicly announced they would enforce the provision. Others schools have been less communicative and unclear about game day event operations, leaving fans to wonder what is allowable and what is not.
Good for Maroa-Forsyth for a proper use of Twitter, that as a 2021 digital bulletin board.
But once folks read and absorbed what they intended to do—ask people for proof of vaccination before entry—a good old fashioned Twitter storm erupted.
This went on and on in the timeline of @mfhstrojanathletics, the Twitter account of the Maroa-Forsyth athletic department.
Another tweet called out reporters for not scrutinizing the vaccinated proof-for-entry provision when first announced a week ago.
Ms. Woodhouse is correct. I read the requirement, just never thought a public school would actually do it.
They have.
And it’s dangerous.
Because we cannot live in a world where schools (schools!) legitimize unethical and amoral public health policies, ones that infringe on personal privacy. It sets a troublesome precedent where its OK if the ends justify the means.
Remember…we’re talking about an outdoor football game. A high school football game!
My objection is not advocacy of the growing dogma in this country surrounding the Covid vaccine. I will take the vaccine when my name is called by the Lake County Health Department. Based on people I know who have taken it and data reports since the rollout, I trust its effectiveness and if my dosing means that I can spend a summer afternoon Wrigley Field or an evening at Ravinia with family and friends, I’m all in.
If a private landlord asks for proof of inoculation as a condition to entry (green check mark please!), I can choose not to go. There are other entertainment options that are less cumbersome.
But when a high school administrator tells me I need paper proof of that green check mark to get into a football game to see my kid play, or cheer or dance?
No way.
And to Mr. or Ms. Administrator…you know what Pritzker is doing, don’t you? He’s using you, your school and your teenaged athletes, the utter scarcity of high school athletics (there is no option b or c for parents), to sell his vaccines.
You know that don’t you?
(Photo Credit: Chicago Sun-Times)
Regardless of how you feel about the legitimacy of the vaccine, you know you are being played by a greedy politician, right?
Do you?
I guess you either care or you don’t.
I called Maroa-Forsyth high school Thursday. I wanted to ask the athletic director, principal or superintendent of Community District 2 a few questions about the vaccine pay-to-play provision.
I received an email response from Brice Stewart, the school’s principal:
Good afternoon. We received your message but our schedule does not allow us to speak with you today. We, like other school districts, are allowing fully vaccinated individuals to attend events at Maroa-Forsyth without having a ticket. This is in accordance with IDPH guidelines for Phase 4 that were released last week. You can find that information at the link below. We are excited for our students and community as this provides the opportunity for more people to safely attend our events.
As soon as I read ‘allowing fully vaccinated individuals to attend events’ I cringed.
I have nothing against Stewart or anyone at CUD2. The community showed strength and leadership throughout the #HearOurVoiceIllinois campaign.
And they are in a tough spot here, having to shed the familiar skin of high school administrator, jobs that require a specific skill set they are well-trained to execute, to now, performing a job they do not have nearly as much experience in—Pritzker’s public health enforcer.
We can all embrace the spirit in which they are going about their plan—having more people attend sporting events. Of course the spectator limit should be more than 20 percent. But if 20 percent is what public health recommends, then we must abide.
As Stewart wrote, “We are excited for our students and community as this provides the opportunity for more people to safely attend our events.”
Who can argue with more people attending community events like a high school football game?
But the method with which Maroa-Forsyth is going about it is like celebrating with your child the high score on their trigonometry exam after you endorsed the “just Google it” problem-solving plan.
That’s OK, dear, the ‘A’ is all we care about in our household. Results first, baby!
We’ll just forget how we those results and cut the cake.
The people in Maroa-Forsyth (and other districts, M-F is not the only one touting the vaccination proof requirement) will vote with their wallet Friday night, so to speak. They will decide if a proof-of-vaccination sheet of paper is a sanctionable barrier-to-entry or not.
To the assentors, I ask this—what is the boundary? Where is the line between permissible and non-permissible? What will you accept?
A friendly warning…just be careful.
Because sometimes, when folks justify their actions as for the ‘health’ and ‘safety’ of others, what they are really doing is virtue signaling.
Oppression disguised as righteousness.
Parents and fans of Maroa-Forsyth High School and other communities will either attend the games Friday night or they won’t.
Those who do, understand the transactional nature of the experience.
How that transaction—vaccine-for-entrance—comes at a cost.
Just what are you willing to exchange for your personal freedoms?
Odds are, the more you give, the more they’ll take.