The Quarantining of Common Sense

Saga of Springfield-area high school the latest assault on rational thought and behavior

Monday, at North Mac High School, located in the town of Virden just south of Illinois’ state capital of Springfield, a group of students walked out of school.

They walked out because they are already fed up with Covid-related restrictions at the school.

A quick recap of events:

Six North Mac football players were forbidden to participate in the school’s Aug. 28 season opener due to quarantine procedures. A Covid exposure at the school forced the athletes into the Illinois Department of Public Health’s “Test To Stay” program. The program, launched this school year, is designed to keep students in the classroom after exposure to the virus.

The exposed students did as instructed and got tested. The results were negative. But the district rejected the tests, saying because they were taken at an off-site location and not at the school, the local health department (Macoupin County Board of Health) would not accept the results.

Here’s the kicker—the school claims it doesn’t have the resources to administer COVID-19 tests, which is why it opted out of the state’s SHIELD testing program, offered by Governor J.B. Pritzker at the start of the school year.

(Photo Credit: WICS-TV)

Tuesday morning, the district went on an ‘adaptive pause’ (that phrase has ominously returned) and switched to remote learning. Under the Disaster Proclamation Remote Learning section of the Illinois State Board of Eduction School Code, a district must provide remote learning during an ‘adaptive pause.’ On August 20, Governor Pritzker re-issued a statewide disaster proclamation for a 20th consecutive 30-day cycle.

In a Monday statement, North Mac Superintendent Jay Goble said the school had “9 positive tests and 118 students quarantined.” All 400 students at North Mac High are home this week, staring at screens and learning math and science through Microsoft Teams. All sports and extra-curricular activities are cancelled until further notice.

Dizzy yet? Go dunk your head in cold water and come back.

There are so many unanswered questions with this story and I’m not going to cover all of them in this article.

But I will publish a few other sections of the statement from Goble, who spoke about the Monday student walk out and explained why the district went on pause:

Via Fox Illinois:

I want to now turn my remarks to what happened at the high school today, and to briefly speak to you this evening regarding that unfortunate event. It is important for everyone to realize that while we understand the emotions and disappointment of students and parents when students are required to quarantine as a result of either students testing positive or being part of an outbreak exposure. We’re doing what we have been directed to do by the Illinois Department of Public Health. I know some of you don’t always agree with various rules and guidelines regarding this pandemic, and you don’t have to agree with them, but we do have to follow them. To violate these rules or to act in defiance of the Illinois Department of Public Health, not only makes our school district legally and financially vulnerable, but more importantly, it potentially places students’ health in harm’s way. I know some of you may disagree with this. I understand, and I respect your right to your opinions. But what I cannot support, and do not respect, is the disruptive behavior of a small number of parents, who are not willing to accept disappointing news, or the realities of a bad situation.

We don’t know for sure of the ‘disruptive behavior’ Goble is referring to. But a Tuesday court decision may prove to be disruptive to public health quarantining rules.

A judge in Clinton County, IL issued a temporary restraining order against Carlyle Community School District for quarantining a student alleged to have been in close contact with an infected student.

The judge, Don Sheafor, said in the ruling that the district, “is enjoined from excluding [the unidentified student] from the facilities for being an individual public health risk unless an order of quarantine issues against [the student] from the local health department as required by the Illinois State Board of Education.”

The lawyer, Thomas DeVore, acting on behalf of a parent, Ronald Peters, said in a Facebook post:

The court was clear that due process was being violated by the school district as an order of quarantine issued by the health department was necessary to suspend the children's right to an in-person educationThe judge said we have a dictatorship if due process is not afforded to people.

Back to Goble’s statement.

Most of his comments are typical, boiler plate justifications by schools when explaining why they must adhere to public health guidelines. The lawyers say this, the attorneys say that. We are obligated to abide. After the judge’s ruling in Clinton County, districts may now need to go to court in order to enforce quarantining rules. That’s if challenged by parents fed up with arbitrary public health guidelines.

(I reserve a scrap of sympathy for small districts such as North Mac. They do not have the financial resources that big unit districts do to staff the infrastructure needed to keep up with the litany of Covid-related public health directives. So when an outbreak happens, even in August of 2021, the default response is to just shut it all down.)

Here’s where the disappointment comes in Goble’s statement.

When referencing the student walk-out, his lone comment is ‘the unfortunate event.’ He refers to ‘emotion and disappointment’ over quarantine rules as the root cause of students leaving class.

Emotion plays a big part, yes. These are teenagers we’re talking about. But to say that’s all it is, that these young men and women are driven solely to acts of defiance by their feelings, is disingenuous and condescending.

What Goble is really saying to his students in a manipulative, passive-aggressive manner is this—know your place, kiddos. We know better than you. Do as you are told.

Or else.

That’s not leadership. Quite the opposite. He conveys superiority, demanding submission to sovereignty.

Because of the district’s action, enrolled students at North Mac are forced to take classes online indefinitely. But here’s where they have choice—reject Goble’s autocratic worldview. Embrace self-direction.

Whom they should seek out as a mentor is North Mac teacher Matthew Allen.

During the Monday walk-out, Hall, who teaches American Government at the school, approached a reporter live-streaming the event.

This is a portion of what Allen told WICS-20 reporter Jakob Emerson when asked about the walk-out:

We cannot put power into the hands of a few people. We have three branches of government. We have a legislative branch in Illinois that has pretty much given their power up to the executive authority. If that’s at the state level, that trickles down to the local levels.

When asked by Emerson if he agrees with the quarantine decision by the district, Allen said:

I do not agree with the superintendent. I do not agree with the school board and local health department. It’s mostly with our administrative staff and our local health department…they are taking their executive authority too far. We had all summer to get this prepared. The ISBE (Illinois School Board of Education) clearly stated as long as kids are masked and three feet apart, we should not be quarantining kids. If the masks work, governor, state and federal government, if masks work, why are we quarantining kids? And why are kids still getting positive tests if the masks are on all day long? None of it makes sense. And when things don’t make sense, we feel like we are not being told the truth. We have to start sticking up for ourselves and that’s what these kids are doing. There parents are tired of it, they are tired of it and frankly, I’m tired of it.

Bravo to Mr. Allen. His clear-eyed, thought-provoking comments poke through the foggy malaise caused by Covid Hysterians.

There’s one last portion of the interview I wanted to share. More from Allen:

I taught these kids about John Locke, Montesquieu, Rousseau…the framers of our country. Thomas Jefferson. We have natural human rights. The right to life, liberty and the pursuit of our happiness. We have the right to stand up and protest. If these kids are punished because they are exercising their first amendment rights? We have an injustice in this country, in this state. And it’s wrong.

What Allen says here serves as a valuable reminder of how important it is to glance back at history for perspective.

How the philosophers Allen mentions were proponents of classic republicanism; how informed citizenship and mixed governance are the signposts of a thriving society and how developing moral character should be held in the highest regard when evaluating the success or failure of our education system.

By admonishing students for pursing life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, for calling on law enforcement rather than allow for what clearly was a peaceful walk out, the signal from this administrator at North Mac High School is not an endorsement of informed citizenry but the repudiation of basic constitutional rights our country was founded on.

Rather than scold his constituents for a ‘bad situation,’ where is the praise for his students, laudation for their bravery and courage?

That’s missing in the statement.

Protection of one’s own ass, I suppose, is more top of mind.

But shit rolls downhill.

All of the continuous flow of fear-based messaging coming from Washington or Springfield or Chicago or wherever President Biden or the Dark Lord are speaking that day, spills over into regional and local pockets all over the country and state.

Why are 900 students in Springfield District 186 ordered to quarantine?

Because the Feds and monarchs like Pritzker want Covid Forever, believing Covid Zero attainable. They cast blame at the ‘unvaccinated’ or the latest ‘deadly contagious variant.’ What they don’t do is accept responsibility for their ruinously bungled policies. The Mask Zombies, loyal stooges, walk the dog in a mind-control haze, listening to Dr. Fauci through their ear buds and awaiting instructions on when to scoop up the poop.

Congratulations on your walk out, students of North Mac High School.

Somewhere in the cosmos, Thomas Jefferson is hoisting a wine glass in your honor.

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