For me, it started with a comment on a nextdoor post. This time the discussion was not about whether that noise was gunshots or fireworks, but about the previous night’s Riverside Local Schools board meeting in my relatively unknown town of Painesville, Ohio. My daughter had just started fourth grade that week, returning to in-person learning after spending an entire year in remote classes. Our school board voted to adhere to a “mask-optional” policy for the 2021-22 school year, and my friendly neighbors on the nexdoor app had an abundance of praise to heap upon them for this decision. Since I happen to believe in science and the expert opinions of medical professionals, my fingers were already typing a reply on this post before I had the chance to wonder if I was too tired and cranky to start engaging with “freedom fighters” in my neighborhood. My comment garnered the expected numbers of angry face reactions, however, it also introduced me to a support network of like-minded parents in my school district that I honestly assumed would never exist here again. From there, we began to organize.
We convened in a Facebook group to begin sharing ideas and formulate e-mails to our school board and Superintendent. I specifically inquired about the e-mail we received from our district the week before school started, highlighting the fact that the Lake County General Health District had not issued masking orders as they did last year. (We know they no longer have the authority to issue such orders since the passage of Senate Bill 22.) The school board President did not bother to respond to my e-mail, and instead passed the buck to the Superintendent, who still could not answer most of my questions during our half hour phone conversation the following day. The reality here is that there is an abundance of questions regarding the board’s decisions on masking that cannot be answered truthfully because their “non-partisan” decisions are, in fact, based on politics. Although the school board President would have us believe the decision to remain mask-optional is in no way political, we have the receipts of her lesser publicized social media comments, vowing to continue her fight to “keep masks OFF our children”, while in the same breath, noting that she is up for re-election this November. I’m sure that was just a coincidence.
Independent research began to expose a significant amount of corruption within our board of education — members whom, I will emphasize again, were elected to a non-partisan position. Yet here were screen shots of posts from a local anti-mask Township Trustee, about certain board members requesting that he round up his troops to show up en masse at the upcoming board meeting. And here is proof in print of one of our board members themselves, the Executive Director of a local right wing extremist group, Free Ohio Now, taking a little vacation to Washington D.C. on January 6th. It is worth reflecting for a moment, on the fact that this board member, whose organization proudly calls this a “scamdemic”, is voting on policies that determine how safe our children will be in the classroom, with disease running rampant. (Not safe at all.) The same member also really wants everyone to know that his top duty as a school board member is upholding the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence. (It’s not.) Ohio Revised Code dictates the duties of school board members, and those duties are explicitly and intentionally apolitical. If you’re feeling like giving your toilet a hug, feel free to listen to our school board member/insurrectionist here, around the 1:50:30 mark.
Our fight with the board is ongoing. There are 10 school districts in our county. Riverside Local Schools is one of only two districts that have not instituted a temporary masking policy. We also have the highest number of Covid cases. (Did you see that one coming?) Our kids, especially in elementary grades, are at serious risk, and the majority of staff and parents support masking as a mitigation measure to ensure their safety and ability to remain in the classroom. Three out of our five board members have chosen to remain willfully negligent to further their political agenda, and will not be swayed by sick children or facts. It is appalling that, thanks to Ohio’s Republican lawmakers, the institution of health policies in our schools is resting solely on the shoulders of school board members, most of whom have absolutely no medical credentials. However, we should at the very least be able to trust that those members will make rational decisions based on the guidance of agencies and professionals who do have those credentials. If that is not happening, it is up to us to fight back.