SPRINGFIELD – Parents that are frustrated with what their kids are being forced to learn and do while in school are quickly being targeted by federal law enforcement agencies and Illinois state legislators. These are the same people that were forced for a whole school year to work with and teach their children at home day in and day out during the state-demanded COVID lockdowns.
Evidently, that time of forced seclusion of parents with their children may have had an effect that lawmakers and policymakers did not anticipate: parents bonded with their offspring and now want to protect them from what they perceive as attacks on their children's welfare and safety.
The federal government's Department of Justice responded to an appeal from the National School Boards Association (NSBA) to protect school board members from threats over mask mandates and critical race theory.
The department responded by saying it would create a task force to determine how federal enforcement tools could be used to prosecute criminal conduct toward teachers and school board members. They will also be assisting state and local authorities in investigating those "threats."
Parents have begun appealing to school boards, administrators and teachers nationwide, upset about radical curriculum, bathroom policies and COVID mask mandates for their children. Many testify they have seen their children suffer psychological trauma, physical and medical reactions to policies determined by governors, mayors and school boards.
Illinois lawmakers pursue effort to ban protests to more than 300 feet from school property
In Illinois, eight state lawmakers have signed onto legislation that would restrict anyone from holding signs, protesting or handing out flyers within 300 feet of schools during class hours.
HB 4151, sponsored by west suburban State Rep. Terra Costa Howard (D-Lombard), would it a Class A misdemeanor to
(1) knowingly display signs, engage in oral protest, education, or passing leaflets or handbills within 300 feet of school premises, from one hour prior to the start of the school day until one hour after the school day ends; or
(2) knowingly approach within 8 feet an individual that is within 300 feet of school premises for purposes of displaying signs, engaging in oral protest, education, or passing leaflets or handbills, from one hour prior to the start of the school day until one hour after the school day ends.
So, Illinois parents and taxpayers would be restricted from expressing their views orally, in writing or any other way near a taxpayer-funded school or face up to 364 days in jail and/or a fine of up to $2,500.
The eight state representatives that want HB 4151 to become law are all Democrats: Terra Costa Howard (Lombard), Daniel Didech (Buffalo Grove) , Ann Williams (Chicago), Bob Morgan (Highwood), Margaret Croke (Chicago), Sam Yingling (Round Lake Beach), Kathleen Willis (North Lake Beach) and Anne Stava-Murray (Downers Grove).
