West Cook News

Parents are pushing back against the cancellation of extracurricular activities at Oak Park and River Forest High School (OPRF) instituted at the behest of Village of Oak Park Department of Public Health Director Theresa D. Chapple-McGruder.

On Saturday, Chapple-McGruder addressed a crowd of parents gathered at the school to protest her decision.

During a video posted on Twitter by Steven Graves, when parents chanted “let them play,” Chapple-McGruder snapped at the crowd.

Oak Park Public Health Director Theresa Chapple-McGruder (left) and Oak Park and River Forest High School Superintendent Greg Johnson (right).

“The way that you get to play is to let me finish,” she said.


Chapple-McGruder says she might rescind her ban on OPRF students playing sports and participating in extracurricular activities, but only if they abide by new terms she has outlined.

School Superintendent Greg Johnson outlined Chapple-McGruder's terms in a letter to students and parents, released late Sunday.

Chapple-McGruder said she believes COVID-19 spread to 17 OPRF students, in part, because the masks students are currently wearing are inadequate. They must be "high-quality," the letter reports she said. Village of Oak Park taxpayers will provide each OPRF student with a KN95-style mask they must wear daily, per the order.

"Students should save and reuse these masks," Chapple-McGruder said.

“We are hopeful we can reinstate athletics, activities, and performances on Tuesday, Dec. 7,” the school district noted in an email to parents on Sunday.

Parents rallied over the weekend after OPRF Superintendent Greg Johnson abruptly canceled school sports and other extra-curricular activities through winter break after a rash of COVID-19 cases at the school.

The cancellation was at the demand of Chapple-McGruder, who was given the power to close individual schools, a report by the Wednesday Journal said. OPRF serves around 3,400 high school students.

A change.org petition was signed by more than 1,900 people by press time. It calls for the school board to stay the cancellation of extracurricular activities.

“Neither Johnson, nor Village of Oak Park Health Director Theresa Chapple-McGruder, have provided any evidence supporting the assertion that cancelling extracurriculars will make the OPRF community materially safer,” the petition reads.  

Some parents have expressed concern over their childrens’ scholarship opportunities should sports be canceled, according to CBS Chicago.

At immediate jeopardy are the boys basketball game versus Niles North and the girls basketball game versus Glenbard West, both scheduled for Dec. 7.

The school's athletic calendar shows a packed few weeks for its basketball, wrestling, swimming, diving and drill teams, all as of now canceled.

A Center for Biosecurity Disease paper, ‘Mitigation Measures in the Control of Pandemic Influenza,’ said “there are.. no certain indications that (prohibition of social gatherings) have had any definitive effect on the severity or duration of an epidemic.” The paper also said canceling public events was “inadvisable.”

Read the full text of Johnson's Dec. 5 letter below: 

Dec. 5, 2021 

Dear OPRFHS Families and Students, 

Thank you for your continued understanding as we have worked toward resuming extracurriculars as quickly as possible. We are hopeful that we can reinstate athletics, activities, and performances on Tuesday, Dec. 7. We will not be able to make that decision until tomorrow evening, however. We will send you a communication with that decision by no later than 7:00 p.m. tomorrow. 

As public health director Dr. Theresa Chapple-McGruder and I shared in our communication yesterday, we need everyone in our school to follow the three specific mitigations below. We need to see a high level of compliance on Monday before we can determine whether we can safely resume activities on Tuesday. Please read the following information carefully. 

1. Every person in the building must wear a high-quality mask. 

Dr. Chapple-McGruder has provided the district with masks to distribute to all students and employees. 

1. Although we originally planned on N95 masks, the health department is supplying KN95s, which do not require special fitting. 

2. The masks will be available upon entrance to the school Monday morning. 

3. Students should save and reuse these masks. 

4. Surgical masks are also acceptable. 

2. As many students as possible need to participate in voluntary saliva testing. In collaboration with our Physical Education teachers, we are going to conduct saliva testing during all PE classes on Monday. I am so grateful to our PE teachers for demonstrating in action their compassion for our students and their commitment to students’ wellness by getting them back to doing the things they love. 

I also want to give a huge shout out to the community volunteers who have agreed to come into the school throughout this next week to collect saliva samples and help make this mitigation possible. We couldn’t do this without you.

One last note: We need students to respect each other’s privacy. It is not ok to pressure fellow students to reveal their vaccination status. 

● All PE classes will meet in the Auditorium and Little Theatre on Monday, Dec. 5, as follows: 

Current PE location On Monday, go to...

1 East Gym Little Theatre 2 East Gym Little Theatre Fieldhouse and all other PE locations Auditorium

● We need every student who has been opted in for testing to get tested tomorrow. ● Students should not eat or drink anything for an hour before testing. 

● For student athletes who are in season, you will be testing after school. Your coach will be in touch with your testing schedule. 

● If your student is not opted in yet, please click here for instructions on how to complete the consent form in Skyward. If you aren’t sure whether your child is opted in, you can follow these instructions to check. 

3. Students need to be more spread out during lunch. 

In order to increase the distancing during lunch, here are the procedures we will follow: ● For the next two weeks only, we are opening off-campus lunch to all students in all grades. Students who wish to leave for lunch should exit through the usual MCC door (Door 9), at the far end of the North Cafeteria. Students, please be considerate of our OPRF neighbors and be conscious of cleaning up after yourselves. 

● In the building, students may eat lunch only in the following spaces: 

○ North Cafeteria 

○ 1 West Gym 

○ Fieldhouse 

● Students may no longer eat lunch in the balcony area or outside the auditorium. This will be a permanent change. 

● We are creating a separate eating space in the 1 East Gym where vaccinated students identified as close contacts must eat if they choose not to go off campus for lunch. We will be sending a separate communication with more details to these families.

One final note: The Board of Education is holding a special meeting on Tuesday, Dec. 7, at 7:30 p.m. to discuss our COVID mitigations. The public is invited to attend online; the link to view the meeting will be available by clicking here to go to our BoardDocs page. 

Our number one goal is to keep school open. We have seven more days of instruction before final exams. I am asking for every single Huskie student and parent in our school to do what it takes to keep our students in school, our athletes playing, and our musicians performing in Prisms. I know that with your cooperation and support we can make this possible. 

Sincerely, 

Greg Johnson, Ph.D. 

Superintendent