West Cook News

The owner of a Western Springs preschool is requiring 2- to 5-year-olds attending to wear masks for the remainder of May, as well as their parents. 

Mary Rizzardini made the announcement in a letter emailed Friday, May 6.

"Dear Grand Avenue families,

Starting Monday, May 9, I am requiring masks for ALL students, staff and parents entering the building until further notice. I now have three staff, plus myself out with COVID-19. I have three morning classrooms closed tomorrow through Wednesday," Rizzardini said in the letter to parents.

"Almost every week I am reporting COVID. In order to keep from having to close the entire center, I am choosing to be proactive because masking does seem to help the spread of germs, COVID or otherwise. We have a few weeks of preschool left, involving mostly unvaccinated children and I know the pre-K families would like to see their children graduate. We have a Grand Finale wrap up soon and then of course summer."

"To be clear, this is not required by CDC, CCPH or DCFS. This is MY call, for all ages, in an attempt to protect the staff and the children if I can, so we can finish out the school year without interruption. So please cooperate and let's get through this together as best as we can." 

On March 1, Rizzardini instituted a rule that only "parents who are vaccinated and boosted can come inside the preschool classrooms for 10 minutes to visit or pick up their children at the end of the day."

Grand Avenue Preschool is private and operates out of the old Western Springs School District 101 Grand Avenue School building.

Rizzardini also has a location in Burr Ridge.

Judge Raylene Grischow's judgment on Feb. 4 ruled Gov. J.B. Pritzker's state of emergency, which included mandatory masking and immunization, "null and invalid" due to the unconstitutional nature of the governor’s orders.

Pritzker and his agencies, according to Grischow, imposed requirements on students without their consent, The Center Square reported.

The decision to refuse the mask mandate was maintained by the Fourth District Appellate Court.

Despite overwhelming evidence that wearing a mask does not reduce transmission rates and, in some situations, may increase them, and despite the rule of law, a minority of Americans, including Rizzardini, have persisted to wear masks and, when in positions of authority, have forced others to wear masks. 

Masking appears to be unsuccessful unless people wearing masks employ mini-respirators such as correctly fitted N95 and KN95 masks.

"Does that Face Mask Really Protect You?" a 2010 research article by Dr. Larry E. Bowen of the Southern Research Institute in Birmingham, Alabama, found that wearing surgical, bandana and dust masks offer "very little protection" and concluded that "wearing these face masks may produce a false sense of protection” after various types of masks were placed on a mannequin to study their effectiveness.

Even in 2010 when the study was released, wearing a mask was considered unseemly.

Similarly, forced vaccination is unpopular with Americans.

According to Pew Research, the majority of Americans oppose compulsory immunization for everyday use of public facilities, such as what Rizzardini is requiring for parents.

Eighty-eight percent of those asked said, "There’s too much pressure on Americans to get a COVID-19 vaccine."

Another 81% agreed with the assertions "We don’t really know yet if there are serious health risks from COVID-19 vaccines" and "Public health officials are not telling us everything they know about COVID-19 vaccines."

According to an Axios/Ipsos poll, 20% of Americans say they will never be vaccinated.