PLAINFIELD, IL — Police confirmed they arrested a Plainfield-area man on a trespassing charge after officials say he refused to leave a District 202 Board of Education meeting Monday night.
Timothy Conrad, a Joliet resident who has a Plainfield mailing address, was charged with criminal trespassing, a local ordinance violation, said Plainfield Police Chief John Konopek. Police were called to assist when Conrad would not exit the Board meeting after officials directed him to leave, Konopek said.
Board President Kevin Kirberg directed that Conrad leave after first asking him three times to put a mask on, said Tom Hernandez, District 202’s director of community relations
At the beginning of the meeting, the Board approved a resolution confirming that everyone inside a school building must wear a mask, Hernandez said. District policy states that anyone failing to do so will be given several opportunities to comply, and if they refuse, will be directed to leave the building. The District may request law enforcement assistance if necessary.
“That is exactly what happened,” Hernandez said.
Conrad sent a lengthy statement to Patch saying he is “medically unable to tolerate a face covering” due to post-traumatic stress disorder and therefore was “physically unable to comply.”
He said in the statement that he feels wearing a mask “causes me more actual harm than I would to anyone else if I didn’t wear a mask” and that he has “zero reason to believe” he has ever had COVID-19.
Conrad said his refusal to wear a mask has also cost him his job, that he was denied entry to a Joliet Township High School District meeting last week and was “threatened with arrest” while trying to renew his registration at a Secretary of State facility.
He says his arrest on Monday is “crossing from just discrimination to public persecution.”
Conrad’s full statement can be found below.
The District “heavily publicized” the Board meeting’s mask mandate in its emails to families and social media posts, so the requirement “was not a surprise,” Hernandez said.
“He never presented anything about a health condition, and of course could have watched the meeting online if he so chose,” Hernandez said.
District 202 declines to comment on specific disciplinary matters, Hernandez said, but is required to enforce the state of Illinois’ school mask mandate to minimize the risk of COVID-19 transmission.
“Refusal by a student or adult to wear a mask indoors poses a potential threat to the safety of other students and staff as we return to full in-person instruction,” Hernandez said. “Failure to comply is subject to school disciplinary or legal action.”
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