Mom Suing School District For Forcing Kindergartner Into Glass Enclosure?
Iowa mother Kimberly Reicks has filed a lawsuit against her daughters district, alleging they forced her into a plexiglass enclosure.
Mask mandates in public schools have been a leading catalyst in the ostensible war on education. Not everyone agrees with masking up, but many opposed to them have made it their mission to vehemently fight and oppose schools that required them to be worn during the last two years of the COVID-19 pandemic. One such mother who has fought long and hard against these measures is Kimberly Reicks, a mother of a 5-year-old. Reicks claims that her kindergartner was reprimanded for refusing to wear her mask in school, as she alleges that her daughter was forced inside a plexiglass cage as punishment.
According to information reported by The Daily Caller, Iowa mother Kimberly Reicks has filed a lawsuit against the Ankeny Community school district. She claims that the school retaliated against the mother for her right to freedom of speech and reprimanded the kindergartners for not wearing her mask in school. In the suit, the mother claims that school administrators forced the kindergartners into a “plexiglass enclosure” for retribution. Now, Reicks is seeking payment for damages and court fees in the case.
According to details in the lawsuit, Kimberly Reicks had long been an Iowa state advocate for unmasking schoolchildren. This position even landed her a spot next to the state’s Governor, Kim Reynolds, during her signing of House Bill 847, which prohibited school districts from requiring students to wear a mask, after the incidents in the suit occurred. Making her claims appear worse, Reicks also states that the school was aware that the 5-year-old’s doctor had recommended her to not wear a mask all day long, citing that it caused staph infections around her mouth.
The situation appeared to have escalated on a morning after a heated school board meeting in which Kimberly Reicks spoke to board members about her disapproval of the mask mandates. The mother said that her daughter was sent to the principal’s office, and then returned to her classroom and placed inside a plexiglass enclosure, isolated from her peers. What’s more, she claims that she asked school officials to photograph the desk, and was told she was not allowed to.
Now that the mother has filed her suit, the district has also filed their affidavit in response with the court, which paints a different picture of how the events went down according to Kimberly Reicks claims. According to reports from The Iowa Capital Dispatch, the district’s lawyer states that the young kindergartners showed up to school the day after the heated board meeting refusing to wear her mask. The response claims that the 5-year-old said “My mom will be mad at me if I wear my mask,” and later on, “It’s my body, my choice.”
In response, the district alleges that they allowed the girl to remain maskless, but because of policy, they placed her at a socially distanced desk that contained plexiglass for protection against the virus. However, they claim that Kimberly Reicks’ account of the “cage” is an over-exaggeration. The claim was that the desk was fitted with a single panel, clear plexiglass shield. To call it an enclosure, they allege, is a complete falsity, as it has no backs, sides, or tops.
Skeptics of the claims from Kimberly Reicks are pointing to a recent incident in which the mother was arrested and charged with criminal mischief. Last March, a late-night incident led to her arrest after Reicks and her teenage daughter damaged the property of the teenager’s ex-boyfriend in retaliation. Because of this and the fact that people are alleging she is a member of QAnon, the far-right political movement said to spread vast disinformation, many find it hard to believe the mother’s claims.
A judge for the court has yet to rule on the lawsuit. For now, what is clear is that both Kimberly Reicks and the school district have a completely different story about how the plexiglass incident played out. Only time and the possible release of more evidence will tell whether or not the school truly retaliated against an opposing mother and her daughter, or if they were just following protocol.
