Pleasant Dale Park District Apologizes For Vax Message
BURR RIDGE, IL — The Burr Ridge-based Pleasant Dale Park District on Tuesday announced a policy requiring that participants in a girls basketball league must be vaccinated. It said it was following Cook County's vaccination mandate for indoor venues.
But the district later said it was pulling the policy for now. That was after a prominent radio show host criticized it, while falsely representing what it said.
In a Facebook post Wednesday afternoon, the district said no implementation decisions have been made yet.
"Correspondence sent out was premature, and we apologize. Further information will be released at the appropriate time," the district said.
In Tuesday's message to parents, the district said it was following the county's requirement for vaccinations as of Monday. It said it was delaying the start of the basketball season to Jan. 24, from Jan. 17, to give participants time to vaccinate.
The message further said coaches and players would be required to wear their jerseys to all practices and games to help identify who is already confirmed as vaccinated.
In an interview, Matt Russian, the district's executive director, said the message to parents was not authorized by him or the park board. The policy, he said, is being reviewed by the district's lawyer and insurer.
Russian said government agencies are not giving local entities such as the park district much time to interpret pandemic-related orders.
"Much of the language is pretty gray," he said.
Criticism of the park district mounted after Chicago-based radio talk show host Dan Proft tweeted about it. But Proft, who has 17,000 followers, mischaracterized the policy.
Proft, who posted screenshots of the policy, said it mandated that vaccinated coaches and children wear jerseys while unvaccinated children wear street clothes to identify the vaccinated from the unvaccinated.
"If they can play, why different uniforms, unless it's to shame?" Proft tweeted.
The original message said nothing about different clothes. It said anyone over 5 staying in the facility for more than 10 minutes must be fully vaccinated and show proof. In other words, unvaccinated people over 5 wouldn't even be allowed in, let alone be required to wear different clothes.
Proft did not return a message for comment.
Russian said the message did not mention different clothing for vaccinated and unvaccinated participants. He said he was unaware of any attempts by Proft to contact the district for clarification.
After the district announced it was backtracking, Proft cited parental pressure.
"They wilt in the light," Proft tweeted. "The ready, fire, aim COVIDian goons are now 'reviewing' (after issuing) their order to make unvaxed adolescent girl basketballers dress differently than their vaxed counterparts."
This article originally appeared on the Burr Ridge Patch
