No bullying vs. 'ugliness in the hallways': What suburban kids are seeing after mask ruling

Pigtailed 7-year-old Jaelyn Lozano was still wearing her space-themed mask Monday as she joined a stream of kids running out of Lions Park Elementary in Mount Prospect at the end of the day. Her grandmother Gina Lozano said Jaelyn worried she might be bullied for wearing a mask to school.

"The reason why this (pandemic) is still going on is for people who are refusing to wear masks," Lozano said. "It's scary."

But there was no bullying.

But in Barrington, some students said they felt peer pressured to take off their masks. Jackie Zagrans said her middle school daughter felt so anxious about her health and about bullies, she left school early. Zagrans said her daughter told her one boy was pulling masks off some of the younger students.

"There were threats made," she said. "There was a great deal of ugliness in the hallways, in the classrooms and at the lunch table."

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