Hit 'em where it hurts, the pocketbook... >A mother has filed a lawsuit against the Ankeny Community School District alleging it retaliated against her for speaking up against a face mask requirement for students. >Kimberly Reicks says in the lawsuit that she sent a doctor's note in December informing the district that her kindergarten-age daughter should be excused from wearing a mask. The note said the face mask had caused a staph infection on the child's face. >Reicks alleges in the suit that her daughter was removed from a desk she shared with other children and required to sit alone. Reicks also claims that after she publicly complained and attended a protest outside of the School Board's March 22 meeting, the district retaliated by adding a plexiglass enclosure to the desk. >Reicks later repeatedly addressed the School Board in opposition to the district's mask requirements. She was in attendance May 20 when Gov. Kim Reynolds signed a new law banning mask requirements by schools. >Attorney Alan Ostergren represents Reicks in the suit, filed in Polk County District Court. >"Regardless of how you feel about mask policies, we should all be able to agree that a kindergartener should not be punished because her mother is exercising her constitutional rights,” Ostergren said in a statement. >When asked by the Des Moines Register if he was aware of any other students being treated like Reick's daughter as a result of a mask exemption, he said he was not sure. >Reicks' suit seeks financial compensation from the district, but Ostergren would not say how much. >The district told the Register in a statement that, if a parent requested an exemption from the since-dropped face coverings requirement, standard practice was create an individualized plan to support that student's health and education while seeking to uphold the precautions recommended by public health authorities.