Wearing masks inside Naperville School District 203 and Indian Prairie School District 204 buildings will become optional under new policies announced over the weekend.
The switch goes into effect at District 203 on Tuesday, Feb. 15, and District 204 will follow suit on Tuesday, Feb. 22.
However, per federal requirements, students will still need to wear masks when riding school buses.
While no longer mandating their use, D203 officials said they will continue to “strongly recommend” mask usage for everyone — including students, teachers, staff and visitors — as a means of preventing the spread of COVID-19. Both districts’ statements leave the door open to masks mandates if COVID-19 conditions worsen or the results of pending/future court cases.
The policy changes come in the wake of a temporary restraining order issued last week by a downstate judge that curtailed mandatory mask rules on a short-term basis.
John Parkhurst, a parent of two students at Neuqua Valley High School, welcomed the policy change but questioned why it came a week after the court ruling.
“I’m glad the decision came to make masks optional and giving (families) a choice,” he said. “But that the superintendent is waiting an entire week to make the change? It doesn’t make sense.”
Lindsay Casten, who has three children in District 203 schools, is neutral on the topic of masks, supporting parental choice to send students to school with or without masks.
Her family is still doing their best to keep their youngest daughter safe because she is immunocompromised, she said; two of their three kids are vaccinated and received a booster and the third has gotten the first two shots.
“These poor administrators and staff,” Casten said. “I can’t even begin to imagine if they’ve even slept the past two years.”
Both Naperville-area districts initially said they would wait for future court rulings before deciding whether to lift the requirement locally, prompting loud opposition from those who attended both districts’ meetings last week. Several of the defendants in the lawsuit are parents of students who attend D203 and D204 schools.
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Gov. J.B. Pritzker also weighed in on the issue last week, setting a Feb. 28 date to lift public mask mandates but saying he would keep the requirement in place for schools, nursing homes and hospitals.
In a letter posted online Sunday, District 203 Superintendent Dan Bridges said districts have not been given state guidance on how to transition so officials opted to update their COVID-19 safety measures themselves.
“In light of the resulting uncertainty and the impact of that uncertainty on our ability to focus on our primary mission of educating students, we have decided to move forward and implement the next phase of our mitigation plan,” Bridges wrote.
District 203 lawyers had advised officials to keep their policy until the temporary restraining order issue was resolved, he said.
“The quick ruling on the stay motion has not happened. In fact, since the order was issued, we have received no additional guidance from the courts,” Bridges said.
Indian Prairie will wait a week before switching to a masks-optional policy, Superintendent Adrian Talley said in a separate online letter. Only preschool children will be required to wear masks.
“We are starting on Feb. 22 in order to provide time for all to prepare for the change and adjustments to be made as appropriate,” Talley wrote.
Both superintendents listed improving COVID-19 conditions for making the switch, including:
Vaccination rates ranging from 72% to 90% in the seven Zip codes serving Indian Prairie;
Indian Prairie’s 0.28% positivity rate inside its schools the week of Jan. 31;
Average percentage of fully vaccinated people in the District 203 Zip codes exceeds 76%;
Nearly 73% of children ages 12 to 17 in DuPage County are fully vaccinated, the second-highest rate in the state;
About 42% of children ages 5 to 11 are fully vaccinated in DuPage, the highest in the state.
Bridges and Talley warned people to not harass others based on their masking decisions.
“We need to rebuild relationships as a school community and treat each other with the civility and kindness that we did prior to the pandemic,” Talley said.
Casten said she hopes tensions die down in the community over the topic.
“Getting all worked up about fighting or arguing, it won’t get you anywhere,” she said.