Local school districts are reversing earlier decisions to leave mask requirements in place following a decision by a state legislative committee.
Late Tuesday night, parents in Park Ridge-Niles School District 64 and Maine Township High School District 207 were informed that their children could attend school in the morning without being required to wear a mask.
Masks are still “recommended” by the districts, however, and remain required on school buses, including Pace buses that are used by District 207 students, the districts’ messages said.
East Maine School District 63 announced that it will make masks optional on Feb. 22.
The school districts said their decisions were based on the Feb. 15, 9-0 vote from the Joint Committee on Administrative Rules (JCAR) against an extension of the Illinois Department of Public Health’s emergency rules mandating the wearing of masks in schools.
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JCAR is in charge of reviewing administrative rules created by state agencies — in this case, IDPH.
The IDPH reissued an emergency order for schools on Monday following a Sangamon County judge’s ruling earlier this month to issue a temporary restraining order against Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s mask and quarantine mandate for public schools. Many schools in Illinois dropped their mask and quarantine requirements as a result of the ruling, but others, including District 64, District 207, District 63 and some surrounding districts, did not.
An Illinois appellate court is considering an appeal to the judge’s ruling.
“When we didn’t hear anything from the governor’s office last night, we had to assume the JCAR ruling had impact and we’re trying to follow the law,” said District 207 Supt. Ken Wallace, acknowledging that school districts were unaware that JCAR’s vote on IDPH emergency rules was even coming.
“That came out of left field,” he said.
Wallace said following the JCAR decision is “the appropriate legal position right now,” though the district can reverse its decision on making masks optional.
“We are fortunate that our (COVID-19 infection) rates have been good,” he said. “We reserve the right to change (our decision) if situations change, but we felt it was the prudent move to make today.”
The Illinois Department of Public Health, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, American Academy of Pediatrics, and Cook County Department of Public Health continue to recommend that students, teachers and staff wear masks inside schools.
While the District 207 school board was consulted, Tuesday’s decision did not require a board vote because the board had not initially taken action on requiring masks in schools, Wallace said.
In District 64, the change to making masks “recommended” rather than required came one week after the District 64 School Board voted on a motion to end the mask and quarantine requirements in schools. The board voted 3-3 on the motion, causing it to fail and leaving the requirements in place.
The meeting was sparked by angry public comment and a majority of the 75 speakers calling for masks to be made optional.
When asked why the school board did not formally vote on the Feb. 15 change to masking in the district, District 64 Spokesman Nick Shepkowski said in an email that the “decision was made after consultation with the District 64 Board of Education, legal council (sic), and based off information the district had received in regards to the recent court rulings.”
Reaction to the district’s decision on two District 64 parent groups on Facebook was mixed. While some parents celebrated it, others expressed concerns or noted that their children would continue to wear masks.
Last week, more than 120 people, most of them identifying as parents, submitted emails to the District 64 Board of Education on the pending decision of whether to make masks optional. Of that number, 77 urged the board not to eliminate the mask mandate, while 42 called for masks to be optional.
“We all want a return to normal. But removing all mitigation strategies at one time, over night, seems like a disaster,” one email read. “Where is the consultation with local public health authorities?”
“Requiring people to wear masks is protecting everyone from COVID-19,” an email submitted by a fifth-grade student said. “By removing the mask mandate you are endangering the teachers and students.”
Concerns about how school staffing and high-risk children might be impacted by mask-less buildings were also brought up in the emails.
Those opposed to masking in schools cited the Sangamon County judge’s ruling.