Schools in the East Aurora and West Aurora districts will continue with their current policies concerning masks even as a downstate judge ruled to put a temporary restraining order on such mandates.
Indian Prairie School District 204 will also continue following its COVID-19 protocols at its schools, officials said.
Not all school districts in the Fox Valley are following that path, though. St. Charles School District 303 has decided to recommend but not require mask usage for students and staff members due to the new ruling.
District 303 schools were closed for an Emergency Day on Monday to give the district time to implement and respond to the temporary restraining order’s requirements, district officials said in a statement. All after-school events were also canceled Monday. The school day will be made up at the end of the school year on Wednesday, May 24, officials said.
Classes were set to resume Tuesday in the district.
Geneva District 304 schools were also closed for an Emergency Day on Monday so officials could work through the information on the new ruling.
According to a statement from District 304 officials on the district’s website, masking “will be very strongly encouraged for all students, staff and visitors in our buildings. Our district will continue to have masks available for individuals entering our buildings and will continue to offer those masks to any individual who is not wearing one. However, we will not be asking any of our staff members to enforce strict masking requirements.”
District officials said classes were set to resume on Tuesday.
The local districts joined countless other school systems this weekend determining what families and employees should expect when schools reopened this week.
More than 140 school districts are named as defendants in litigation brought by parents concerning masking and quarantine guidance they feel oversteps its bounds. West Aurora and East Aurora are not defendants in the lawsuit, however Indian Prairie District 204, Geneva District 304 and St. Charles District 303 are defendants.
Sangamon County Circuit Judge Raylene Grischow granted the order Friday to temporarily suspend Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s executive orders on masking and quarantining for schools, applying it to all students, staff and visitors of school buildings.
The Illinois Attorney General’s Office filed an appeal Monday, demanding a stay to Grischow’s Friday decision.
East Aurora and West Aurora and District 204 issued statements clarifying intent to follow their own respective COVID-19 return-to-school plans.
“In response to the recent court rulings from Sangamon County, Illinois, regarding COVID mitigation practices, we felt it critical to communicate where our district stands currently,” East Aurora School District Superintendent Jennifer Norrell said in a statement.
“As a district we are neither for or against these mitigations, however at this time EA District 131 will continue to move forward with all current mitigation efforts in place until further notice,” she said. “This means that all students and staff previously required to wear masks, quarantine according to the CDC and IDPH guidelines and staff required to test weekly, will continue to do so.”
Also, she said, federal transportation rules continue to require everyone on school buses to wear masks.
“We will provide updates to our Board of Education, parents and community as the court proceedings unfold in the coming weeks and will be prepared to adjust as needed,” she said.
In a statement, West Aurora School District Superintendent Jeff Craig said the district expects the legal process concerning the issue to “unfold over the next few weeks. In an effort to limit disruption and reduce confusion in our schools, we will continue to follow current mitigation measures for the duration of the legal proceedings.”
Those measure include mandatory masking for students, staff and visitors; close contact quarantine requirements for those who do not qualify for, or do not elect to participate in, the test-to-stay program; weekly testing for unvaccinated staff members; and required isolation for individuals with COVID-19.
“We thank you for your continued support and will share any updates as we have them,” Craig said in the statement.
Indian Prairie School District Superintendent Adrian Talley issued a statement Sunday, saying the district will continue to enforce its mask rules and other mitigation measures.
“The temporary restraining order will be appealed and may be stayed, meaning that the order could be placed on hold while the appeal is decided. As a result, the legal effect of the temporary restraining order is uncertain over the next couple of weeks,” Talley said.
“The district will continue to follow and implement its safe return to school plan,” he said.
St. Charles School District 303 is going in a different direction than the Aurora districts.
In a statement, district officials said the temporary restraining order “applies to all students and staff. Beginning on Tuesday, Feb. 8, District 303 is recommending but not requiring mask usage for all students and staff members.”
“Given the current rates of transmission in our community, District 303 highly recommends that students and staff members continue to wear masks as a mitigation strategy to lessen the spread of COVID-19 in our schools,” according to the statement. “As a community, we are nearing a time when declining cases will allow us to return to a sense of normalcy. We ask that everyone works together to continue to support the safety of our students and staff by wearing masks for now.”
Due to the ruling, District 303 officials said they will not be contact tracing or excluding close contacts. Per the Kane County Health Department, students and staff who test positive for COVID-19 will still be required to isolate and be excluded from school, officials said in the statement.
Staff members who are unvaccinated will not be required to test weekly, according to the statement. Masks are still required on any school-based transportation, including all school buses, officials said.
In its statement, district officials discussed the probability that the state attorney general would file a motion to stay and appeal the judge’s decision, a move that did end up happening on Monday.
“If a stay is ordered or the appellate court overturns the decision, District 303 will be required to return to universal masking,” according to the statement.
Geneva District 304 officials said making masks optional is definitely a change.
“We know that moving to a mask recommended, but not required, environment will be a big change for our students and staff,” officials with the district said in a statement. “One thing that does not change is our commitment to our additional layered mitigation strategies,” including physical distancing, proper ventilation and cleaning practices, encouraging “frequent hand hygiene” and stressing that students who are sick or exhibiting COVID-like symptoms should stay home.
Naperville Sun reporter Rafael Guerrero contributed to this article.