West Cook News

State Sen. John Curran (R-Lemont) used a recent Joint Committee on Administrative Rules (JCAR) meeting to grill Illinois School Board of Education (ISBE) officials about the inner workings of Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s schools mask mandate.

“Does the board plan to file administrative rules to implement EL 2021-18 or the revised public health guidance for schools?” Curran recently quizzed ISBE deputy legal officer Kristen Kennedy. “If plans are in motion, when should this committee expect to see a rulemaking? If plans are not in motion then please aid the committee in understanding the board’s legal reasoning for not following administrative rules.”

While assuring lawmakers that no such plans are afloat, Kennedy argued she can’t speak for others while defending the governor’s actions in imposing his latest universal masking mandate for schools as “lawfully issued and enforceable.”

Curran raised the issue of Timothy Christian being one of the schools placed on probation by the ISBE for flouting mask rules.

“What due process was Timothy Christian afforded in the decision that was made the same day to pull the recognition process?” he asked. “Is the lack of due process, or alleged lack of due process for those school districts, is that a subject of any of the pending litigation?”

While Kennedy admitted ISBE is facing a “few pending lawsuits against it regarding masking and enforcement," she declined to say more because the cases are ongoing.  

Curran said the fact that legal action has been taken can almost be expected.

“I would say that’s not surprising that you’re now dragged into court again because this on its face is a very heavy-handed tactic that does not afford any due process,” he said. “You have a process in the rule … that lays out a due process timeline and calls for meaningful discourse between a school district and the department and really also allows cooler heads to prevail, which I think is why you have some time markers in the process. I would certainly encourage the department and quite frankly ask the department in making these decisions they should be following whether the school is private or public.”

With schools across the state having only reopened for in-person learning a few weeks ago, as of now four public schools and nine private schools have been penalized for not complying with the governor’s order, with the private schools having been stripped of recognition status that could bring a lack of government funding and being declared ineligible for ISHA-sanctioned sporting competition.

The four public schools have been placed on probation.