West Cook News

Village of Oak Park Health Department Director Theresa Chapple-McGruder says she believes K-12 schools should be closed. 

And while they still remain open, she will ban schools in the village -- including Oak Park and River Forest and Fenwick High Schools-- from allowing students allegedly exposed to COVID-19 to isolate for a shorter period of five days, per new U.S. Center for Disease Controls and Prevention guidelines. 

Instead, Chapple is requiring ten days of isolation for students.

"This is a good reminder that CDC makes recommendations and guidelines. States and locals decide what becomes policy," Chapple-McGruder wrote on Twitter.

"There is more we can do to keep teachers and students from mild, moderate, and long COVID-19," Chapple-McGruder said. "(There is) more we can do to protect teachers families and communities."

Chapple-McGruder made the comments to counter those by public health professor and CNN commentator Leana Wen, who said that "we in public health fought for teachers to be prioritized for vaccines" but that "teachers unions" should "stop the delays" in re-opening public schools like Chicago's.

"We need all schools to be in-person, now," Wen wrote.

Chapple-McGruder, who last month tried to ban extracurricular activities and sports at Oak Park and River Forest High School, disagreed, saying "uncontrolled COVID spread" is still a major threat.

Last week, she called on Oak Park residents to "forgo your NYE celebrations" as a "sacrifice" if they wanted "kids.. to have in-person school this winter."

"Allyship comes with sacrifice," she wrote.

Chapple-McGruder said Oak Park won't follow the U.S. Centers for Disease Controls revised "isolation/quarantine" guidelines for 

On Jan. 4, the CDC announced that any person who hasn't taken "recommended vaccine doses" and booster shots is no longer considered vaccinated, according to its rules.

Chapple-McGruder was hired by the Village of Oak Park on May 3, 2021. She previously worked in a similar role in Rockville, Md.