West Cook News

Oak Park 97 school officials insist they plan to keep in an indoor school mask requirement even though despite a pair of recent court’s decision renders Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s order on the issue unconstitutional.

In a letter addressed to school parents and families and signed off on by co-interim Superintendents Dr. Griff Powell and Dr. Patricia Wernet, school officials asserted “masks continue to be required indoors, except when eating or drinking” and anyone with a positive COVID-19 test will continue to be required to isolate from others.

The updates come after an appellate court in Springfield rejected an appeal from Gov. J.B. Pritzker lodged after the issuance of a temporary restraining order (TRO) that for now bans him from enforcing executive orders and emergency rules for certain safety mitigations in schools across the state. The court’s decision came in the wake of an Illinois Joint Commission on Administrative Rules (JCAR) ruling that found emergency rules previously mandated by the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) “null and void.”

Another part of the ruling allowed districts the wiggle room to act independently of IDPH’s orders in establishing COVID mitigation measures.

School officials added even before the court’s ruling, they had been examining the district’s current safety plans and weighing the idea of removing or at least easing some restrictions some outdoor masking requirements.

“After reviewing the latest court ruling with legal counsel, we will no longer be excluding asymptomatic, unvaccinated students or staff who are identified as close contacts of a positive COVID-19 case,” the letter added. “All other COVID-19 safety mitigations, including mandatory indoor masking, will remain in place until the District 97 Board of Education and administration have the opportunity to consider updated guidance from legal counsel.”

Meanwhile, Pritzker has already indicated he plans to appeal the court decisions all the way up to the Illinois Supreme Court if need be, with Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul having already petitioned the court for an expedited review.

The TRO put in place by Sangamon County Circuit Judge Raylene Grischow suspends enforcement of the governor’s executive orders on masks, weekly testing of unvaccinated school employees and quarantining of students and teachers.

Pritzker recently announced the state will be lifting indoor mask mandates by month’s end, but has been noncommittal about the one pertaining to schools.

In the wake of Grischow’s order and all the outstanding litigation related to it, over 550 Illinois school districts have gone “fully masks optional.”

Attorney Thomas DeVore filed suit on behalf of parents and students across the state, arguing that as constituted Pritzker’s mandates failed to assure due process by law.

"I can only hope this might be the time for the Governor to lift what the Court has found to be illegal mandates and let the good people of this state get back to their lives," he told The Center Square after the ruling.

Grischow has also denied motions raised in separate cases calling for class status, or a situation where the TRO only affects the plaintiffs and the school districts that are part of the lawsuit. On the first day of school following the ruling in Sangamon County, the DuPage Policy Journal reported Hinsdale Central High School continued to isolate students who refused to wear masks into the school auditorium.

Grischow’s ruling also ordered Chicago Public Schools CEO Pedro Martinez to appear before the court to answer a contempt of court complaint.

"It is ordered that Mr. Pedro Martinez, as agent for the City of Chicago School District #299, and the Board of Education of City of Chicago School District #299, shall personally appear before this court and show cause as to why the defendants should not be held in contempt for failure to abide by and comply with this Court's prior order of February 04, 2022," Grischow’s Feb. 14 order reads.

As the third-largest school district in the country with over 347,000 students, CPS was one of 145 defendant school districts sued by parents seeking to end masking.