BREAKING: Illinois Schools Going To ‘Mask Optional’ Policy; Pritzker Continues Fight For Mask Mandate
In the wake of dwindling covid numbers, and growing unrest from parents and students, Quad-Cities area school districts and others around Illinois are going to “mask optional” policies starting next week.
The Moline-Coal Valley, East Moline and Rock Island-Milan school districts all announced today they will be transitioning to a “mask recommended” policy.
Due to the federal transportation mandate masks will still be required on school buses and other transportation for all three school districts.
Children’s face masks in school are quickly becoming a thing of the past as covid numbers plummet.
Moline-Coal Valley School District said its’ policy will go into effect on Tuesday in an email to parents.
East Moline School District announced, in a post on its website, that the policy begins today. Rock Island-Milan School District’s policy will take place starting Monday, its website announced.
The decisions take place as similar ones are happening all across the state.
Illinois will lose its statewide outdoor mask mandate Feb. 28. Some businesses are already eschewing the restrictions in lieu of a court ruling downstate.
Gov. JB Pritzker has been insistent upon keeping the mask mandates in schools, even though every state in the U.S. with the exception of Hawaii has lifted mask mandates.
However, Pritkzer’s mandate took a huge hit yesterday when a bipartisan legislative committee rejected Illinois Department of Public Health’s attempt to reintroduce the governor’s emergency COVID-19 protocols for classrooms across the state.
The department’s emergency rules — which served as the state’s official guidance on masks, testing and exclusion for those exposed to the coronavirus in schools — expired on Sunday, but emergency rules were re-filed and put back into place on Monday, for a seamless transition.
Many universities, including Western Illinois, are still running anti-covid campaigns and asking for students to wear masks.
However, the Joint Committee on Administrative Rules, an oversight panel featuring both Democratic and Republican lawmakers tasked with reviewing rules made by state agencies, voted 9-0 to suspend the emergency rules,. The committee made the decision based in large part due to an on-going court battle that resulted in a temporary restraining order preventing dozens of school districts across the state from requiring students to wear masks in classrooms.
“We’re currently in a situation where the TRO said this rule was not enforceable,” said state Rep. Mike Halpin, D-Rock Island, who is a member of the committee. “It’s possible, if not probable, that this might change on appeal but for now, as we sit here, for that reason, I vote yes [to suspend the emergency rule].”
Pritzker announced earlier this month that he would be removing the statewide indoor mask mandate on Feb. 28, but would be keeping it for schools, causing an outcry among parents and school staffs.
Mike Halpin
Thousands of students and parents statewide in Illinois have been defying Gov. JB Pritzker’s order for mask mandates in schools upon the announcement of Sangamon County Circuit Judge Raylene Grischow last month granting a request from downstate attorney Tom DeVore to temporarily halt the governor’s executive orders on masking and quarantining for schools. Grischow issued her temporary restraining order on Feb. 4 in response to a lawsuit filed by a group of parents and students representing more than 100 school districts.
Covid numbers in Illinois continued to drop this week. Illinois public health officials reported 2,538 new COVID cases and 73 related deaths Thursday. There have been 3,010,525 total COVID cases, including 32,249 deaths in the state since the pandemic began.
Across social media, parents from schools throughout the state posted pictures and messages about their children not wearing masks anymore, and the parents posted celebratory messages calling for a permanent end to masks in schools and during school activities. Many parents shared pages from the ruling as well as screenshots from the grassroots conservative political action group in part driving the lawsuit, Awake Illinois.
Last week, Pritzker slammed Grischow’s ruling as “poor legal reasoning,” and Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul appealed it to the Fourth District Appellate Court.
State Rep. Keith Wheeler, the co-chairman of the committee, lauded the ruling, along with other Republicans.
Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker addresses the media about covid-19.
“Locally elected school boards who are accountable to parents and know best for their districts, along with their local health department experts, should be allowed to make decisions on COVID mitigations that fit their communities best,” Wheeler said in a statement.
Pritzker’s office disagreed with the assessment, and said that they would continue to monitor the situation and work to preserve in-person school learning.
“As doctors have said time and again, masks are the best way to preserve in-person learning and keep children and staff safe,” said Pritzker spokeswoman Jordan Abudayyeh. “We look forward to continuing to work with members of the General Assembly, school districts, parents, communities and all stakeholders to use the tools we have to keep in-person learning. In the meantime, the administration urges all schools and parents to encourage mask-wearing to keep everyone in their schools and communities safe.”
For more information on this ongoing situation, continue to monitor QuadCities.com.
