This comes as school districts scrambled to reassess COVID mitigations after a judge granted a temporary injunction last week. The ruling was a response to a lawsuit filed by a group of parents and school districts who claimed . As we have from the beginning of the pandemic, the administration will keep working to ensure every Illinoisan has the tools needed to keep themselves and their loved ones safe. As we have from the beginning of the pandemic, the administration will keep working to ensure every Illinoisan has the tools needed to keep themselves and their loved ones safe., Download the WQAD News 8 App Subscribe toourdaily newsletter Subscribeto ourYouTubechannel. Illinois schools were scrambling to react after a ruling by a downstate judge Friday placed a temporary restraining order on Gov. -Hinsdale/Clarendon Hills School District 181- Open Tuesday. What the ruling does. The superintendent of District 122 in Metamora said they were aware of the lawsuit, but not in any official capacity. The Joliet Diocese is requiring all catholic schools within the diocese to continue to wear masks including Joliet Catholic Academy. At what point as a society do we say let's try to go back to normal? "We have had parent contact at board meetings and had conversations with a variety of parents, including the ones listed not all of them but also additional parents who have shared their concerns on both sides of the issue with the district," O'Laughlin said. Illinois schools from requiring people to wear face masks in classes and excluding students and staff from school buildings if they've had close contact with someone who has tested positive for COVID-19. A judge's recent ruling that Gov. Car dealership workers kidnapped, tortured in armed robbery: police, Woman buys new tires that turn out to be 9 years old. According to District 86, about 55 of students at Hinsdale Central refused to wear a mask Monday; they were given the choice ot go to the auditorium or back home. Soon after the Pritzker administration adopted the suggestions, school boards across the state took the CDC's advice and applied it in many different ways; some mandating masks regardless of vaccination status, some requiring masks only for certain grades and some eschewing masks altogether. Help fund the NPR Illinois mission to inform the community by securing business sponsorships. Pritzker announced on Feb. 9 a plan to rollback indoor mask requirements by the end of the month. J.B. Pritzker's administration are asking a state appellate court to set aside a lower court order from late Friday that invalidated the mask In part, the order said the students named in the case cant be excluded from in-person learning without consent or a quarantine order from the health department. Masks will continue to be required at the district except for the 11 students named as plaintiffs in the lawsuit, the district's school board said in a letter to families Sunday that was provided to the Northwest Herald separately by two different parents. For one thing, what she issued was only a temporary restraining order, expecting a final decision later. J.B. Pritzker's move came hours after the Illinois Supreme Court refused to hear his appeal of a decision in a lawsuit challenging Pritzker's mask mandate. The State has completed over 2 million COVID-19 tests in schools through the SHIELD program and sent more than a million rapid tests into schools outside of the City of Chicago. Jeff Schuler, Community Unit School District 200. So what does it mean, how are schools responding and whats next? Missouri AG Sues 36 School Districts with Mask Requirements, But Not The high school parents challenging Illinois Gov. Beginning on September 19, 2021, those who are unable or unwilling to be vaccinated will be required to get tested for COVID-19 at least once per week until they can prove that they are fully vaccinated. "Their goal is to intimidate you," one parent said. That happened in Bond County. That, Craven said, would essentially be asking the Supreme Court to tell the appellate court to decide the case and would be on a faster track. Read the Full Text: Judge's Ruling Halts Illinois School Mask Mandate Vaccinations, boosters, mask-wearing and testing are the key to keeping schools open and to maintaining safety standards for staff and students alike. Community Consolidated School District 181, which has schools in Clarendon Hills, Hinsdale, and Burr Ridge, said Monday will be an emergency remote instruction day. Illinois school mask mandate in hundreds of districts in jeopardy after While Pritzker will spill gallons on ink on the history of the COVID pandemic and how his administration has worked to keep people safe, none of this obfuscation is relevant to the precise question of what is the extent of his delegated power by the legislature under the [Illinois Emergency Management Agency Act], DeVote wrote in the 11-page complaint. They must also have due process. They also voted that starting Tuesday, masks will be suggested but not required. Some exceptions to the order apply. Some school districts kept their mask rules in place, while others made them optional. The complaint alleges Pritzkers executive order implementing a school mask mandate is substantively similar to that bill, and therefore is tantamount to the governor unilaterally crafting law. "We have zero documentation other than what we've found online," saidSean OLaughlin on Thursday afternoon. Also going "mask optional" are large suburban public school districts across the area, including those in Schaumburg, Elmhurst, Arlington Heights, Barrington and Wheaton, where Shannon Limjuco has two elementary school grade children. Missouri Republican Attorney General Eric Schmitt completed on Friday a promise made earlier this week by filing lawsuits against 36 public school districts for requiring masks. JB Pritzker. On Tuesday, the General Assembly's Joint Committee on Administrative Rulesrejected an emergency rule proposed by IDPH which would have outlined the requirements for schools to "exclude" certain students based on their exposure to COVID-19as well as require masks for students and teachers. "Because future court rulings may go back and forth, and because changing our policies back and forth would create confusion and disruption in our schools, we will continue the current mask policy for now," Archdiocese officials said. 1998 - 2023 Nexstar Media Inc. | All Rights Reserved. The American Cancer Society said Wednesday that about 20% of new colorectal cancer diagnoses were in patients under 55 in 2019, compared with 11% in 1995. ROCKFORD, Ill. (WTVO) Parents from 145 school districts in Illinois are suing Gov. Dozens of students showed up at Naperville schools Monday maskless. CPS said in a statement last week that the court's ruling does not prohibit the school district from continuing its COVID-19 mitigation policies and procedures, including universal masking, and that the district "will stay the course.". School systems cannot require masks, but individuals may choose to wear masks. That wouldn't affect schools or congregate settings like hospitals and long-term care facilities. Illinois school districts will be deciding whether or not to make masks optional after a judge ruled against the state's mandate. Between vitriol, tears and begging for mask choice, just a few parents and a teacher stepped up to back the board's decision to keep masks mandatory for now. Masks are required regardless of vaccination status.Pritzker said the mandate would protect unvaccinated children and adults, as well as the elderly and others with reduced immune systems who are more likely to develop breakthrough infections of COVID-19 even after they get vaccinations.Arrested:Rochester pastor accused of grooming minor, is suspended, Illinois school mask mandate lawsuit: What you need to know, Illinois school mask mandate lawsuit: What you need to know about a judges ruling that upended school COVID-19 rulesChicago-area school districts are relaxing their COVID-19 policies or revealing they plan to stay the course in the wake of an Illinois judges decision to temporarily prevent Gov. 8 min read. legislative committee Tuesdaynot renewing the mask mandate, Your California Privacy Rights / Privacy Policy. 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J.B. Pritzker and the Illinois State Board of Education last year, arguing there was no due process in Illinois statewide mask order. Mask-less Chicago Public Schools students sent home, but CPS CEO Pedro Full Statement from Illinois Federation of Teachers. SEE ALSO | Restaurant vaccine mandate, indoor mask rules could end 'soon' if COVID cases stay in free fall. It has supreme authority in matters of quarantine and isolation. Governor Pritzker has asked the Illinois Attorney General's office for an immediate appeal of Judge Grischow's decision to restrain the State from enforcing the safety measures aimed at protecting teachers, school personnel, students and communities from COVID-19.The Attorney General is seeking an expedited appeal from the Fourth District Illinois Appellate Court. SANGAMON COUNTY, Ill. (WLS) -- A downstate Illinois judge ruled against the state's school mandates, including masking, in response to lawsuits involving parents and teachers from more than. Judge denies class action in mask mandate case - Alton Telegraph When Judge Grischow announced her decision on 4:45 p.m. on Friday, her 29-page ruling didn't settle the questions about masking in school. All this is prompted by Gov. J.B. Pritzker's emergency rules for COVID-19 mitigations in schools "null and void,", New Ranking Names Most Expensive Cities In Illinois and These Chicago Suburbs Top the List, Chicago Suburb Lands on List of Happiest Places to Live,' Another Midwest City Makes Top 10, Chicago-Area Counties Under Winter Storm Advisories and Warnings, Stomach Bug Cases Surging, Sending People to Emergency Rooms in Chicago Area. Both districts are among dozens of schools systems that are defendants in legal challenges waged by downstate attorney Tom DeVore, who argued Pritzker exceeded his authority with requirements that students and teachers wear masks inside schools, that unvaccinated school employees provide negative COVID-19 test results and that close contacts of infected people stay home. Heres what we know so far. J.B. Pritzker's ability to use emergency powers to cancel student sports and mandate athletes wear masks changed their lawsuit to try to block . Illinois continues school mask mandate despite court ruling - Chalkbeat "You guys have kept school running. J.B. Pritzker's emergency rules for COVID-19 mitigations in schools "null and void," effectively stopping the state's mask mandate in school buildings. In Schaumburg's District 54, masks in school are now optional. That happened in Bond County. Despite the IEMAAs silence on school districts, DeVores suit points to the legislatures creation of the Illinois School Code and the invention of local school districts themselves as evidence enough that local school boards are the only entity with the authority to adopt and enforce all necessary rules for the management and governance of the public schools of their district.. The word school is only mentioned five times, but in conjunction with the states earthquake awareness program, as well as grants for safety and security improvements. The law constantly refers to coordination with smaller units of local government like municipalities and counties, but the definition of political subdivision within the statute doesnt include school districts. Local The ruling announced Friday afternoon states defendants are temporarily restrained from, Read the Full Text: Judge's Ruling Halts Illinois School Mask , Read the Full Text: Judges Ruling Halts Illinois School Mask Mandate Published February 5, 2022 Updated on February 5, 2022 at 6:54 pm NBC Universal, Inc. A downstate Illinois judge issued a ruling declaring Gov. The outcome of the lawsuit will impact school districts across the state, including in Central Illinois. Recently, the State provided 350,000 rapid tests to Chicago Public Schools to facilitate a return to in person learning.To increase access to the lifesaving COVID-19 vaccination, the State has held 1,767 on-site vaccination clinics in schools and day camps with an additional 470 clinics already scheduled. Hannah covers state government and politics for NPR Illinois and Illinois Public Radio. "My opinion, I think they should still be wearing the masks," Rojek said. First Lawsuit Filed Over Pritzker's School Mask Mandate Illinois is one of 13 states that require masks in schools in an effort to slow the spread of COVID-19. In the metro-east, Red Bud CUSD 132 in. Local school districts react to Illinois' temporary restraining order McHenry County school districts named in the suit include Algonquin-based School District 300, Crystal Lake School District 47, Crystal Lake District 155, Cary School District 26, Huntley School District 158, McHenry School District 15 and Woodstock School District 200. However, the state health dept. Masks optional at each Illinois school district's discretion; CPS will It's something small that's working.". Our children and their families need certainty and some normalcy at school, not legal wrangling managed by a small minority of citizens.We urge the judge to stay her ruling and the state to appeal it as soon as possible. So what does it mean, how are schools responding and what's next? list of schools in illinois mask lawsuit in 2023 - DOHONGSEO A few days later, however, District 12 in Breese a pre-K through 8th grade district announced it was going mask-optional for the upcoming school year.