A judge’s recent ruling that Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s COVID-19 mask mandate was authorized illegally prompted chaos and confusion Monday morning at school districts across Illinois, as increasingly volatile battles over virus mitigation strategies further divided communities and forced some schools to cancel classes.Sangamon County Circuit Judge Raylene Grischow’s Friday decision
Chicago Teachers Union Vice President Stacy Davis Gates pointed to the union’s agreement with Chicago Public Schools that calls for everyone entering a CPS facility to wear a face mask. Students will still be required to wear masks while riding the school bus in accordance with a federal policy. With the state’s measurements of coronavirus transmission headed in the right direction, the governor said he hopes “to provide some additional guidance in the coming days as we continue to evaluate the numbers.”
“Even when — if — we remove the requirement that people wear masks in various settings, there may come a time in the future when we would want people to put their mask back on,” Pritzker said. “That’s why we’re fighting this case and appealing this case.” “The classroom teacher acted swiftly to prevent the situation from escalating and immediately notified administration, who worked with the Palatine Police Department to resolve the situation,” Township High School District 211 spokeswoman Erin Holmes said. “The safety and security of our students and staff is a top priority.”
[Don't miss] Chicago cites 10 restaurants, 6 other businesses for violating vaccine requirement order“Without those safety measures in place, we risk forcing thousands of teachers, education employees and students to be out sick or forced into quarantine,” Griffin said. “We are realizing the emperor has no clothes, and the mandate really didn’t have the authority to tell us these things,” Zaleski said.
It's very simple, lift the mandates entirely. If you still choose to wear a mask, by all means do. The emergency status is over, the extension is unnecessary. But neither side has the right to subject the other one.
If only these school districts had more than 4 weeks, dozens of attorneys, millions of dollars of tax payer money, and thousands of administrative support staff to prepare for this ruling.
No judge sitting in a county with under 250,000 inhabitants can issue a statewide order; problem solved.
700 parents and 1 downstate judge apparently have the power to dictate school pandemic mitigations for the entire state, except Chicago. What’s wrong with this picture? Legislation is needed!
The whole country is opening up except here because of Governor Trust-Fund.
Finally I find something in to be proud of at Fremd, a 'highly-rated' educational prison camp.