Chicago City Wire

Some people are having difficulty understanding why a recent District 200 school board meeting was suspended when speaker Emma Woodhouse took off her mask while speaking.

“Suspending the meeting because Emma Woodhouse took off her mask,” Chicago’s Morning Answer  posted on its Twitter page. “District 200 school board members were 40 feet away from her. She is the voice of reason.”

Woodhouse left no doubt about how she felt on the issue.

“The forced covering of a child’s face as a condition of in-person schooling is wrong,” Woodhouse said in her remarks. "It’s even more wrong when it’s dictated by a tyrannical governor who is motivated by politics and brazenly declares a public health emergency for schools, usurps the authority of lawful school boards that have been established by the Illinois General Assembly and dictates what students wear to school.”

Woodhouse predicted that the governor will encounter much resistance in enforcing his universal mask mandate for schools given she’s convinced he doesn’t have the legal authority to impose it.

“He doesn’t have the authority to tell students what the dress code is,” she said. “He can’t tell students what to wear to schools. So, he’s going to have a problem pretty quickly when it comes to enforceability. Your current policy is outdated from last year. Your current policy says you can remove masks if you’re having difficulty breathing and I’m having difficulty right now.”

Woodhouse isn’t the only one sounding the alarm.

"With his announced changes to the state’s COVID-19 mitigation plan, including a new mask mandate for students, teachers and staff in all K-12 schools regardless of vaccination status, Gov. Pritzker continues his unilateral approach to pandemic decision-making, which actively undermines Illinois’ ability to have broadly accepted mitigation strategies," state Rep. Dave Syverson (R-Rockford) posted on Facebook. "Sign my petition if you believe that locally elected school boards with parental input should be allowed to decide what safety precautions and protocols are in place for their students and staff."

Pritzker’s new mask order also extends to all state employees working at congregate settings, such as long-term care facilities and veterans' homes.

Even as criticism of the mandate has mounted, the governor has remained steadfast in defending his actions, pointing out that the Illinois Department of Public Health and The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are now both also recommending masking indoors at K-12 schools.

"As your governor, it's my duty to say that we must all take immediate and urgent action to slow the spread of the delta variant," he told NBC5 Chicago. "People are dying who don't have to die."