Chicago City Wire

Deeming the ongoing school mask debate “more of a legal battle right now than a medical one,” District 202 Superintendent Eric Witherspoon has announced the school will now be mask optional.

“We highly recommend masks,” Witherspoon said in a recent webinar, but “there is “no state rule to enforce.”

The change of direction comes just days after Sangamon County Circuit Judge Raylene Grischow issued a temporary restraining order effectively ending enforcement of Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s executive orders mandating masks in schools along with weekly testing of unvaccinated school employees and quarantining of students and teachers known to have been in close contact with confirmed or probable COVID-19 victims.

As part of her 30-page ruling, Grischow wrote state law designates the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) as the “supreme authority” in matters of quarantine and isolation, not the governor. She further asserted IDPH is required to adhere to state law in making sure all parties are afforded due process.

While more than 550 school districts have gone mask optional since the judge’s decision, the governor is appealing the decision, with Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul filing paperwork seeking an expedited review of the ruling.

Prior to Grischow rendering her decision, Pritzker had announced plans to lift the general statewide mask mandate by the end of February. The governor has been largely noncommittal about plans for the order mandating masks in schools.

Grischow also recently ordered Chicago Public Schools (CPS) CEO Pedro Martinez to appear before the court to face a contempt of court complaint on CPS’ behalf.

"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 4, 2022," Grischow’s Feb. 14 order reads.

Senate Minority Leader Dan McConchie (R-Lake Zurich) is accusing the governor of trying to subvert the state’s court to keep his policy in place.

"In his quest for power at all costs, the Governor attempted to go above the judicial system to continue to require masks in schools, a move that even his Democrat allies in the legislature wouldn’t support. Even they agree he has gone too far," he said in a statement. "Today, the Governor was willing to add to the confusion and chaos that has overwhelmed our schools and parents in the last several days.”

Pritzker’s last emergency rule attempt also failed to gain the support of legislators, with members of the Joint Commission on Administrative Rules (JCAR) unanimously rejecting it by a 9-0-2 vote.

With the state now nearing the two-year mark of living under the governor’s emergency authority, a recent Pew Charitable Trust website analysis found quarantining young people has continued to be linked to increases in depression, with emergency room visits among students for suspected suicide attempts having jumped by 31 percent since the start of the pandemic and the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and the Children’s Hospital Association having declared children's mental health a "national emergency."

On the day after Grischow’s ruling, the DuPage Policy Journal reported Hinsdale Central High school officials were captured on video guiding students who refused to wear masks into an isolated area of the school. Attorney Thomas DeVore has vowed to start pursuing criminal complaints for contempt of court against school officials who abuse the rights of plaintiffs that are part of the suit.

“If I can confirm that the Hinsdale School District or any school district is isolating children that are plaintiffs in this case, and I know that to be true, I'm going to ask the judge, 'Put somebody in the county jail' as soon as I have the first available opportunity,” he said. “That's what I'm going to try to do because they cannot do that.”