Chicago City Wire

Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot has announced she plans to keep a mask requirement in place at Chicago Public Schools (CPS) even after the mandate for the city at large is slated to be lifted at the end of the month.

“We have made great progress in recent weeks against this virus, and we do not want to jeopardize that progress by moving too quickly,” CPS said in a statement. “We look forward to the day when we can be mask-optional at CPS, but we still need to get more students vaccinated across our district and we still need to work with our public health and labor partners on the best way to preserve a safe in-person learning environment for all.”

Lightfoot is holding firm even after presidents and principals from some of the city’s Catholic high schools joined to urge city officials to hit the pause button on COVID restrictions.

"We urge you to immediately rescind the City of Chicago’s indoor mask mandate, at least as it applies to schools and school events,” the coalition said in a request to Lightfoot and Commissioner of Public Health Dr. Allison Arwady. “Not only has the indoor mask mandate outlived its usefulness, but it’s also inflicting tangible damage to our young people that will take years to heal. The sooner we get to that work, the better all of us – including the young people who will lead our communities in the future – will be."

The movement toward change in schools across much of the state comes after Sangamon County Circuit Judge Raylene Grischow recently issued a temporary restraining order negating 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 who are close contacts of confirmed or probable COVID-19 cases.

In a 30-page ruling, Grischow wrote state law establishes the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) as the “supreme authority” in matters of quarantine and isolation, not the governor. She further asserted IDPH must follow state law regarding procedures to comply with due process requirements.

Even as the governor has appealed the decision and Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul has filed paperwork seeking an expedited review, more than 550 school districts across the state have already gone “fully masks optional”

Prior to the court’s ruling, Pritzker had announced plans to lift the general statewide mask mandate by month’s end. 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 answer 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.

CPS was one of 145 defendant school districts sued by parents across the state seeking to end masking. As the cases have made their way through the court system, attorney Tom DeVore has threatened to hit the country’s third-largest district (347,000 students) with more legal action on the grounds of not obeying a restraining order preventing the district from treating students who unmask differently from those who continue to mask.

Senate Minority Leader Dan McConchie (R-Lake Zurich) has accused the governor of working to subvert the state’s court system to keep his self-imposed 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.”

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 "national emergency."

In its letter to Lightfoot, coalition members wrote, "the last two years have taken a huge toll on our students. Our guidance counselors report rising caseloads of students with worsening social and emotional problems. Data from across the country tell the tale of increasing depression, suicide and other serious emotional health problems students experience as COVID restrictions continue."