Chicago City Wire

Greg Richmond, superintendent of Catholic Schools at the Archdiocese of Chicago, is reinstating masking rules at Catholic Schools under the church’s oversight in Chicago.

The new COVID-19 protocols will go into effect when school resumes this fall.

“Dear Parents, Guardians and Caretakers,” Richmond’s message reads.

“While the school year has only just concluded, we are already preparing for 2022-23. I'm writing you today to inform you of new and updated COVID-19 protocols for the upcoming school year.

“These protocols have been developed by the Archdiocese of Chicago based on the experiences of the past two years and how we can provide the best learning environment for our students while protecting everyone's health and safety.

“As always, our focus is on maximizing in-person instruction and minimizing the disruption to our students, families and staff, while maintaining a safe environment for everyone.”

The rules were outlined by Richmond as follows:

• Based on data collected since removal of the mask mandate earlier this year, we're doing away with contact tracing and the actions we required for close contacts of someone with COVID-19. Close contacts will no longer be required to mask, quarantine and social distance at lunchtime.

• Individuals who test positive must isolate from all school activities for five days and report the positive case to their school. Upon their return to school, for days 6-10 no masks are required if they test negative. Absent a negative test, they must mask during the school day and social distance at lunch.

• We will inform families of all in-school, positive COVID-19 cases. Families are encouraged to take any precautions they consider appropriate.

• Individuals with symptoms of COVID-19 or any illness should stay home while sick.

• When there are three cases in a classroom within a 10-day period, all students in that classroom must mask for 10 days.

“As we have all learned during the pandemic, things can change, sometimes for the better, sometimes not," Richmond’s message reads. "As a result, our protocols may also change as we progress through the school year. Please do not hesitate to contact your school if you have any questions, comments of other feedback on these protocols.

“Because of your commitment to what's best for children and our communities, and the dedication of our principals, teachers and staff, our Catholic schools have been able to provide in-person instruction for the past two years. We're honored that you entrust the education of your children to us."

The Archdiocese is in charge of 157 schools in the counties of Cook, Lake and Chicago.

Richmond previously admitted that masking had a negative impact on schools.

"We know masks are not ideal for student learning and human development," Richmond said. "We can feel better knowing that our students will soon be able to learn, grow and develop more freely in a mask-optional environment."

During the pandemic, Archdiocese schools fought against requests for mask exemptions from parents of children with disabilities.

Some Catholic school parents have deemed the practice “child abuse.”

Dr. Bill Hauter, a Peoria physician set to become the only doctor in the General Assembly barring an unlikely challenge this fall, said masking in schools doesn’t work.

“OK. First of all, is it extremely effective?" Hauter told the Peoria Standard. "Because if you're going to introduce something into a low-risk population, it has to be extremely effective, right?

“Well, it's not. It's not the way that kids wear those masks, the way that it's not tight fitting, the way they wear it under their nose, the way they don't universally wear it. They only wear it for a few hours at school and then they don't wear it anymore.

“So you're asking them to undertake a public health measure in extremely low risk populations. That is not effective. It's not done universally. And the last thing is, when you do this in a low risk population, you say, does it have any side effects because it better not have any side effects in a low-risk population.

“So we found out quickly that there were side effects. The side effects were that there was isolation. There were changes in personality. There were learning delays. Kids should not have something on their face around each other. It's just not how humans live. That's not how we are. We're interactive, we take cues, we learn verbally, and all these things happen. So there was side effects to it. So I just think it was wrong to have masks on kids in school, especially because they're such a low risk population.”

Following consecutive court decisions that invalidated Gov. J.B. Pritzker's requirement that masks be worn in schools, the Archdiocese of Chicago was subject to escalating protests.

Catholic instructors and irate parents pleaded with the Archdiocese to change course for more than a year, in some cases without receiving a response.

After the Archdiocese was exposed for neglecting parent concerns about Covid practices, a prominent member of one of the nation's largest Catholic activist organizations pushed for parents to remove their kids from private schools.