The Mahomet-Seymour Board of Education has called a special meeting for Feb. 11 to discuss COVID-19 mitigations in light of a ruling passed down a week ago.
A Sangamon County Circuit Court Judge Raylene Grischow wrote that defendants are temporarily restrained from ordering school districts to require masks for students and teachers – unless a quarantine order is issued by a local health department. The ruling also deemed Pritzer’s mandate for regular testing or proof of vaccination from school staff “null and void” and voids rules from the Illinois Department of Public Health outlining a school’s obligation to “exclude” students from school who have confirmed cases of COVID-19 or are a “close contact” to someone with COVID-19.
The state of Illinois is in the process of appealing the decision, with Pritzker late Friday calling the ruling “misguided.” That judgment is expected next week.
While the direction of the discussion Friday is not stated in the board packet, board member Ken Keefe posted on his Facebook page.
“With the recent TRO ruling, the landscape of mandates from Governor Pritzker has significantly changed. Decisions that were once out of our hands are now back in our hands regarding masks, testing, contact tracing, exclusion, and more. The board will discuss these issues on Friday. The board can be hard to predict, but I expect that, barring any new changes from the courts or the governor, the board will relax many of the mitigation measures we have had in place throughout the pandemic. While there is a public comment period on the agenda after the board takes action, I strongly encourage anyone who wishes to contribute their opinion on these issues to email the board at board@ms.k12.il.us. I can tell you from conversations with fellow board members, that each one of us diligently read emails from constituents. That is the best way to provide input before the board takes action.”
In the morning hours Wednesday, Gov. JB Pritzker said the indoor mask mandate could be lifted by Feb. 28, but that will not apply to the “sensitive locations” of K-12 schools.
