DeKalb Times

DeKalb Community Unit School District 428 Superintendent Minerva García-Sánchez is preaching togetherness as the school makes the conversion to a mask-optional system.

“There’s no doubt that the news will create mixed feelings in our community,” García-Sánchez said in a letter recently sent to parents. “It’s important that we all work together to determine how we as a school community can move forward. This means treating everyone with respect and kindness, regardless of our differing opinions.”

García-Sánchez said for now all other COVID-19 mitigations will stay in place, with more details to come in the near future.

School officials enacted the latest changes soon after Sangamon County Circuit Judge Raylene Grischow issued a temporary restraining order (TRO) effectively ending enforcement of Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s executive orders on masks in schools. In a 30-page ruling, Grischow further stipulated state law designates the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) as the “supreme authority” in matters of quarantine and isolation, not the governor. Finally, the judge asserted that IDPH must adhere to state law in making sure due process standards are applied.

Even as the governor said the general statewide mask mandate lifted by the end of the February, he has been noncommittal when it comes to the mandate affecting schools across the state.

While the governor is appealing Grischow’s ruling, more than 550 school districts across the state have already made the decision to go mask-optional.

Senate Minority Leader Dan McConchie (R-Lake Zurich) has accused the governor of trying to subvert the state’s court system by issuing a new mask mandate through the IDPH as a way to keep his policies in place

Grischow also said the governor’s actions have deprived mandate opponents the benefit of due process.

“The arbitrary method as to contact tracing and masking in general continue to raise fair questions as to the legality of the Executive Orders in light of violations of healthy children’s substantive due process rights,” she wrote. “Statutory rights have attempted to be bypassed through the issuance of Executive Orders and Emergency Rules … This type of evil is exactly what the law was intended to constrain.”

In separate cases, the judge has denied motions for there to be class status, meaning the TRO would only impact the plaintiffs and the school districts that are part of the suit. In addition, Grischow has ordered Chicago Public Schools CEO Pedro Martinez to appear before the court to answer a contempt of court complaint on the district’s 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 04, 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 frequently threatened to sue CPS for not obeying a restraining order preventing the district from treating students who unmask differently from those who continue to mask.

Within 24 hours of Grischow making her decision public, 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. DeVore has now 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.”

A recent Pew Charitable Trust website analysis found that isolation is taking a heavy toll on students, with the number of emergency room visits among them for suspected suicide attempts jumping by 31% since the start of COVID and the Adolescent Psychiatry and the Children’s Hospital Association now proclaiming children’s mental health a “national emergency.”