St. Charles School District will keep current COVID-19 mitigations in place

The St. Charles School Board has decided to stay the course regarding the district’s COVID-19 mitigations, but that could change depending on the circumstances, such as another surge of cases.

“District 303 will continue to maintain the mitigation strategies as outlined in our communication to families and staff on Feb. 6,” School Board President Jillian Barker said in an statement Tuesday at an emergency school board meeting. “We will monitor the situation in our schools and community and make adjustments as needed in consultation with the Kane County Health Department.”

The school board decided to make masks optional following a downstate judge’s ruling on Feb. 4 to temporarily restrain the district from enforcing Pritzker’s COVID-19 mask and vaccine mandates. St. Charles and Geneva school districts were among more than 140 school districts around the state named in a lawsuit designed to prevent the school districts from being able to require masks and vaccine mandates.

In filing the lawsuit, parents argued there was no due process in Illinois’ statewide mask order. Illinois State Supreme Court declined to hear Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s appeal of the lawsuit.

At the same time, it vacated the restraining order issued by the lower court, meaning a statewide mask requirement in schools could be instituted in the future. In addition, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Feb. 25 issued new guidelines on universal mask wearing, including in schools. The CDC is now recommending universal masking only in communities where there is high community COVID-19 levels.

According to the Kane County Health Department’s website, Kane County’s COVID transmission level is low. Barker said the board wanted to have a “thorough conversation” regarding the latest COVID-19 rules and did not have any school board meetings scheduled, which is why the board called an emergency meeting.

On March 4, Pritzker issued a new executive order. The order states in part that “schools should continue to collaborate with their local health departments to determine, consistent with CDC guidance, which students, teachers and staff with positive COVID-19 results or exposure should stay home for the health and safety of the school community.”

The executive order also notes that “CDC guidance continues to recommend that individuals who are not up to date on COVID-19 vaccinations or within 90 days of COVID-19 infection stay at home and quarantine for at least five days after exposure to COVID-19 and wear a mask until day 10.”

“We wanted to meet to receive legal counsel to determine how the governor’s executive order would impact us and was there action we needed to take,” Barker said. “In the Illinois State Board of Education’s weekly statement, they said they are working on guidance. I don’t know when or where or what that will look like.”

As the district’s Feb. 6 memo notes, masks are now optional and staff members who are not vaccinated will not have to test weekly.