Rock Falls High School keeps COVID-19 mitigations in place

ROCK FALLS — Rock Falls High School elected Monday to keep its COVID-19 mitigations in place — including the wearing of masks by students and staff — and informed students, staff and parents by letter.

Superintendent Ron McCord said its stance was made after consulting with legal counsel.

On Friday, a Sangamon County judge issued a temporary restraining order in a lawsuit challenging more than a hundred school districts and Gov. JB Pritzker over mask requirements.

The state’s attorney general has said it intends to appeal the ruling to the 4th District of the state’s Appellate Court.

McCord said the lawsuit does not apply to RFHS at this time and the district will continue to abide by rules set by the Illinois State Board of Education until those mitigations are dropped or ruled invalid for all schools by an appeals court or by the state Supreme Court.

“Until then, I again ask for your patience and continued help to make this the best year possible for all,” McCord wrote. “While it has been difficult at times, we will continue to push through this together.”

Most schools in the immediate vicinity have adopted mask optional policies until the matter works its way through the courts. Sterling Public Schools recommended the continued use of masks, but will not require them. Dixon Public Schools said it would not enforce the mask mandate. Catholic schools attached to parishes in the Rockford Diocese also not enforce mask mandates and allow students identified as close contacts to return to class if they have no symptoms.

Two districts named in the lawsuit, Erie and River Bend in Fulton, both said on Sunday they would comply with the order by Judge Raylene Grischow that nullifies Pritzker’s August requirement that masks be worn in schools.