After legislative panel rules, Rock Falls High makes masks optional

ROCK FALLS — Rock Falls High School enacted a mask optional policy effective on Wednesday, one of the last area schools to do so.

It was in evidence on Wednesday during the regular meeting of the board of education. There were many faces now uncovered in that forum for the first time in months.

Until Wednesday, the district had held the line on upholding mitigations and mandates issued by Gov. JB Pritzker and the Illinois State Board of Education.

Merle Gaulrapp, right, president of the Rock Falls High School board of education, convenes Wednesday night's session, sitting alongside Superintendent Ron McCord. The district instituted a mask optional policy for students, teachers and staff on Wednesday in light of action by a state legislative judicial committee that chose not to renew emergency rules that validated Gov. JB Pritzker's order on masks while related lawsuit was still in the courts. (Troy Taylor)

On Wednesday, Pritzker even said his executive order pertaining to schools remained in place, at least in districts not named in a lawsuit filed in Sangamon County contesting the COVID-19 mitigations.

It was a judge’s decision on Feb. 5 from that lawsuit to call for a temporary restraining order on school districts named in the lawsuit not to enforce the governor’s mask mandate. By Feb. 7, however, many other school districts in Illinois — Sterling and Dixon included — that chose to do the same. And the attorney general had filed an appeal with the Fourth District Court seeking relief from the restraining order.

At the time, Rock Falls said as it was not a named defendant that it would continue to follow guidance from the governor and the ISBE.

But the Joint Committee on Administrative Rules voted Wednesday not to renew emergency rules meant to validate the governor’s order.

With that, Rock Falls decided to switch to a mask optional.

“We were waiting on the appellate court to rule,” said Superintendent Ron McCord after the board meeting. “When you read the comments by the committee members on that JCAR meeting, everything was ‘Masks are no longer required.’”

McCord acknowledged there is controversy that accompanies that, but “We are optional as of today.”