UPDATE: St. Charles School District 303 has cancelled classes for Monday, following Geneva schools. The District 303 School Board has scheduled an emergency meeting to discuss the situation.
In response to the ruling of a downstate judge declaring a temporary restraining order on Governor JB Pritzker’s mask mandate for schools, Geneva School District 304 announced this afternoon that it will be taking an “emergency day” to determine how to navigate the rather murky situation.
In a statement issued today on the District 304 website, the district declared there will be no school on Monday:
“EMERGENCY DAY – NO SCHOOL ON MONDAY, FEB. 7 —Geneva School District is implementing an Emergency Day on Monday, February 7 in to work on our mitigation plans in response to a court ruling issued Friday. There will be no in-person or virtual learning for students, and the day will be made up at the end of the school year. Please check your email or the District website for complete information regarding this situation. Thank you.”
At issue is how to deal with a Friday ruling from a Sangamon County judge issuing a temporary restraining order on the Governor’s mask mandate for schools, arguing that such a mandate violates due process protections. The ruling also accused Pritzker of trying to do an end-run around the issue by having the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) issue the policies, rather than the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH).
“IDPH passed the buck to schools so as not not trigger the due process protections under [state law],” Grischow wrote. “IDPH cannot delegate its duties and responsibilities to ISBE and then stand on the sidelines with its hands in the air, saying, ‘it wasn’t us. We didn’t exclude kids. We didn’t mandate vaccines. We didn’t implement a mask mandate…the schools did.’”
Governor Pritzker immediately announced that he would seek an “expedited appeal” from an appellate court to stay the judge’s ruling.
Geneva parent Ashlee White, curator of the “Reopen Illinois Schools – D304” Facebook page, reacted to the district’s action with contempt.
“They are canceling school tomorrow and taking an emergency day. Unbelievable. D304’s administration is weak and that is reflected in the performance of our schools the last two years. The board preaches transparent communication but never shows that. We are marching tomorrow morning. See you then.”
