North Cook News

New Trier High School District 203 officials are facing criticism over the way leaders came to their decision to make masks optional at the school.

“Way to lead from behind @NewTrier203,” Emma Woodhouse tweeted. “We have no legal standing to keep forcing masks, yet we are going to pretend like #MaskChoice is our decision.”

On Feb. 18, Superintendent Paul Sally sent a message to families expressing “we currently are operating under a Board resolution that requires indoor masking, so we need to wait for Board action before moving to mask optional. As outlined in my letter to families on Feb. 6, we have been working on a pathway to mask choice at New Trier. To that end, at its regular meeting on Tuesday, February 22, the Board of Education is scheduled to vote on a resolution that will make masks optional at New Trier starting on Wednesday, February 23.

In issuing her ruling earlier this month that ruled the governor’s emergency orders calling for school masking “null and void,” Sangamon County Circuit Judge Raylene Grischow asserted Illinois law designates IDPH the “supreme authority” in matters of quarantine and isolation, not the governor. She added IDPH is mandated to adhere to standards outlined under the Illinois Department of Public Health Act, including where it pertains to due process requirements.

With the governor having already moved to appeal the ruling, Senate Minority Leader Dan McConchie (R-Hawthorn Woods) argues the fact that he is now easing the mask mandate on nearly everyone but students proves his motivations are more about maintaining power. Pritzker said he plans to lift the general statewide indoor mask mandate by month’s end.

Since Grischow’s ruling has gone into effect, more than 550 Illinois school districts have gone “fully mask optional” as litigation on the issue remains outstanding. The judge has also already denied motions in separate cases for there to be class status, meaning the temporary restraining order she issued would stand to only impact the plaintiffs and the school districts that are part of the lawsuit.

Grischow also recently ordered Chicago Public Schools CEO Pedro Martinez to appear before the court to face a contempt of court complaint.

"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.

Having already filed suit against at least 145 school districts on behalf of parents across the state opposed to masking, attorney Tom DeVore has also 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. CPS is the country’s third-largest district with more than 347,000 students.

On the day following Grischow’s ruling, parents at Hinsdale Central High told the DuPage Policy Journal school officials there were still isolating students who refused to wear masks in the school auditorium. In reaction, DeVore has vowed to start pursuing criminal complaints for contempt of court against school districts who abuse the rights of plaintiffs in 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.”