Judge issues temporary restraining order against school mask mandate

By: 
STAFF REPORT

A judge in downstate Sangamon County has issued a ruling in favor of parents in a lawsuit filed last fall to end the state’s mask mandate.

Sangamon County Circuit County Judge Raylene De Witte Grischow issued the ruling late Friday afternoon, granting a temporary restraining order to stop districts from enacting the governor’s school mask mandate.

The lawsuit was filed in October by downstate attorney Thomas DeVore on behalf of parents in more than 145 school districts across the state, including Wilmington and Elwood.

Gov. JB Pritzker declared an emergency due to COVID-19 in March 2020, and has since issued 25 disaster proclamations and 99 executive orders related to the pandemic. Included in those orders was a mask mandate for all public schools in the state, which was issued last summer.

Parents named in the lawsuit are seeking relief from that order requiring masking in schools.

Per the order, the state is temporarily restrained from “ordering school districts require the use of masks for students and teachers who occupy their buildings, if they object, except during the terms of lawful order of quarantine issued from their respective health department, in accordance with the IDPH Act” and from “ordering school districts to require persons who are both unvaccinated and  work in Illinois schools to provide weekly negative results of an approved COVID-19 test or be vaccinated if they object in order to occupy the school building without first providing them due process of law” and “ordering school districts to refuse admittance to their buildings for teachers and students for specified periods of time if the teacher or student is deemed a ‘close contact’ of a confirmed probable COVID-19 case without providing due process to that individual if they object, unless the local health department has deemed the individual a close contact after following the procedures outlined in 20 ILCS 2305 and 77 Ill. Adm. Code 690.1330.”

Parents from districts Wilmington 209-U and Elwood 203 joined the lawsuit last fall.

The lawsuit contends that school districts have “implemented and are illegally enforcing the exclusion directives” issued by Gov. JB Pritzker and enforced by the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH), the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE).

The filing argues that state law requires that “no person may be ordered to be quarantined or isolated except with the consent of the person or upon the prior order of a court of competent jurisdiction” and that “to obtain a court order, local health department or IDPH, by clear and convincing evidence, must prove that the public’s health and welfare are significantly endangered by a person, that is suspected of having, that has been exposed to, or that is reasonably believed to have been exposed to a dangerously contagious or infectious disease.”

The lawsuit further argues that masking and exclusion from school are both forms of quarantine.

Following the ruling, DeVore issued a statement on social media, saying that the governor’s orders were an attempt to remove the state judiciary from oversight matters related to quarantine orders by using executive orders and emergency rules incorrectly.

“The Plaintiffs have due process rights under the law which provide them a meaningful opportunity to object to any such mitigations being levied against them, and it is these due process rights which are being continually violated,” DeVore wrote.

Pritzker released a statement late Friday calling the ruling misguided, and vowing to take swift action to appeal the ruling.

“The grave consequence of this misguided decision is that schools in these districts no longer have sufficient tools to keep students and staff safe while COVID-19 continues to threaten our communities – and this may force schools to go remote,” Pritzker said.

The lawsuit versus Wilmington 209U was filed by DeVore on behalf of Kasey and Jeremiah Martin, Marissa and Gregory Hall, Cara Devens, Elizabeth Del Real, Brandi and David Schlieper, Nicole and Joel Marchio, Jessica Turk, and Samantha Smith, and on behalf of their minor children.

In Elwood, the lawsuit was filed by Danielle and Ryan Keuch, Jodi Bruno, Heidi Fullriede, Danielle Grencik, and Vanessa Rossolille, and on behalf of their minor children.

All the parents listed in the suit filed for themselves “as well as on behalf of all other parents and guardians of students similarly situated,” the lawsuit states.

Illinois is one of 13 states that still requires masks for children attending public schools.

The order will remain in effect pending trial or until the result of the appeal.

Per the order, “Any non-named Plaintiffs and School Districts throughout this State may govern themselves accordingly.”