Today many schoolchildren in Illinois will get to see the smiles of their teachers and classmates in the classroom for the first time in almost two years and Governor JB Pritzker seems angry about it and is trying to stop it despite being up for an election in November.
A local parent Mark Weaver has two daughters. One is 9 years-old the other seven. Ellie is his oldest and Edith is his youngest, and they attend District 87’s Bent Elementary.
After the judge’s decision in Sangamon County placing a temporary restraining order against Pritzker’s executive order. This officially made masking students null and void for over 100 schools, but then the legislation that was forced in afterwards said: “This court has declared IDPH’s Emergency rule void. Any non-named plaintiffs and school districts throughout this state may govern themselves accordingly.”
Rally of teachers at the Unit 5 District Office on Sept. 27 2021 in protest of vaccination and masking mandates
The new ruling has left schools in a scramble to try and address the unlawful masking on children. Unit 5’s school board apparently met to make a decision to wait on the results of an appeal the Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul has filed for, which could take months. Unit 5 has not yet returned for comment on whether that meeting took place.
“The judge [Sangamon County Circuit Court Judge Raylene Grischow] even went on to say the mandate was evil. The level of intimidation that was used to enforce it, and yet it was never actually sustainable,” said Weaver. “No school lost their accreditations, no school lost their ability to participate in Illinois state sports. It was all just a ruse to keep schools in fear. When all this happened [the judges verdict] for our family… we were like ‘Finally we get to have a say.’ In August there was supposed to be a school board meeting to discuss the mask mandate. That same week is when Pritzker came out with his executive order. District 87 was very clear with their communication that ‘due to governor Pritzker’s executive order we are….’ then they went on to explain their mask mandates. For us we thought, ‘Great we have an opportunity as a family, as a community, as a school to pause and figure something out.’ The other thing that is surprising is this has been in legislation for five weeks now,” said Weaver.
A protest outside the Capitol in Springfield in May 2021
But somehow this came as a surprise to many schools. In fact, in an email to D87 employees, the president of the Bloomington Education Association said: “I am sure many of you have questions as do we all. This situation may change quickly if appeals by the governor’s office are acted upon. I will consult with our UniService director and continue to follow IEA guidance as it becomes available. Dr. Reilly has kept me informed of District 87 decisions so far.”
Julie Riley, the BEA president, also urged D87 staff to watch their inboxes in case leadership decided to include teacher input. D87’s elected school board did not meet to discuss the decision to keep masking kids in light of the new ruling.
Pritzker had not-so-happy words for the judge’s decision and quickly urged the state’s attorney general’s office to appeal.
“If somebody said in five weeks we might have to cut your power off, I think I would come up with a plan ‘B’ just in case. For schools that have been caught off guard I would say, ‘I’m sorry you have poor leadership. There easily could have been a school board meeting this past week. Just to say, ‘Hey if this happens we will do this…’ My family and I, we, are very much for the local government to be the local government,” said Weaver. “We are very much for the parents who have elected those local officials, to be heard by those local officials. What happened is we lost that opportunity once, because of this executive order. Then we watched it again, because our district’s superintendent decided to continue to enforce a mandate that’s been deemed evil.”
Weaver said he and his wife had a conversation with both of their daughters and said ‘we are not anti- mask people, we are not anti-science, we are not anti-vax people. We are pro-local government, we are for people having a choice.’
“So we gave our girls the choice. Do you want to wear a mask to school? We gave them all the circumstances. They both said no, this doesn’t make any sense. Something I emailed the district superintendent said is: ‘If my daughter were to date a boy and he had 146 restraining orders against him from a 146 different previous girlfriends, it doesn’t make it okay that my daughter doesn’t have a restraining order yet,” said Weaver. “It just seems like its unwise to want to marry our daughter with someone who’s been deemed evil with his decision making ability.”
At about 9am this morning, Feb. 7, the Weaver girls were approached by their principal about them not wearing their masks. According to Mark Weaver they were brought to the principal’s office and they contacted his wife.
“The principal spoke to my wife regarding them not understanding what’s going on. Actually we think they have a pretty good understanding especially for their ages. They’ve been a part of these conversations back in August. The principal said they either have to wear a mask or they will be sent home. My wife just said, ‘Let my daughters know if they want to choose to participate in school today that they are going to have to wear a mask. If they don’t want to wear a mask they could go to work with her today and learn there.’ The principal gave them both that ultimatum,” said Weaver.
Weaver’s oldest daughter wanted to go to school. For her, wearing a mask that was her ticket to having an education and spending time with her friends.
“I could not be more proud of my daughter for making that hard decision,” said Weaver.
Weaver’s younger daughter made an equally tough decision and left Bent Elementary to stay with her mother at work.
“They both made very difficult decisions today. They were both given an ultimatum, it’s a shame they both were not given a choice,” said Weaver.
Over 1,000 Illinois schools went mask optional today, including Heyworth, Olympia, Dunlap, Rockford and Tremont. Pontiac District 429 said they had yet to make a decision, as of this morning.
Out of 50 states only 11 have statewide mask mandates for preK- 12, Illinois was one of the 11…but with the ruling it is void. It being… IDPH’s “state of emergency” as controlled by the mandate Executive Order of Pritzker.
The winning attorney Thomas DeVore, who was called a grifter by Pritzker, said the TRO technically only applies to the main plaintiffs today. Technically is based off the interpretation of a clause within the 30-page ruling.
“But her [the judge’s] ruling, the lawful ruling, is still telling school districts you can’t do what you are doing…it is illegal. Your school districts, here is the conversation they are having, ‘Are we going to continue to require this stuff in our school district? Because what we are doing…is illegal, according to this judge,” said DeVore in a Facebook video.
The Bloomington police have said they are meeting as a team to discuss the enforcement of the ruling.
Right now the hashtag “#grifterwins” is loaded with smiling, mask less faces of students across the state.
“There is a conversation on how are you going to treat people who continue to wear masks? I think those people…they just want the choice. No one would ever want to ban mask wearing. If that were to happen that would be an atrocity to freedom as well. There’s a choice and our school district said that they are going to forfeit that choice until something is appealed. One way or another it just shows a lack of foresight. This is not going to be held up in courts for a very long time for an appeal process. What do you think is going to happen if that appeal if and when is held up? Do you not think Thomas DeVore is going to fight for these schools once more and go through that whole process again? This is something that has to be handled at a local level, because its going to be tied in the courts for a very long time by a billionaire in Chicago who is dictating decisions for school districts for some who only have 400 kids. It doesn’t make sense. “
Weaver said he and his daughter are going to keep testing the waters.
We can very well explore other education options as well,” said Weaver.
Cities received reports of at least on high school student from Normal West being sent home due to following the court ruling.
