Between mask mandates, vaccine and testing requirements and ever-evolving legal precedent, schools have been put in a tough position once again this academic year. 

Yet, at the Columbia School Board meeting Thursday, Superintendent Chris Grode encouraged board members and attendees to look at the positive. 

“Last year at this time, we were talking about coming back to remote and hybrid,” Grode said. “We’re in session, (and) we’re in session all day. We actually have teachers involved in (personal development) and we have the normal training going on at the schools … I just want to make sure this glass in front of us is seen as half-full, because we’re getting there.” 

This is not to say not much was made of challenges the district faces this year, however. While calmer than Waterloo’s meeting on Sept. 20, concerns about the schools’ COVID protocols were still discussed. 

In fact, Grode told meeting attendees the executive session immediately following the open meeting would center on how the district would navigate employee personnel issues in the wake of COVID-19 Executive Order No. 88, which requires school personnel to either be fully vaccinated or submit to weekly testing. 

On Friday, Grode disclosed that, per the advice of legal counsel, Columbia’s stance is it cannot restrict one’s employment on the basis of not receiving the vaccine or not receiving weekly testing per the state’s Health Care Right of Conscience Act. 

In contrast, Waterloo is taking a different stance. Because this act is not specifically named in Gov. JB Pritzker’s executive order or the Illinois School Board Association’s related emergency rules, Waterloo Superintendent Brian Charron said his district will not be subscribing to this interpretation. 

COVID-19 Executive Order No. 88 is not the only contentious mandate Pritzker has imposed in schools, and therefore was not the only one discussed at Thursday’s meeting. 

Stacey Halteman, a district parent, addressed the board regarding two recent legal developments. 

Citing two articles, one from the Madison St. Clair Record and one published by the Centralia/Mt. Vernon Sentinel, Halteman recounted how two different judges imposed restraining orders against school districts regarding mask mandates. Both cases were argued by attorney Thomas DeVore of Greenville. 

The first Halteman mentioned was Montgomery County Circuit Judge Douglas Jarman’s ruling that a school could not make students wear masks without an order of quarantine from the local health department. Jarman issued a temporary restraining order for students of the plaintiffs against Teutopolis Unit 50 School District and its superintendent.

In the second ruling Halteman mentioned, which was handed down the same day as the Teutopolis one, Clinton County Circuit Judge Don Sheafor granted a restraining order against Carlyle School District No. 1 and its superintendent on this same basis. This one, however, was applicable to all students of the respective district.

Halteman, citing the Sentinel article, explained that the Joint Committee on Administrative Rules unanimously voted that Illinois State Board of Education does not have the authority to end recognition status to punish non-compliant schools. 

As the Republic-Times previously reported, ISBE-imposed sanctions were an instrumental factor in many schools’ decisions to comply. 

“When are we going to stand up to the Illinois State Board of Education?” Halteman asked the board, previously stating. “It’s not just one or two schools. There are 60 schools that were placed on probation because they’re fighting back against the mask mandate. We need to join the fight, not just sit on the sidelines and be spectators.” 

Grode said that “most recently, the masks have been included as a type of exclusion  or quarantine measure,” also a topic of discussion amongst board members Thursday. 

As Eagleview’s April Becherer reminded the board during the building report, parents currently must find tests to keep close contact children in school under the test-to-stay option. 

“Kids can test on days 1, 3, 5 and 7 and as long as they remain non-symptomatic and negative on those four days, they do not miss a single day of school,c Becherer summarized test-to-stay. “Our parents have been amazing with this because they have to go find these tests currently by themselves.” 

Grode said as of right now, he is hoping to offer SHIELD testing to students soon to help satisfy the test-to-stay requirement. He estimated the district will send an email sometime this week or next asking parents about their interest in children getting tested on a strictly volunteer basis. Before this email is sent, Grode must first make sure the Regional Office of Education is able to supply tests for both school personnel – who are presently able to participate in the testing – and students who need to test-to-stay. 

On Thursday, the board also held a public hearing for the 2021-22 school budget. Grode stressed the budget is tentative and can be a difficult undertaking. 

“The last few years have been what I call extremely variable,” Grode said. “It’s hard to really budget and you have to just plan for the worst, and so historically we have always ended up in a better financial place than what we budgeted, and I expect the same this year.”

Despite the educational, operations and maintenance, municipal retirement/social security, capital projects and fire prevention and safety all being in the red, each of the district’s ending fund balances are expected to be positive. 

The budget reflects a $790,428 deficit in the education fund, with the district is predicting $15,921,954 in expenditures and $15,131,526 in revenues as a worst-case scenario. With this, the district expects to have $6,942,135 in its education fund at the end of this fiscal year. 

“That is in a very strong place,” Grode said of this figure. “Columbia has been managed very well fiscally and we intend to keep it that way.” 

The second-largest deficit is expected to be the fire prevention and safety fund, which is predicted to be $229,089 in the red. After the meeting, Grode explained this is because money that can go toward some of these projects is very limited in its use. 

The budget estimates the district will be in the red by $115,000 for its capital projects fund, with an ending balance of $738,832. It also expects a $64,100 deficit in municipal retirement/social security and a $28,902 deficit in operations and maintenance. 

The school board also discussed projected enrollment increases. Grode said based on discussions with the city, they are expecting to see approximately 800 new families in the next 10 years. 

“The city is going to be doing strategic plans so we’re going to try to get in on those discussions as well as we move forward, because 800 new families would put us in a position where we would not be able to house them in our current facilities. The good news is that financially we are in a good place for that,” Grode told the board. 

In other business, the district approved which electrical upgrades at the high school they would put the State Maintenance Grant funding toward. 

Grode explained under this program, the state matches up to $50,000. 

The Columbia School Board will next meet at 7 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 21.