With Sangamon County Circuit Judge Raylene Grischow having issued a temporary restraining order regarding Illinois COVID procedures in schools, districts across the state are rethinking tpolicies. 

Grischow issued her ruling late Friday afternoon. The order temporarily restrains defendants from enforcing specific executive orders and associated emergency rules by the Illinois Department of Public Health and Illinois State Board of Education relating to indoor mask mandates for students and teachers, and exclusion policies based on close contacts. 

Per this TRO, defendants cannot require students and teachers to mask unless “a lawful order of quarantine (is) issued from their respective health department.” They also cannot require unvaccinated school personnel to submit weekly COVID-19 test results – or to be vaccinated – without providing “due process of law.” 

The judge also ruled that under state law, individuals who are ordered to quarantine have a right to due process. She found excluding individuals from schools, done in cases where one was believed to be a close contact of an individual who tested positive for COVID under executive orders and corresponding agency rules, is a form of quarantine. 

“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,” Grischow wrote in the TRO. 

The TRO was in response to two related lawsuits Grischow was presiding over, the first being filed by parents of students in multiple Illinois school districts, the second being filed by educators across the state. 

Greenville attorney Thomas DeVore represented plaintiffs in both cases. 

Waterloo, Columbia and Valmeyer were among over 140 school districts named as defendants in the first lawsuit. 

Waterloo was the only Monroe County school district named in the educator suit. 

Friday’s ruling left school districts across Illinois scrambling to edit policies, while at the same time knowing they could all once again change in an instant as multiple motions have been filed with the appellate court. 

In emails sent to parents and guardians within their representative districts, Waterloo, Columbia and Valmeyer superintendents announced that masks would be recommended, but no longer required, in response to Grischow’s order. 

This protocol change went into effect Monday. 

Immaculate Conception School Principal Dave Gregson said his school switched to a “masks recommended, but optional,” policy beginning Tuesday at the direction of the Belleville Diocese. 

Masks will be required at the school during church services, volleyball practice and games, school assemblies and on school buses. All visitors entering the building must still don masks, Gregson’s email said. 

Gregson said all other protocols ICS previously held – specifically those regarding testing, quarantines and vaccines – will remain in place. 

Waterloo Superintendent of Schools Brian Charron and Valmeyer Superintendent of Schools Eric Frankford said their districts will continue to enforce mask mandates on school buses, with Frankford citing federal requirement.

Columbia Superintendent of Schools Chris Grode said his district’s policy differs. 

“We are not enforcing masking,” Grode said when asked about buses. “We are encouraging it, but we are not mandating masks.” 

Charron told parents that should their child meet the previous “close contact” criteria, the district will still inform their parents, but this now does not warrant school exclusions. 

“Close contacts will continue to be identified and reported to parents, but students or staff considered to be close contacts will not be excluded from school unless they have or develop symptoms,” Charron wrote in an email to Waterloo families. “This communication will be out of courtesy to parents so they are aware that their child has come in contact with a COVID-positive student or staff member … Any member of our school family that exhibits or develops symptoms will be excluded from school.” 

Frankford said his district is also implementing this policy. 

In a weekend email to Columbia families, Grode noted close contacts would not be excluded from school and in a follow-up update on Monday, the district said families will be made aware if their student was near someone who tested positive for more than 15 minutes within 3 feet. 

Grode encouraged parents to keep their students home should they show symptoms of illness. 

Charron said he anticipates suspending weekly COVID testing until he hears more from the courts. 

Yet, Kelton Davis, regional superintendent of schools for Monroe and Randolph counties, said the ROE will continue offering voluntary SHIELD testing for the rest of this week. 

Some districts in nearby counties who were named as defendants in the lawsuits are taking different masking and close contact exclusion stances. 

Edwardsville announced Sunday it is still requiring masks for the majority of students, with exception to the students named as plaintiffs in the lawsuits. 

These students will also not be excluded as close contacts. 

Both Davis and Rob Swain, an attorney from education law firm Kirha-Boucek who represented many school districts in the recent litigation, explained multiple questions have been raised regarding which districts and students the ruling applies to, and this can influence the protocols districts have decided to implement. 

“I think the main question is the interplay between the judge’s TRO and the judge’s denial of the class certification earlier in the day,” Swain said. 

On Friday before issuing the TRO, Grischow ruled not to certify the class. 

Swain said in most cases, “if there is no class action certified, then a court ruling applies only directly to the parties in the lawsuit.” 

Yet, the TRO’s assertion that certain IDPH Emergency Rules and a section of an ISBE Emergency Rule are “deemed null and void” with the footnotes stating although class certification was denied, “this court has declared IDPH and ISBE’s Emergency Rules void. Thus, non-named Plaintiffs and School Districts throughout this State may govern themselves accordingly” has sparked further confusion as to who must comply with the TRO’s standard. 

DeVore weighed in via a video posted to Facebook. 

“Even though the judge denied the class certification and her TRO as it exists today technically only applies to the students and to the teachers listed … she says that she is finding that the governor nor ISBE nor IDPH nor the school districts have any authority under the law to mandate masks, to exclude kids or to require vaccination or testing without giving due process under the law,” DeVore said. “She says unequivocally that that is her finding and her order. So when she puts in those footnotes that school districts should conduct themselves accordingly, what she’s saying to them is that ‘even though this order, this injunction, may not directly apply to you, I’m still saying what you’re doing if you choose to continue voluntarily is illegal.’” 

DeVore said that now all districts – whether named in the lawsuits or not – who are still enforcing the executive orders and Emergency Rules mentioned in Grischow’s TRO decision are “doing so knowing that it’s been found on a mass scale to be unlawful, and that could expose each and every school to … liability.” 

He continued, “There could be significant liability for school districts to implement and continue to enforce requirements that this court has said violates due process of law.”

With appeals being considered in the case, school districts may soon be changing their policies once again. 

Swain said the attorney general and some school districts have filed appeals. He said it is a fair estimate that the appellate court will rule on the appeal – to uphold Grischow’s ruling, overturn it entirely or modify it – by the middle of next week. 

On Monday, the attorney general filed motions requesting an emergency stay of the order while waiting for the appeal to be heard. If granted, this would mean the TRO would not be enforced while the appeal is pending. 

Should this occur, this may cause districts across the state to reverse course on their COVID policies. 

Sam Haag, a Columbia school district parent and plaintiff in the lawsuit brought forth by parents, said Columbia’s decision to make masks optional showed the ruling granted what he had been advocating for all along. 

“My decision to join the lawsuit was based on (the fact that) I think that children should have the option to wear a mask or not wear a mask,” Haag said. “I’m not 100 percent on board with saying everybody doesn’t have to wear one because everyone’s family has different circumstances. Some people may have families with autoimmune diseases or deficiencies, cancer and things of that nature where they have to be a little bit more safe. So, I think that respectfully we should all honor each other’s opinions.” 

Derek Hawkins, a plaintiff on the parent suit whose child attends school in Waterloo, said he became involved with the suit once his child was almost excluded from school for possibly being a close contact. Yet, he acknowledged a series of frustrations also helped propel him to contact DeVore – namely when he saw restaurants and businesses not requiring masks.

“I began getting frustrated then that basically the only place maintaining a mandate around masks was our school districts and zero due process was being followed for the requirement of masks and our schools were also making the decisions themselves on who would be determined a close contact and deciding themselves to exclude these students from school,” Hawkins said. 

While many community members who were not plaintiffs in the lawsuits expressed satisfaction with the ruling and local districts’ subsequent edited COVID procedures, others said the new procedures cause them to fear for the safety of loved ones. 

“The ISBE states our children are to have a safe learning environment. How can the schools provide that if they are not masking up and (not) following COVID protocols? We have multiple family members who are immunocompromised,” said one Waterloo parent who asked to remain anonymous. 

This parent said while they have emailed Charron about their concerns, they have yet to hear a response. 

“The school needs to be open with the parents who are concerned about their family’s health. They need to give parents an outline of their safety protocols for in-person learning. Is remote learning an option? Right now, they are not providing us with any information,” the parent said. 

Charron told the Republic-Times that as of press time, there is no provision for remote learning, but that the district will work with “families that have extenuating circumstances causing them to elect to keep their children home.” These families should provide a doctor’s note and talk to the school office. 

He said the district is still taking a number of COVID precautions. 

“We continue to make SHIELD testing available to our students and staff and encourage everyone to consider this as a resource for screening for COVID.  We will continue with social distancing at the current time, and continue with daily cleaning. We have consulted with the local health department and will refer anyone with COVID, or that has been exposed to someone with COVID, to the isolation and quarantine recommendations provided by the CDC,” Charron said. “We are hopeful that parents will keep any child home that is exhibiting symptoms of COVID.  This should be the case with any illness. Students that have been sick will not be allowed to return to school until at least 24 hours have passed since having a fever, diarrhea or vomiting. We will consult with the local health department regarding appropriate action when students are sent to school that are actively exhibiting symptoms that may be attributed to COVID.”

Illinois Federation of Teachers President Dan Montgomery and Illinois Education Association President Kathi Griffin expressed discontent with the ruling. Both also said they believe the implications of Grischow’s ruling could threaten the ability to continue in-person learning. 

Given the present educator shortage, Griffin said removing COVID mitigations outlined by Gov. Pritzker, ISBE and IDPH could be especially detrimental. 

“The teacher and education employee shortage is at a crisis level,” Griffin said in a statement. “Schools are shutting down because they do not have enough healthy employees to safely hold classes even though staff continue to give up their plan time and lunches to cover classes.”

“The science is there: masking, along with vaccines, testing, social distancing and quarantining, are the best ways to protect against the virus,” Griffin continued. “Removing any of these protections would be detrimental to our students and staff safety and will almost certainly force schools across the state to close because of a staffing shortage.”  

Click here to read the full temporary restraining order, courtesy of CapitolFax.com.