Illinois teachers union urges schools to wait to change their COVID safety plans

The Illinois Education Association, the state’s largest union, is urging schools to stick with their current COVID safety plans until after the appellate court rules on a recent court order that allows some students and staff to forgo mitigations like masks, quarantines, vaccines and test.

On Friday, Sangamon County Judge Raylene Grischow granted a temporary restraining order that exempts students involved in the complaint from having to wear masks in class and staff members from having to be vaccinated or submit to a weekly COVID test.

Both masking and the requirement to either vaccinate or be tested were implemented by executive orders from Gov. J.B. Pritzker in the fall. Pritzker and Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul have filed an appeal.

The Fourth Appellate Court has not yet issued an opinion. Until then, the temporary restraining orders remain in effect.

Illinois Education Association Vice President Al Llorens issued a statement Tuesday afternoon, urging schools to stand by their existing mitigation plans until the appellate court rules.

“Our students thrive on consistency and the last two years have been anything, but consistent,” he said. “We do not want another disruption to our students’ learning while we are still working to bridge the learning gap created by the pandemic. That’s why we believe our school districts should not make any rash decisions changing COVID safety requirements until after this process plays out in our court system.

“Our educators should be focused on their students - not worrying about health and safety. We’ve been able to keep our schools open with these safety measures in place. We know that in person learning is the best way for our students to learn and we should be doing everything we can to continue to meet in person. While we wait for the appellate court’s decision, we think it’s important to focus on working with parents to provide our students the best education possible. The only way we got through the last two years was by working together, and we need to continue to do so. Our students deserve a team of parents, community members, educators and other stakeholders behind them.”

While Grischow’s ruling specifies that only the individuals named in the lawsuits were granted temporary restraining orders, districts are reacting to the news in different ways.

Some of the nearly 170 school districts affected by one or both of the court cases have opted to make masks optional for everyone, not just the students in the lawsuit. Others are still enforcing the rules for anyone not in the lawsuit.

Even school districts who are not named in the lawsuit are reacting, with many of them reiterating that the mask mandate will remain in place.

This story was originally published February 8, 2022 at 3:58 PM.