Students protest mask mandate at Naperville Central (Feb. 14, 2022)
Photo by Jay Deegan/Central Times
Dozens of students who refused to wear a mask were delayed from entering Naperville Central on the morning of Feb. 9.
Around 30 students began to congregate outside the building’s front entrance at 8:50. As more of them started to squeeze toward Door 1, several campus supervisors and administrators, including Dr. Chala Holland, Assistant Superintendent for Secondary Education, and Principal Bill Wiesbrook stepped out of the building to address the students. Several students and teachers crowded inside the front of the school to spectate.
“I chatted with some of those students, who told me it was their intention to not wear masks in the school building at all,” Wiesbrook said. “I explained that it’s a requirement: ‘you won’t be allowed into the school if you refuse to wear a mask.’”
The group grew to about 70 students. They refused to mask as a form of protest against what they say is a mask mandate illegally created by Gov. J.B. Pritzker and illegally enforced by Naperville District 203.
Illinois judge temporarily restrains state-wide school masking, quarantine rules (Feb. 4, 2022)
An Illinois county court judge issued a temporary restraining order against school mask mandates and quarantine orders across the state Friday afternoon.
In a decision on four lawsuits filed against Gov. J.B. Pritzker, the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) and more than 140 public school districts, Sangamon County Judge Raylene Grischow struck down several of the IDPH’s emergency rules, which expedite the process of ordering quarantine for COVID-19 infection and close contact and provide a legal framework school mask mandates.
She also restrained defendants from enforcing the governor’s mask mandate, quarantine and vaccination-or-test executive orders, the last of which applies to school employees.
As of now, Naperville District 203 administrators will consult with attorneys to determine the impact of this ruling on current COVID mitigation efforts, Superintendent Dan Bridges wrote in a Feb. 4 community message.
“We will communicate with you as soon as possible on whether or how this ruling will impact Naperville 203 students and staff,” he wrote. “Thank you in advance for your patience as we review this decision and our plans.”
Photo by Jay Deegan/Central Times
