Fourth Judicial Circuit Chief Judge Judge Douglas Jarman on Wednesday ruled against Teutopolis Unit 50 School District and its superintendent Matthew Sturgeon over the Effingham County school district's mask requirement.
Jarman granted a temporary restraining order in a case brought by parents Eric Pals, Jacob and Christina Thompson and Greg and Rosina Esker who argued their children were being unlawfully forced to wear masks at school.
Their attorney Thomas DeVore of Greenville, who has filed a slew of COVID-19-related lawsuits against Gov. JB Prtizker over shutdown orders and more recent ones involving the governor's school mask mandate, explained in an interview with Edgar County Watchdogs that a requirement to wear masks is a form of quarantine. He said that such a requirement, by law, requires consent of a parent or a court order.
DeVore also said that the Teutopolis School District initially adopted a mask recommendation policy, per CDC guidelines, but that "under the threat of the suspension of recognition status" the district implemented the mandate, under protest.
Pritzker issued the mask order on Aug. 4, requiring all Illinois school districts to comply with health guidance from the Illinois Department of Public Health and the Illinois Board of Education (ISBE), in an effort to mitigate the spread of the virus that causes COVID-19.
Jarman's temporary restraining order will be in effect for 30 days.
"Plaintiffs have shown there exists a clearly ascertainable right in need of protection, namely that the Children, while on school property, are being forced to utilize a device to allegedly prevent the spread of an infectious disease without a lawful order of quarantine having issued against them by the local health department," Jarman wrote.
He also wrote that plaintiffs have shown there is a fair question they will succeed on the merits "in that the Children cannot be required to utilize a device to allegedly prevent the spread of an infectious disease absent...an order of quarantine issuing against any or all of the Children from the local health department."
Jarman further wrote that there was nothing in his order precluding the Effingham County Health Department from issuing a lawful order of quarantine against any or all children "which could compel them to utilize a device to prevent the spread of an infectious disease."
Sturgeon has not responded to a request for comment.
Meanwhile, a proposal introduced in Springfield last month by State Rep. Edgar Gonzalez Jr. (D-Chicago) would give the ISBE the authority to issue, withhold and revoke state recognition of schools who fail to comply with COVID-19 health regulations.
According to reporting by the Illinois Policy Institute, the bill was filed after 60 Illinois schools had already been placed on probation or had their recognition withdrawn by ISBE for voting to make masks optional in defiance of Pritzker’s mandate.
"Critics of the legislation now suggest it represents an admission by state leaders that ISBE does not yet possess the authority to punish schools for ignoring the governor’s executive order," the report says.