Clinton County Circuit Judge Don Sheafor on Wednesday granted a temporary restraining order against Carlyle School District 1 and superintendent Annie Gray over the district's student mask mandate.
Sheafor's ruling mirrors a Sept. 15 order adopted by Montgomery County Circuit Judge Douglas Jarman involving a group of parents who sued Teutopolis School District 50 over its mandate. Sheafor's TRO, however, goes further to include all students of the Carlyle school district.
"While the Children are on school property, the Defendants, are enjoined from requiring any or all of the Children who attend within the school district to utilize any type of device, including a mask, for the purposes of allegedly preventing the spread of an infectious disease unless an order of quarantine has issues (sic) against any or all of the Children from the local county health department as required by the Illinois State Board of Education," Sheafor wrote.
Plaintiffs' attorney Thomas DeVore of Greenville - who has filed numerous constitutional claims against Gov. JB Pritzker's lockdown orders, and now school mask mandates - proposed the order.
The crux of the argument in plaintiffs Nicholas and Brandi Gehrs' lawsuit against the Carlyle school district is that a mask mandate requires an order of quarantine from the Clinton County Health Department, "which could compel them to utilize a device to prevent the spread of an infectious disease."
Sheafor's order is effective 30 days until 9 a.m. on Oct. 15.
Pritzker issued his mask mandate 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.
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Institute, the bill was filed after 60 Illinois schools had already been placed on probation or had their recognition withdrawn by ISBE for voting to make masks optional in defiance of Pritzker’s mandate.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.