Reaction to a judge's temporary restraining order on school mask mandates and how some school districts have interpreted the decision have been loud and severe, ranging from a spontaneous parent "honkening" protest in Edwardsville to Gov. JB Pritzker saying the ruling “cultivates chaos."
And there are voices in between.
Constitutional expert Tad Armstong opines that the Edwardsville school district - and any other school district named as a defendant in the mask litigation - honoring Sangamon County Judge Raylene Grischow's Friday ruling only as it applies (in their interpretation) to plaintiffs named in that litigation, are doing so in bad faith.
"It is an insult to every freedom loving resident of the district to exclude non-named plaintiffs," Armstrong said. "They continue to enforce Emergency Rules struck down by the judge in spite of being named as a defendant in the case."
Grischow issued the TRO on Pritzker and the state agencies under his control, forbidding them from enforcing rules ordering public schools to require students, teachers and others to wear masks while in school buildings, without first giving those students and affected adults the opportunity to meaningfully object, as provided under the state’s public health law.
Armstrong said that, especially as to named defendants, they would be well advised to honor the ruling as to all students in their districts who wish to attend maskless unless and until an appellate decision reverses the ruling.
“District 7 is honoring the decision only as to named plaintiffs. 735 ILCS 5/2-407, an Illinois statute, states in pertinent part that ‘new parties may be added... by order of the court...before or after judgment, as the ends of justice may require and on terms which the court may fix,’" Armstrong said. "It seems rather clear that if hundreds or thousands of District 7 parents joined in a motion to add them as plaintiffs, District 7's requirements to attend maskless would be fulfilled and that ‘justice’ may well require that result without incurring filing fees. Just a thought."
Armstrong is an Edwardsville attorney and founder of the constitution study club ELL (Earn It, Learn It or Lose It).
The controversy is set to get a hearing at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday at Madison County's Health Advisory Committee, which will host debate over why some school districts are abiding by the TRO and others are not. Public comment is welcome.
“Some school districts over the weekend made the decision to make masks optional and others have kept them in place,” county chairman Kurt Prenzler said. “The County made its decision July 21, 2021 when the Board passed a resolution recommending to the school districts to give parents a choice on whether their children should wear masks or not.”
Prenzler's release also goes on to state that the Illinois Department of Public Health "is limited by law in delegating its authority only to certified local health departments and is not authorized by the Legislature to delegate any of its authority to any other body of government, including school districts.
“This is exactly why the County Board made the decision that wearing a mask or not in school should be a personal, or parental, choice," Prenzler said.
Some parents are clearly not happy with their school district's interpretation of the TRO.
Around noon on Monday, a group of Edwardsville parents formed a caravan of around a dozen cars and passed by Lincoln Middle School, Woodland Elementary School and the district's administrative building - horns honking - in protest of Edwardsville CUSD Superintendent Patrick Shelton's decision: "Masks will continue to be required for all students and staff unless an individual has been impacted by court ruling or has an approved medical exemption for masking," Shelton told parents in an email late Sunday afternoon.
Vehicles participating in the "honkening" had messages written on windows such as: "Stop hurting our kids. No Mask." A white pickup truck displayed a banner: "Do the right thing. Mask optional."
A spokesperson for Edwardsville CUSD 7 on Monday afternoon said that no students were disciplined today for not complying with the mask rule.
Earlier on Monday at a press conference in Chicago, Pritzker said Judge Grischow's order "cultivates chaos” for parents, children and school leaders across the state, according to a WTTW report.
Pritzker's resistance to the TRO comes at a time when other blue states are considering letting go of school mask mandates, or have formally announced the end.
New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy, Democrat, said today that the state’s school mask mandate for students and staffers would end next month.
And according to a New York Times report, Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf, Democrat, plans to rescind his state’s school mask mandate; Delaware will end its in school mask mandate on March 31; "and the Democratic governors of New York and Connecticut have said that they were re-evaluating school mask mandates that are soon set to expire."
But in his formal statement on the TRO, Pritzker said, “The grave consequence of this misguided decision is that schools in these districts no longer have sufficient tools to keep students and staff safe while COVID-19 continues to threaten our communities – and this may force schools to go remote. This shows yet again that the mask mandate and school exclusion protocols are essential tools to keep schools open and everyone safe. As we have from the beginning of the pandemic, the administration will keep working to ensure every Illinoisan has the tools needed to keep themselves and their loved one’s safe.”
State Rep. Charlie Meier (R-Okawville) said the decision to make school children wear masks should not be made unilaterally by the governor.
"These decisions should be made by local officials," Meier said. "I trust my local elected school boards with this decision more than I trust the decision made by our governor.”
He said that since March 2020 Pritzker has ignored input from the legislature concerning his Covid policies.
"The legislature should have the opportunity to weigh in, however, his Democrat allies controlling the House and Senate won’t help us stop this governor."
Where things goes from here
An appellate court ruling could come as early as next week.
State Attorney General Kwame Raoul has petitioned the Fourth District Appellate Court for relief of the TRO, under rule 307(d).
Defendants Pritzker and state agencies "respectfully request that the appellate court reverse and vacate the circuit court’s order, dissolve the temporary restraining order, and grant
any other appropriate relief," states Raoul's notice of interlocutory appeal.
Plaintiffs in the action, led by attorney Tom Devore of Greenville, have two days from the date the petition is filed to respond with memorandum.
According to the court rule, no replies are allowed and no extensions are allowed unless by court order.
"After the petitioner has filed the petition, supporting record, and any memorandum and the time for filing any responding memorandum has expired, the Appellate Court shall consider and decide the petition within five business days thereafter," the rule says. "Oral argument on the petition will not be heard."
Courts will be closed this Friday, Feb. 11, in observance of Lincoln's birthday.
A three judge panel will be randomly assigned to either uphold or overturn Grischow's TRO.
Justices of the Fourth District, based in Springfield, were all elected as Republicans.