SHERRARD, Ill. — Face masks are now optional in Sherrard schools following a 6-1 vote from the school board Monday night, Feb. 7.
The vote came just days after a Sangamon County Judge Raylene Grischow placed a temporarily restraining order on 145 Illinois school districts, blocking them from issuing COVID-19 mitigations.
Wearing a mask will be optional for students and staff effective immediately on Sherrard campuses, but the district will mandate masks on buses and in the driver's education car per federal requirements. The schools also continue to follow the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's isolation guidelines for COVID-19-positive students, both symptomatic and asymptomatic.
The Sherrard School Board also voted to abide by all Illinois High School Association and Illinois Elementary School Association guidelines.
"This could mean that students will have to wear masks during competitions to avoid any interruption of our extracurricular activities," Superintendent Alan Boucher said.
More than 30 parents and students attended Monday's school board meeting to voicing concerns and opinions, but no one spoke against the optional indoor masking rule.
"What we really want the board to do is make a decision one way or another and stick with (its) decision," one Sherrard parent said.
Changes in Sherrard schools could be temporary depending on an appellate court appeal. Gov. J.B. Pritzker said Monday that those involved in the lawsuit should continue to mandate face masks.
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Illinois schools, Pritzker said during a news conference, "should continue to follow the prescribed public health protocols which have proven to reduce school exclusion rates and have made it possible for our kids to continue learning safely in person."
Other Quad Cities area school districts, such as Rock Island-Milan and Galesburg, have chosen to keep the indoor mask mandate in place because the restraining order was temporary.
Boucher argued the Sherrard School District doesn't not need to follow the state's mask requirements for schools. However, the district will be required to reassess its mask policies if the judge's ruling is stayed or reversed, Sherrard School Board President Rhys Fullerlove said.