Parents voice concerns over the quarantining of healthy students in D158
HUNTLEY – On Sep. 17, Gov. JB Pritzker issued a new executive order amending portions to the previously issued Executive Order 2021-24 (COVID-19 Executive Order NO. 90).
The new Executive Order features updated language for “Exclusion Mandates for Confirmed, Probable, and Close Contacts of COVID-19 Cases in Schools.”
In light of Attorney Tom DeVore winning several court cases where school districts excluded students without a court-ordered quarantine, the new Executive Order clarified that schools have the authority “to refuse admittance to the School premises, extracurricular events or any other events organized by the School, regardless of whether an isolation or quarantine order issued by a local health department has expired or has not been issued.”
Furthermore, on Sep. 17, the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) filed an emergency administrative rule to aid in the implementation of the Executive Order. IDPH noted that definitions of “Isolation, Modified” and “Quarantine, Modified” have been eliminated from the Communicable Disease Code to clarify that “exclusion from school is not considered isolation or quarantine.”
The McHenry County Department of Health (MCDH) did not wish to comment on the governor’s Executive Orders, however, in its P-12 Interim School Guidance, MCDH states that schools are “expected to medically exclude students, staff, and teachers,” suspected of being probable cases, close contacts, and displaying symptoms of COVID-19. MCDH makes direct references to the governor’s Executive Orders and IDPH’s emergency administrative rule.
Alex LeMoine, Director of Communications and Public Relations for Huntley Community School District 158 (D158), confirmed that the district follows MCDH’s quarantine options for students based on rates of transmission in the county.
As of Sep. 29, D158 lists on their COVID-19 Metrics Dashboard that seven staff members and 69 students are in isolation. 91 students are in quarantine due to having been in close contact with a positive COVID-19 case.
Parents of students in the district have taken varying stances on how they feel regarding the quarantine.
Some parents like Carrie Schumacher, support district staff and the Board of Education (BOE) by doing everything they can to keep students healthy and in-person learning.
“I have four kids at four different District 158 schools this year and I came here tonight (Sep. 16) to say thank you for all you’re doing to keep our kids in the classroom,” Schumacher told attendees at the Sep. 16 D158 BOE meeting. “As a former educator who’s married to a current educator, I can appreciate the nuanced challenges you’re navigating. I know it can seem like no matter what you do or say you’ll wind up disappointing the people you’re here to represent. So, I just wanted to come tonight to say we see you and we thank you.”
Other parents like Corine Burns, were very much opposed to the district’s continuance in following Pritzker’s Executive Orders.
“I just had my first-grade son in quarantine for 10 days from school and 14 days from the bus. A quarantine is defined as removing and isolating a child. Removing children from the classroom due to exposure while parents are contacted is not the proper process. This must be done by an order of the McHenry County Health Department. Until a parent has signed a 48-hour order, [children] can be in the classroom and should not be removed,” said Burns.
Burns explained at the Sep. 16 BOE meeting that she had notified the school principal of her plans of bringing her son back into the building before completing the full 10-day exclusion period.
“[The principal] told me he wouldn’t be allowed in the classroom if I did this. Parents are being bullied into quarantining their healthy children out of fear. Again, as the schools have been saying, if you bring your children before the 10-or 14-day period, they will not let them in the building or they will call the police,” said Burns. “I encourage the district to follow a legal precedent and stop unlawful quarantine of healthy children and I encourage every parent to stand up and say no and send your healthy children to school.”
D158 Superintendent Scott Rowe followed up on the comments made by Burns by stating that the district is just as frustrated with the process of quarantine.
“We want nothing more than for our students to be in school and not have to quarantine. For these reasons, we built our entire return to school plan around the test to stay option because we finally have the resources available to us to know if a close contact is actually developing symptoms or not, and it’s been extremely challenging for us and frustrating that we haven’t been able to use those in every situation,” said Rowe.
Rowe made it a point to explain that some of the information regarding the quarantine process shared by Burns is not accurate.
“We’re carrying out that quarantine on [the health department’s] behalf as a cooperative partner and they have actually issued those 48-hour mandates if a family is refusing to quarantine and what happens is the school district then not only has the responsibility and the obligation but also has the administrative backing of the state school code to once that 48-hour quarantine is issued to exclude a student from school,” said Rowe. “That’s the line that is drawn with the state Board of Education, but as educators and people, it’s the last thing we want to do. I just hope our community understands that this is not an enjoyable practice for us.”
