As of April 1, 2025, My Huntley News is no longer publishing new content but remains active for archival use. For those of you with active subscriptions, a prorated reimbursement will be sent to you no later than May 1, 2025. Refunds will be issued to the name and address listed on your subscription. My Huntley News thanks you for your support and readership, and we welcome you to visit White Silo Media's primary publication, My Sun Day News.
Subscribe Subscriber Login Staff/Contact Advertise Submissions Jobs

 

MY HUNTLEY NEWS

THE DOORWAY TO OUR COMMUNITY
 
News Features Sports A&E Columns Hang Your Hat Obituaries Sun City

October 26, 2021

JCAR members hope that ISBE will submit admistrative rules clarifying the mask mandate in schools
JCAR members hope that ISBE will submit admistrative rules clarifying the mask mandate in schools

News • October 26, 2021

Illinois State Board of Education to submit mask enforcement rules for private and public schools

By

HUNTLEY – Back in September, the Illinois Joint Committee on Administrative Rules (JCAR) questioned Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) representatives over their authority to revoke school recognition status and withhold state funding from schools not complying with Gov. JB Pritzker’s Pre-K-12 mask mandate.

Further, members of JCAR had learned at their Sep. 14 meeting that ISBE had been using a different set of rules to enforce Pritzker’s school mask mandate for public and private schools.

Throughout the meeting, Deputy Legal Officer for ISBE Kristen Kennedy continuously cited a December 2020 court ruling made in Hutsonville as the reason why ISBE did not plan on filing administrative rules through JCAR.

“The court in Hutsonville found that the governor’s executive orders requiring schools to comply with certain health measures associated with in-person instruction, including requiring face coverings at schools and guidance issued jointly by ISBE and IDPH (Illinois Department of Public Health) detailing those measures, were lawfully issued and enforceable,” Kennedy had told JCAR members on Sep. 14.

However, both Republican and Democratic members of JCAR asserted that public schools were given a defined time period by ISBE to respond and remediate after being notified of non-compliance, while private schools were allowed virtually no due process.

“During our September JCAR meeting, the committee expressed serious concerns over the lack of due process afforded to nonpublic schools prior to ISBE stripping a school of its recognition status,” said State Senator and JCAR member John Curran (R-Downers Grove).

He continued, “Public schools are placed on probation and are given a defined timeline to respond, yet nonpublic schools are not given that same consideration. This is not about masks; it is about process. We need to ensure that all schools and school children are treated equally and fairly and that school recognition outcomes are not dependent upon what school a child attends.”

In a recent court ruling made in Kendall County, Judge Stephen Krentz ordered ISBE to temporarily reinstate private school Parkview Christian Academy’s state recognition after its recognition was stripped away on the same day the school received notification of non-compliance with the governor’s mask mandate.

“You cannot hold nonpublic schools to a different standard than public schools—that’s just simply not fair to those students,” said State Senator and JCAR member Donald DeWitte (R-St. Charles). “This is the same Governor who took aim at nonpublic schools earlier this year when he tried to significantly reduce funding to the Invest in Kids tax scholarship program, which allows kids in underperforming public schools to attend a higher-achieving nonpublic school. And now, through this latest example of overreach, the Governor and ISBE are once again attacking these schools by denying them due process. It’s just plain wrong.”

Loss of state recognition leads to consequences such as the revocation of students’ ability to participate in Illinois High School Association (IHSA) and Illinois Elementary School Association (IESA) sanctioned sports, among others, according to Curran.

Since the Kendall County court ruling, ISBE appears to have changed its stance on submitting administrative rules and told JCAR members the week of Oct. 18, that ISBE would be filing rules in the coming days.

“JCAR serves an important purpose, as we are responsible for ensuring state agencies do not arbitrarily set policies that do not align with state statute or with legislative intent behind bills that are signed into law,” said DeWitte. “I’m pleased to know that ISBE has reconsidered their position and will be following the proper channels for the creation of their enforcement mechanisms.”

While ISBE appears to have quietly changed course and offered a due process to private schools a few weeks ago, official rules requested by JCAR have not been received as of Oct. 21.

“I hope ISBE stays true to their word and indeed files rules that outline and clarify procedures for mask enforcement that includes identical due process for public and private schools,” DeWitte said.

“We need to see those rules. The Pritzker administration has a track record of arbitrarily changing rules in the middle of the game, so outside of JCAR’s rule-making process, we simply cannot trust that ISBE will continue to provide equal treatment for public and non-public schools with regard to executive order enforcement. They have not earned that trust. We need it in writing, and we need it established within the administrative rules process.”