Kankakee County School District Rolls Back Mask Mandate Again
The St. Anne Grade School Board in rural Kankakee County has voted to ignore Governor JB Pritzker’s mask mandate in schools for a second time.
A rural Kankakee County school district is once again facing penalties from the state after voting to ignore the Governor’s school mask mandate for a second time.
The school board for St. Anne Grade School, a rural community of about 1,200 around 90 minutes south of Chicago voted for a second time this week to make masks optional for teachers, staff, and students.
More from the Kankakee Daily-Journal:
I think the majority of the board felt that it was time to give the choice back to the parents and the people of District 256,” said [Jed] Beaupre, board president.
“These mandates are ridiculous,” he added.
The district administration still is recommending following the mandate, he said.
There was discussion to bring the matter to another vote during the September board meeting, but that didn’t happen until the Nov. 29 meeting.
Beaupre said the board might have taken action sooner, but it delayed making any decisions because the district was one of about 150 across the state named in a class-action lawsuit about pandemic rules.
As for the looming threats from ISBE regarding losing state recognition? That is a concern for another day.
“I’m sure it is in the back of our minds, but we will deal with that as it comes,” Beaupre said.
The school board originally voted to make masks optional, then reversed course after the district was placed “on probation” by the State Board of Education, and renewed its efforts this week over the objection of administrators.
In a letter to the school district Wednesday, State Superintendent Carmen Ayala again threatened the district with probation, which could lead to a loss of state funding, loss of accreditation by the state, and the inability to participate in sports.
The latest figures from the State Board of Education show just one other district in the state, Hutsonville in Crawford County, is on state probation. Seven private schools have been recommended for nonrecognition due to failure to recognize the Governor’s Executive Order.