SE Illinois News

State Rep. Adam Niemerg (R-Dieterich) is elated to see Father McGivney Catholic High School President Rev. Jeffrey Goeckner following a judge's ruling against mask mandates in schools.

Niemerg posted a link on his Facebook page to a Metro East Sun story that reported that Father McGivney Catholic High School in Glen Carbon is now mask-optional. 

"Very proud of Bishop Creek Native Father Jeff Goeckner,” Niemerg posted.

Gov. J.B. Pritzker's mandates for masks in schools and vaccines and/or testing for school staff members was met with separate lawsuits from parents and education professionals.

In rendering the ruling that put a temporary restraining order in place, Sangamon County Circuit Court Judge Raylene Grischow on Feb. 4 established that the governor’s orders essentially ignored the matter of due process of law. She later blasted the bureaucratic maneuvering as a “type of evil” that the law was meant to repress.

In asserting that all non-named districts are free to govern themselves accordingly, Grischow ordered districts to “temporarily halt requiring masks and excluding children from school and stop requiring vaccines or testing for teachers, unless there’s individual due process.”

The suit was filed on behalf of more than 700 parents across the state by attorney Thomas DeVore. The filing named roughly 170 school districts, the Pritzker administration and state education officials as plaintiffs.

Soon after the verdict was rendered, Pritzker announced he would seek an expedited appeal in the Fourth District Illinois Appellate Court.

“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,” Pritzker said. “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 ones safe.”

Niemerg points the finger of blame squarely in Pritzker’s direction.

“He seems to forget that he’s the one that tells parents that they have to mask their kids or nurses have to choose between vaccination or a job and he shut down businesses, not COVID,” Niemerg told The Center Square.

Even as he’s announced plans to lift the state mask mandate by the end of the month, Pritzker stands firm on the mask mandate where schools are concerned.

“Schools need a little more time for community infection rates to drop, for our youngest learners to become vaccine eligible and for more parents to get their kids vaccinated,” he said.

A bill that would allow the state board of education to issue, refuse to issue or revoke recognition for schools that fail to comply with public health requirements, House Bill 4135, has now been referred to the Rules Committee.

Pritzker continues to defend the mandates as working to slow the spread of the virus, adding the mandates were put in place out of an abundance of caution for students and staff