ROCHELLE — At its Tuesday meeting, the Rochelle Elementary District approved a school reopening plan unanimously that included a mask mandate, adhering to Gov. JB Pritzker’s executive order last week. 

The board made the approval with considerations including a special meeting on Monday, Aug. 30 at 7 p.m. or potentially sooner to revisit the issue if new information comes to light. The board also directed Superintendent Jason Harper to make contact with the Durand School District superintendent, whose district voted to defy the governor’s executive order and make masks optional. 

Harper was also directed to follow the ongoing case at Breese Elementary District downstate, where a parent is suing the governor over his mask mandate. He was also asked by the board to verify procedures over the loss of insurance including a timeline, what the district’s risk would be if it went against the government's mandate. 

“We will investigate the Breese lawsuit and Durand and potentially future districts who decide to do a mask optional policy to see what the response is from the Illinois State Board of Education and the governor's office,” Harper said. “And then we’ll discuss our options and possibilities at a special meeting.”

Harper recommended last week and at the meeting that the board follow the mask mandate due to risk of increased liability, loss of insurance coverage, loss of recognition as a public school and loss of school funding.

Both the elementary and Rochelle Township High School districts previously approved a plan with masks optional in recent weeks before Pritzker’s executive order. 

Parents and members of the community spoke during the public comment portion of the meeting against the mask mandate for about an hour and 20 minutes. 

Cole Thomas, a district parent, asked board members to stand against the mask mandate.

“Schools should be against bullying,” Thomas said. “You didn’t take the recommendations before, Why are you doing it now? Stop putting your own fears in front of our children.”

Trisha Goodwin also spoke from a parent’s point of view at the meeting. 

“The governor has no right to co parent with us,” Goodwin said. “These are our children.” 

After the public comment portion, Harper spoke about the reopening plan and answered some questions brought up by parents during the meeting. 

Along with mandatory masking, the current reopening plan includes a return to full day in-person schooling, on-site COVID-19 rapid testing with parent consent, extracurricular activities being offered and mask breaks. 

Out-of-date guidance regarding lunch segregation with regard to vaccination status was struck from the reopening plan before it was approved. 

The school does have a mask exemption process that families can go through with the district to see if their child is eligible. 

The elementary district begins school next week. RTHS begins school Friday. Harper said his current recommendations for reopening will apply for how that district starts its year as well. The RTHS school board meets Monday and will vote on a reopening plan at that meeting. 

“The fluidity of all the guidance, we had a semi-local school announce mask optional today, we found out about the Breese lawsuit today,” Harper said. “By Monday there could be different changes.”

Harper called masking an “incredibly emotional issue for everybody involved” after hearing from parents and community members Tuesday evening. 

“We understand the frustrations of the community because we share many of the same frustrations,” Harper said. “It increases the difficulty of our reopening plan when we receive contradictory guidance and guidance that's delayed.”