ROCHELLE — The Rochelle Elementary District Board of Education held a special meeting Monday to revisit issues related to the decision it made at its regular August meeting to pass a school reopening plan that followed Gov. JB Pritzker’s mask mandate. 

The board previously asked Superintendent Jason Harper to check into lawsuits filed against the governor related to the mask mandate. A parent in the Breese Elementary District in southern Illinois filed a lawsuit against Pritzker, but Harper said there has been no new information based on court action since the board last met. 

Another different lawsuit was brought up in McHenry County with two parents who filed a lawsuit for a temporary restraining order against the governor and that first phase of the legal process has been denied, Harper said. He had no new information based on the appeals process in that case. 

Harper was also asked to look into the insurance impact if the district were to decide to go against the mask mandate. He said Monday that he was told by the district’s insurance they would not immediately be dropped if they went against the mandate, but the insurance company’s ultimate recommendation was to follow it.

Lastly, Harper was directed to talk with the Durand School District’s superintendent about that district’s decision to defy the mask mandate. He said the district had a special board meeting where it reinstated the school’s use of the mandate. 

Harper asked the board for and was granted the ability for administration to make changes on the fly between board meetings if there are changes in guidance in things related to COVID-19 prevention. The board made that decision unanimously. 

Parents spoke out against the mask mandate at the meeting as they have for the past few months. 

“On Aug. 18 there was a state superintendent board meeting,” Tricia Goodwin said. “There was an hour and a half of parents and administrators who went down there to state their case. One thing that made me sad is that nobody from our district was there to represent our kids and their voices.”

Katie Queller-Zilis, a teacher at Rochelle Middle School, talked about how school has been going in the early weeks of the year. 

“I just want to say from my perspective, school is going great,” Queller-Zilis said. “Kids are wearing masks and complying. Of course they fall off, you ask them to lift them up and they do it. I have tried to take my classes out for mask breaks every day. Sometimes I have to remind them they can take it off now since we're outside. They're used to the masks. I think we're off to a great start with a positive attitude from the administration to the teachers to the kids."