“At the Dec. 7th Board of Education meeting, the Board discussed options moving forward with regards to universal masking in schools, once Governor Pritzker’s mask order is lifted. At its next meeting on Dec. 21, the Board will continue the conversation on the criteria that will be used to develop a matrix which would guide the district in reducing mitigation efforts in schools, such as universal masking. Examples of criteria under consideration might include: student positivity rate, vaccination rate, and/or community spread. Once the criteria have been decided, the district will work with local health officials for additional input.
It is important to note that this matrix will only be used once Governor Pritzker lifts Executive Order 87, which requires universal masking in all IL schools.
The goal of the Board of Education is to keep as many students in school buildings as possible during this school year. Test to Stay, which provides an opportunity for students who have been identified as close contacts to test so that they do not have to quarantine, is currently only available if both the positive case and the close contact were wearing masks. Therefore, if universal masking is lifted, the number of students in quarantine would greatly increase.
Dr. Robert Hunt, Superintendent of Schools, plans to reach out to leaders from other school districts to advocate that Test to Stay be available to students even if both the positive case and the close contact were not universally masked. You can listen to the Board’s entire discussion beginning at 1:26:36 and again at 3:07:22.”