More mask changes in DeKalb County schools as substitute shortage hits ‘crisis state’, say educators

SYCAMORE - Sycamore schools won’t require face masks after a legislative panel on Tuesday voted to suspend the latest version of COVID-19 mitigations for public schools, as the mandates are at the center of statewide ongoing legal battles.

That means DeKalb District 428 is the only district left in the county still requiring masks in school buildings.

The mask debates have spurred a whirlwind two weeks as Illinois schools have scrambled to adopt to evolving mitigations while pandemic-era mandates are battled out in a state appellate court.

In Sycamore, a school board meeting was abruptly halted in person last week and changed to a virtual model which didn’t allow for public comment. The decision came after Board President Jim Dombeck told the largely masked crowd of nearly 300 that too many maskless individuals refused to comply with the district’s instruction and created an unsafe environment in the meeting.

In an email sent to Sycamore Community Unit School District 427 families shortly after 8 p.m. Tuesday, district officials said face masks will no longer be required beginning Wednesday. They’ll still be required on school buses though.

“Please be aware that we will continue to monitor ongoing legal proceedings carefully and communicate any changes and updates to you as soon as possible,” Sycamore officials said in the email.

The state health department on Monday attempted to file more emergency rules requiring school mandates amid a separate, legal battle over Gov. JB Pritzker’s orders.

According to a report from Capital News Illinois, a Joint Committee on Administrative rules voted to object to the school COVID-19 rules and suspend them from going into effect. The vote by committee means that, for the time being, there is no state mandate on mitigation measures for public or private K-12 schools, the report states.

The mask mandate debate has been front and center across Illinois for days, spawning tense school board meeting and evolving guidance for families.

During DeKalb Community Unit School District 428′s Board of Education meeting Tuesday, three parents and a teacher called on the district to remove the mask requirement. Superintendent Minerva Garcia-Sanchez read a prepared statement and said the district will continue with its already-in-place mitigation strategies.

The superintendent later said at the time she read the statement, she wasn’t yet aware of the legislative panel’s action since the board had been convened since Tuesday afternoon.

Garcia-Sanchez said the safety mitigations are part of the funding the district received through the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund (ESSER), part of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act.

As of March 31, 2021, the DeKalb district has received $22,053,945 in three different ESSER installments, according to records from the Illinois State Board of Education. The Sycamore district has received $3.9 million, and the Genoa-Kingston School District has received $2.1 million.

“ESSER funding is an obligation to maintain a safe return to school plan addressing each of the recommended mitigation measures from CDC, IDPH and the local health department,” Garcia-Sanchez said during Tuesday’s school board meeting. “We are making decisions based on the current transmission rates of the local level to keep our staff and students safe.”

According to DeKalb’s COVID-19 data, as of the week ending Feb. 11, the district’s positivity rate was 6.7%, with 500 students quarantined due to close contact and 25 students who tested positive for the virus. In Sycamore, one employee is positive for COVID-19 as of Monday, one employee is excluded, six students have COVID-19 and 17 students are excluded due to potential virus exposure.

“So with those numbers, we want to continue to mitigate and taking care of our staff and our students so that they are safe,” Garcia-Sanchez said. “And we will continue to do this as part of our return to school safe in person policy.”

As of Wednesday, according to the IDPH, 56.9% of DeKalb County residents are fully vaccinated against COVID-19. In the DeKalb zip code, that number is 49.78% as of Feb. 9, and 65.61% in Sycamore.

According to state data, 3.61%, or 2,059 DeKalb County residents aged 5 to 11 are fully vaccinated. For those aged 12 to 17, that number is 4,051 residents, or 7.1%.

She said district officials expect the statewide appellate court to rule Friday on the Sangamon County judge’s temporary halt to Pritzker school mask mandate.

“Additional information may be causing us to adjust if needed based on what the court tells us,” Garcia-Sanchez said.

Last week, a downstate judge in Sangamon County issued a temporary restraining order halting enforcement of the governor’s statewide school mask mandate in the 170 school districts that were parties in the lawsuit. In DeKalb County, Hiawatha and Sandwich school districts were named in the lawsuit, since local parents sued the districts for enforcing the mandates last fall.

The rules required schools to enforce a mask mandate or require that students, employees and visitors be excluded when they are close contacts to someone who tested positive for COVID-19. It also included testing requirements if employees weren’t fully vaccinated.

Sycamore Superintendent Steve Wilder confirmed the lifting of face mask requirements in district schools also applies to other mitigations in Sycamore which were included in the governor’s order.

“We ask that all members of our community respect and support the decision of students and staff who choose to continue wearing a facemask,” Sycamore’s email reads. “There are opinions on both sides of this issue, and we ask that this change brings our school community closer together in support of each other.”

Hinckley Big-Rock moves to masks optional

In a message to Hinckley-Big Rock School District 429 families Tuesday, Superintendent Travis McGuire said the district would move to an optional mask policy following the emergency rules change effective Wednesday. The district will strongly encourage use of face masks, and will cease excluding asymptomatic students when they’re exposed to the virus.

Students who are high risk will be able to obtain KN95 masks at the district’s main office if necessary.

Masking on school buses will remain a requirement due to a federal mandate, McGuire said. All other mitigation measures at the district will remain in place until further notice.

“We understand that this email will be received by some with relief and others with anxiety,” McGuire said in an email to district families. “I ask that we show each other grace and patience during this transition. Whatever decision that each family makes related to masking, we individually and collectively need to respect that decision.”

Substitute teachers scarce in DeKalb County

Other DeKalb County public schools moved to an optional mask policy earlier this month. Frequent changes to school rules isn’t new during the pandemic, said Amanda Christensen, superintendent for the DeKalb County Regional Office of Education. She said Wednesday she wasn’t surprised by Tuesday’s ruling.

“We’ve had lots of conflicting information coming from different agencies,” Christensen said. “So now that we at least have a statewide suspension of mask mandates, we can all function under that, unless something changes in the appellate court.”

Christensen said as of Wednesday, all school districts in DeKalb County – except DeKalb School District 428 – have made masks recommended but not required.

Christensen said the recent mitigations suspension has affected county public schools’ substitute teacher pool. She said the regional office has been requiring proof of vaccination status or signed consent to weekly testing for substitute teachers since Sept 17.

That requirement was suspended Wednesday, she said.

Christensen said the substitute teacher shortage remains “close to crisis,” in DeKalb County since 2020, despite college educational requirements being lowered for substitute teacher certification to encourage more applicants.

“Really, since COVID-19 hit, it’s been pretty much in a crisis state,” Christensen said. “We do not have enough subs to cover classrooms. Administrators are unable to do their jobs during day oftentimes because they [need to help provide] adult supervision for classes.”

This story was updated with additional comment from DeKalb District 428 Superintendent Minerva Garcia-Sanchez at 11 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 15, 2022. An additional update occurred at 6:45 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 16, 2022 with comment from Hinckley-Big Rock school district and Amanda Christensen of the DeKalb County Regional Office of Education.