HUTSONVILLE, Ill. (WTWO/WAWV) — Hutsonville, Illinois school district is prepared to legally defend their decision to leave the option for students to wear face masks up to parents.
That’s despite governor J.B. Pritzker filing a lawsuit against the district and two others in Illinois for not mandating masks.
The Hutsonville school board hired an attorney who agreed to take on their case pro bono during a June 30th meeting.
School Board President Tina Callaway says after the meeting that went live on Facebook, all parents who spoke out about the back to school plan agreed that the decision should be left to parents.
Callaway says the school board has adopted other safety measures suggested by the Illinois State Board of Education, but now Pritzker is requesting a Sangamon County judge to issue a temporary restraining order to enforce all districts to follow guidelines, including all staff and students wear masks.
“The meeting was advertised and again, live streamed and not 90%, not 95%, but 100% of those in attendance that actually spoke, spoke in favor of our back to school plan, which does again give the parents the right to decide about a face mask. We certainly want the environment to be safe we have a back to school plan that outlines safety guidelines that we do have,” Callaway said.
Some of those measures include desk shields, implementing social distancing during school hours and purchasing hand sanitizer stations. An e-learning option is also being provided to students.
School is set to begin August 24th. Thursday the school board will hold a meeting outlining their plan to move forward at the start of the school year. We will continue to bring updates.
