Monday night, a central Illinois lawmaker proposed Illinois schools pass a resolution calling for local control to be given back to Illinois school districts and a rural DeWitt County school leader is hoping it gains traction.
In Clinton Monday night, State Senator Chapin Rose called for Illinois school leaders to pass a resolution in special meetings on the same night requesting local control be given back after Gov. JB Pritzker pulled the rug out from schools that had opted for mask-optional policies.
On the WHOW Morning Show Thursday, DeLand-Weldon Schools Superintendent Amanda Geary told Regional Radio News she supports the efforts of Sen. Rose and would hope her peers across the State do as well.
DeLand-Weldon community members are telling Geary and her board they want to be able to decide if their kids go to school with or without masks. School districts that decide to go against the Governor's mandate risk losing tort funding. A tort fund can be used to pay a variety of liability-related expenses, such as legal fees, insurance premiums, and worker's compensation claims.
According to Geary, the concept of this resolution isn't new. She explains school administrators had discussed doing something similar before the Governor agreed in July to allow districts local control on the decision to go back to school.
When schools across the state decided to move forward with mask-optional policies, or policies that did not require masks to be worn, she believes the Governor stepped in to get what he wanted.
