Elmhurst School Yields To State Pressure On Masks

ELMHURST, IL — An Illinois agency pulled its recognition of an Elmhurst private school Wednesday soon after the school announced it was making masks optional in the new school year.

In light of the state action, Timothy Christian Schools issued a statement Thursday that said it would follow Gov. J.B. Pritzker's mask mandate for all schools. It said it informed the Illinois School Board of Education of its reversal Wednesday night.

"The school's position is that it cannot allow such significant consequences as outlined by ISBE to adversely impact its students," the statement said.

The state board sent a letter to Timothy Christian Schools shortly after its superintendent, Matt Davidson, made an announcement on the mask optional policy in a video posted online.

This is the first time the state board has taken such an action, the agency's spokeswoman, Jackie Matthews, confirmed.

"We are reaching out to a couple of others schools now," she said.

In the letter, Carmen Ayala, the state superintendent of education, said Davidson failed to affirm in a conversation that his school would comply with Pritzker's statewide school mask mandate. She also noted his video.

She said the governor's order applies to all public and private schools. Because of that, she said, the state board was removing Timothy's status as a recognized private school, effective immediately.

The state, Ayala said, does not recognize the diplomas of students who graduate from non-recognized schools.

"This action is irreversible should the school later regain its recognition status, and these students will forever have a degree from a non-recognized school," the state superintendent said.

She said the school will become ineligible to take part in sports sanctioned by the Illinois High School Association and the Illinois Elementary School Association. And the school and its families will be unable to participate in the Invest in Kids Act tax scholarship program, she said.

"We do not take this action lightly," Ayala said. "The purpose of the universal indoor masking requirement is to ensure that all students can safely attend school in-person this fall."

In its statement, Timothy said many of its students are looking forward to athletics and other activities and counting on college scholarships. It said it was troubled by the state's "harsh" action of immediate revocation of recognition, especially because the school starts class Aug. 25.

It said twice in its statement that the district never said it would be noncompliant. Yet, in the video, Davidson noted the governor's order and said his school decided to become mask optional after much thought. He did say the school would look into the issue and that if it found the governor's order was legal, it would comply.

"Timothy made a schoolwide commitment to its community that it would use the two weeks before school starts to look more closely at the issue of universal masking in schools, and its impact on Timothy, specifically," the statement said. "The intent prior to the first day of school was to spend time to gain understanding of the Executive Order, the timing of its expiration, enforcement and available legal options... Timothy made it clear in written and video messaging that it would not support outright defiance if it hit a dead end."

The school's spokeswoman said Davidson was unavailable for comment.

On Wednesday, Patch contacted the office of House Speaker Emanuel "Chris" Welch, D-Hillside, about the issue. His children have attended Timothy. His spokeswoman did not directly answer Patch's questions.