Hinsdale D-86 Official Mulls Suing Pritzker

HINSDALE, IL – A Hinsdale High School District 86 school board member said last week that the board should consider taking legal action against the administration of Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker for his pandemic-related mandates.

During a board meeting, member Peggy James suggested adopting a resolution, if necessary, to pursue litigation to stop Pritzker from interfering with school board decisions. Such interference, she said, includes the governor’s threats to pull schools’ accreditations and revoke administrators’ credentials for failure to comply with his mandates.

“By no means am I suggesting that we throw out our layered mitigations and stick our heads in the sand, pretending COVID doesn’t exist. It does,” she said, adding that vaccines are the best path to normalcy.

Perhaps the governor’s most controversial mandate is for students to wear face masks. But James did not specifically mention masks in her speech.

She noted the low levels of coronavirus hospitalizations in DuPage County, as did member Jeff Waters, her ally on the board.

The other five board members present did not comment on James' proposal for a resolution to take legal action. (Member Cynthia Hanson was absent.)

Waters said the benefits of the coronavirus mitigations are far outweighed by students’ suffering from anxiety and depression. Those costs, he said, would be taller than the Willis Tower.

“I believe it is incumbent on us as board members tonight to discuss how we plan to move forward at a point where there may not be a mask mandate,” he said.