Face Masks Optional At LTHS Starting Monday

LOCKPORT, IL — After a week of continuing its policy of requiring face masks on Lockport Township High School campuses, the district will make masks optional, starting Monday.

"It's been a difficult week, a disrespectful week, a vulgar week, an angry week, a frustrating week, a threatening week, a divisive week, a challenging week," Superintendent Dr. Bob McBride said in a video update. "But it's also been a week where, here at Lockport Township High School, students have gone about what they do every day."

Earlier this week, the district announced it would continue to require face masks, in response to a Sangamon County judge issuing a temporary restraining order declaring that certain emergency rules adopted last year by the Illinois Department of Public Health and the Illinois State Board of Education are void. The ruling means that students who do not want to wear a mask and unvaccinated school staff who do not want to be required to be vaccinated or take weekly COVID-19 tests must be afforded due process.

Lockport Township High School was one of the 145 school districts named in the Austin v. Pritzker lawsuit.

"Throughout the pandemic, our board of education has attempted, has been committed to in-person learning and doing so with safety in mind, learning in mind, equity in mind, flexibility in mind, communication in mind, and a commitment to local control," McBride said.

McBride said the district is operating under its Return to School plan, approved in August.

"That plan keyed all of our decisions to the health of our students and our community," McBride said, adding that it identified key health metrics which determined mitigations the district would follow.

McBride said the community is in a "moderate" level of transmission, and is ready to go mask optional.

"A school cannot function with disrespect and incivility. It just can't," McBride said. "I am appealing to you to use this weekend to restore that in your home, to have a message to your children that regardless of what choices other children or teachers are making, to treat others with kindness, with respect, and with a respect for their freedom to make their choice."

McBride said mitigations may change, and face masks may be required again if health conditions change.