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Saturday, November 2, 2024

Durand CUSD 322 among 47 districts facing discipline after defying governor’s school mask mandate

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Nearly 50 public school districts, including Durand Community Unit School District 322, have been placed on probation by the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) for defying Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s recently reissued mask mandate, according to an LGIS News Service tally. 

Of the 47 districts facing discipline, 19 have changed course and indicated that they will impose a mandatory mask mandate. Durand CUSD 322 is among this group of districts that had a change of heart about applying a mask mandate.

State officials have threatened to cut off state funding to districts that refuse to follow the mandate. Those funds represent 21% of total funding going to Durand CUSD 322, which had an enrollment of 541 in fiscal year 2019.

Pritzker initially issued the executive order outlining the school safety measures on Aug. 4, indicating that they reflect Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidance that calls on students, teachers and staffs to wear masks indoors to protect against the COVID-19 Delta variant.

The governor later issued a general indoor mask mandate for those 2 and over.

"Illinois will join several other states that have reinstituted statewide indoor mask requirements, regardless of vaccination status, effective on Monday (Aug. 30)," Pritzker said. "Masks work. Period."

The mandate comes as several studies have raised concerns about the effectiveness of face coverings and school closures in fighting the spread of the coronavirus.

A paper published by the Center for Biosecurity Disease, titled “Mitigation Measures in the Control of Pandemic Influenza,” contends that “the ordinary surgical mask does little to prevent inhalation of small droplets of influenza virus (because) the pores in the mask become blocked by moisture from breathing, and the airstream simply diverts around the mask.”

The same study also pointed out that when schools closed for a winter holiday during the 1918 influenza pandemic, more new cases developed than when schools were in session. Thus, school closures can do more harm than good, the study suggests.

A University of Illinois at Chicago study found that "cloth masks and face coverings are likely to have limited impact on lowering COVID-19 transmission because they have minimal ability to prevent the emission of small particles ... and offer limited personal protection with respect to small particle inhalation."

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Which School Districts Have Defied Governor’s Mask Mandate?

School DistrictEnrollmentState FundingTotal FundingState % of FundingReversed Course and Implemented Mask Mandate?County
Central CUSD 3781$3,826,450$8,556,02845%YesAdams
Brown County Community Unit School District 1662$4,971,390$8,597,96458%YesBrown
Martinsville Community Unit School District 3C378$2,397,680$4,481,25154%YesClark
North Clay CUSD 25481$3,786,657$6,728,62856%

Clay
Flora Community Unit School District 351,250$7,965,549$13,648,79458%

Clay
Carlyle CUSD 1942$3,602,965$11,116,61332%

Clinton
Hutsonville Community Unit School District 1288$2,099,852$4,318,22949%

Crawford
Oblong Community Unit School District 4517$2,959,948$6,323,09147%

Crawford
Edwards County Community Unit School District 1824$4,698,973$9,101,73152%

Edwards
Beecher City Community Unit School District 20287$933,098$4,123,10823%

Effingham
Dieterich Community Unit School District 30500$2,536,936$4,834,61752%

Effingham
Altamont Community Unit School District 10601$3,545,390$7,638,64646%YesEffingham
Teutopolis Community Unit School District 50966$3,604,350$9,898,84236%

Effingham
St Elmo Community Unit School District 202397$2,526,590$4,817,83652%

Fayette
Ramsey Community Unit School District 204406$2,979,534$4,868,32061%

Fayette
Brownstown Community Unit School District 201333$3,151,193$4,869,13765%

Fayette
Vandalia Community Unit School District 2031,271$8,211,717$18,147,89745%YesFayette
Ewing Northern CCSD 115194$1,012,696$2,225,16846%YesFranklin
Benton CCSD 471,024$6,966,400$11,711,76159%YesFranklin
Spoon River Valley CUSD 4284$1,042,447$3,126,41033%YesFulton, Knox
Hamilton County Community Unit School District 101,124$7,889,307$14,054,88756%YesHamilton
Nauvoo-Colusa Community Unit School District 325228$694,631$3,902,85318%

Hancock
La Harpe CSD 347191$756,640$3,217,57324%YesHancock
Illini West High School Dist 307288$1,539,922$4,777,96632%

Hancock
Warsaw CUSD 316368$2,023,967$4,948,57041%

Hancock
West Central CUSD 235706$2,775,699$9,629,04729%YesHenderson
Field Community Consolidated School District 3212$1,462,254$2,377,73661%YesJefferson
Woodlawn Unit School District 209466$2,666,675$5,825,71746%YesJefferson
St Anne Community Consolidated School District 256305$1,528,283$3,802,77240%

Kankakee
Abingdon-Avon CUSD 276887$4,296,249$8,638,72450%

Knox
Red Hill Community Unit School District 10886$5,849,110$9,544,14561%YesLawrence
Cornell Community Consolidated School District 42695$297,042$1,530,59119%

Livingston
Odell Community Consolidated School District 435124$676,833$2,133,37532%

Livingston
Flanagan-Cornell Unit 74296$1,149,596$5,313,80022%

Livingston
Meridian CUSD 15908$3,379,549$9,972,16134%YesMacon
Patoka CUSD #100231$578,937$3,339,40817%

Marion
Iuka Community Consolidated School District 7207$1,308,242$2,648,50249%

Marion
South Central Community Unit School District 401586$4,006,010$8,177,30949%

Marion
Brimfield Community Unit School District 309606$1,598,882$8,202,56019%YesPeoria
Red Bud CUSD 132942$1,388,479$13,682,94810%YesRandolph
Cowden-Herrick Community Unit School District 3A322$2,548,326$4,472,19157%

Shelby
Shelbyville Community Unit School District 41,067$5,529,451$12,291,34445%

Shelby
United CUSD 304799$2,462,251$12,881,68919%YesWarren
North Wayne Community Unit School District 200351$2,197,419$4,679,69247%

Wayne
Wayne City Community School District483$2,941,568$6,266,75247%

Wayne
Norris City-Omaha-Enfield Community Unit School District 3664$4,251,603$7,166,18159%

White
Durand CUSD 322541$1,531,479$7,399,14921%YesWinnebago
Source: Illinois State Board of Education

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