MADISON COUNTY, Ill. — Update: On Monday night, the Collinsville School District Board of Education and Belleville School District board approved plans to make mask-wearing optional starting Tuesday.
Below is the previous coverage from Monday afternoon.
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Two Metro-East school districts may be deciding their mask policies Monday night.
A school board meeting in Collinsville is scheduled for 5 p.m., and Bethalto school Superintendent Jill Griffin said her recommendation to the board at 7:30 will be a mask-optional policy.
There's been a lot of back-and-forth over masks in Illinois schools. A judge ruled they were unconstitutional, but some districts say it only applies to the people who filed a lawsuit.
“I’ll be ready to recommend to our board a masks-optional policy and I don’t have any reason to believe at this time they won’t accept my recommendation,” Bethalto Superintendent Jill Griffin said Sunday.
Griffin said her decision comes after surveying staff and parents about the possibility of going mask-optional as soon as Tuesday, and meeting with union leadership and immune-compromised staff members.
“I felt like it was important to provide them an opportunity to discuss it with their family and potentially their doctors and how they plan to proceed if the board does vote, Monday night, to go mask-optional,” said Griffin.
Meanwhile, a 5 On Your Side reporter asked Collinsville district residents what direction they’d like to see the school board take.
“No masks. I feel like they should be able to breathe as they should,” James Avery, a Collinsville parent, said.
Is he not concerned about COVID?
“Yes,” he said, “I’m concerned about COVID, but it’s passing. So, it seems like you’re going to get it if you get it.”
Collinsville resident Kathy LaCroix said, “I say take the masks away. It’s long enough. The kids have already gone through enough. Let them go to school. I say do away with the masks, tonight.”
Greg LaCroix added, “I think they need to remove the mask mandate, too. I think long-term effects could be adverse.”
On Monday night, the Collinsville School District Board of Education approved a plan to make the mask-wearing "strongly recommended" starting Tuesday.
An anti-mask rally off-campus at Bethalto Friday prompted Dr. Griffin to cancel classes over concerns about student safety and security.