St. Charles District 303 To Lift COVID-19 Mitigations After Break

ST. CHARLES, IL — Remaining COVID-19 restrictions that had been in place for District 303 students will likely be removed once they return to school after spring break, officials told the school board this week.

Superintendent Jason Pearson told board members at a meeting that the district looks forward to removing “as many of the mitigation strategies as possible”, Shaw Media reported. He said that district officials were just waiting to see if the Illinois Department of Public Health or the state board of education planned on making any updates after Gov. J.B. Pritzker made masks optional in school last month.

Districts in St. Charles and Geneva were among the 140 districts from around Illinois that were included in a lawsuit that prevented schools from requiring masks and vaccine mandates.

The remaining mitigations will be lifted starting April 4 once students return from spring break, the report said. Parents at Monday’s meeting were calling for the district to lift restrictions immediately, but Pearson said that the top priority remains to ensure a safe learning environment for students.

A district spokeswoman said that the district will be continuing with its current mitigation strategies of maintaining a three-foot distance in classrooms, six feet apart in the cafeteria, and encouraging frequent hand-washing until officials receive updated guidance from state agencies.

Kane County Health officials have deemed the COVID-19 transmission low in the area but Pearson told the board that he sees a difference between events where people come in from the outside for sporting events or concerts and kids being in the classroom each day, the Shaw Media report said.