February 6, 2022

Good evening, St. Anne High School District #302 Families!

On Friday, February 4, 2022, the Sangamon County Circuit Court granted a temporary restraining order (TRO) affecting certain school districts and specific individuals in those districts. The TRO temporarily suspended enforcement of mask mandates for students and exclusion for asymptomatic close contacts. Our School District was not a party to that case. The case is being appealed and a request to stay the court’s TRO ruling has been filed. As a result, a final and certain outcome has not been reached at this point.

While we are continuing to monitor the status of the case, in light of the court’s TRO we have determined that the least disruptive approach is to temporarily suspend enforcement of the mask mandate and exclusion for asymptomatic close contacts for all District students. This will take effect starting Monday, February 7, 2022. Please note that masking on school buses is still required by the CDC and students must continue to wear masks while on District transportation.

Importantly, this decision is temporary and subject to change. If a stay of the TRO is granted or the ruling is reversed on appeal, we will immediately resume enforcement of the COVID-19 requirements for all students. While we will not mandate mask compliance by District students during this temporary suspension, we strongly encourage individuals to continue to wear masks. This will help ensure continuity of in-person instruction. In that regard, we will continue to make masks available for any students who voluntarily wear masks.

We appreciate your patience and continued cooperation until we have a more definitive result from the pending court cases. We will continue to monitor the litigation and will revisit, as necessary, any changes that may be required to our current mitigation measures and protocols.

Sincerely,

Charles T. Stegall Superintendent