Despite a court order against Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s school mask mandate, masks will still be required at Evanston Township High School.
In a website statement Monday morning, District 202 superintendent Eric Witherspoon said that the ruling, from a judge in Springfield on Friday, only applies to the 143 school districts that were defendants in the anti-mandate lawsuit.
District 202 was not one of those defendants, nor were most of Illinois’ 800-plus school systems.
“At ETHS we follow the science,” Witherspoon stated, and both the Centers for Disease Control and the Illinois Department of Public Health continue to recommend masks at school.
“For the safety of everyone at ETHS,” Witherspoon said, “we will contine to follow the public health recommendations and wear masks to protect one another from the COVID virus.”
Evanston/Skokie District 65 was also not a named defendant in the lawsuit, and Superintendent Devon Horton said over the weekend that the the mask requirements will remain in place there.