Will County Gazette

With COVID-19 transmission rates falling and a majority of the community vaccinated, Indian Prairie School District 204 Superintendent Adrian Talley has announced that masks will now only be recommend and not required for K-12.

Talley announced the move in a letter to the school district, saying that the new strategy will start next Tuesday for students K-12 and staff. This is to give time for people to prepare for the change and make any adjustments needed. The decision came after a meeting with the DuPage County Health Department.

“Early childhood students, those in our PreK program at all sites, will need to continue to wear masks because they are not able to be vaccinated,” Talley wrote. “Though the TRO is focused on the families in the lawsuit, our data seems to reflect a positive trend, we can start to de-layer our mitigation strategies for all students and staff. Masks are highly recommended for all; however, they will not be required. Masks are still required of all students on buses as that is a federal requirement.”

According to smore.com, the temporary restraining order referred to schools like Indian Prairie and Naperville CUSD who were defendants in a suit against Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s executive order that mandated masks in public schools.

Naperville CUSD 203 Superintendent Dan Bridges also recently announced that the district would switch to a mask-optional policy that took effect this week, according to smore.com.

Indian Prairie is the fourth-largest school district in the state, with 33 schools and more than 27,000 students. Talley wrote in the letter that vaccination data per ZIP code shows that 72-90% have been vaccinated over seven ZIP codes that serve the district.

“That percentage is extremely high and reflects that a large majority of our community is fully vaccinated,” Talley wrote.

Talley said that over the past month positive rates for students and staff have been decreasing week by week. 

Talley acknowledged the mask mandate brought conflict to the district.

“We are a community of learners who celebrate our differences,” Talley said. “We need to rebuild relationships as a school community and treat each other with the civility and kindness that we did prior to the pandemic.”