February 6th Messenger to Families
Dear BPS101 Families- (Spanish)
We are writing to you with a statement about a Sangamon County judge’s ruling on a lawsuit filed by individuals throughout the state challenging the Governor’s executive orders for COVID mitigation strategies in schools. The judge’s ruling was filed late Friday afternoon and required districts named in the lawsuit to stop enforcing specific COVID mitigation strategies for some families. While BPS101 was not named in that lawsuit, we are in the process of determining the implications of the ruling for our schools. For now, we have decided that students and staff will return to school tomorrow using the same COVID mitigation strategies that we have been following throughout this school year.
We recognize and acknowledge that community members have strong opinions on both sides of the issue of the current COVID mitigations. The decision to maintain our current approach was made for many reasons. Our number one priority is to keep our students learning in-person and in the safest and least disruptive manner.
There are also conflicting legal opinions about what the ruling means for us. This will be debated and challenged in court in the coming days and weeks.
These last two years, BPS101 will not rush to any local decisions without first considering how this will impact our students and community. In the meantime, we will continue to consult with the health department, statewide organizations, legal counsel, staff, and the Board of Education.
We cannot let this issue get in the way of our central mission: to help students learn and grow. We are already in the process of making a local plan, but we also expect that certain aspects will eventually be decided for us at the state level. We hope to avoid multiple pivots, where guidelines shift back and forth, creating more confusion than cohesion. We have determined that the best way to accomplish our mission, for now, is the least disruptive path and remain with the status quo with regard to COVID mitigations, including the mask mandate. Please know that we will be monitoring the situation very closely and will communicate with you as soon as we have more information.
Be well,
Dr. Lisa Hichens
Superintendent