Patoka School Superintendent David Rademacher says he has received a letter from the State Board of Education beginning the process of putting the district on probation for not requiring all students and faculty to wear masks as required by the Governor’s mandate.
Rademacher says the first step of the probationary process is to hold a meeting with the State Board of Education to review the school board’s action on the mandate. He reports the date for that meeting has not been set. The district will then have 60 days to submit a compliance plan. If the state is not satisfied, they could then remove the school’s accreditation which would make their diplomas worthless, and cut or remove state and federal funding. The Illinois High School Association as well as the two junior high athletic associations in the region have all sent correspondence to schools say if they lose state accreditation they will not be eligible to participate in the association’s activities and tournaments.
Rademacher says under the board’s 4-3 vote in June to eliminate all COVID-19 mitigations they will start the school year on Wednesday without a mandate for masks in the school or busses. All other mitigation factors have also been dropped, but Rademacher says he is trying to work with parents who want their students socially distanced in the classrooms.
Residents on both sides of the masking issue attended the July Patoka school board meeting and made their points, but the board did not take any action to reverse their June vote.
A number of other area schools have since rejected changing their Return to School plans that only recommended the masks.
Click here to look at the letter sent by the State Superintendent of Schools to all school districts in the state warning them of not following the mask mandate.
