PJ Caposey, Meridian School District superintendent | ilprincipals.org
PJ Caposey, Meridian School District superintendent | ilprincipals.org
Meridian School District Superintendent PJ Caposey is no fan of Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s statewide mask mandate for all public and private schools.
“This situation you have placed many of us in is truly unsustainable,” Caposey said in a post to Twitter where he also posted a letter he recently penned to the governor stipulating that the school would not be requiring students to wear masks this fall.
“This has led to contentious Board meetings, erosion of community trust and levels of community in-fighting that are arguably unprecedented,” Caposey said.
While warning the governor that friction and infighting isn’t limited to the halls of Meridian, Caposey said in his letter that his executive order has forced many school officials to take actions they personally disagree with.
“The reality is this is what is happening in districts all over the state,” he said. “I have received this week more email and texts from superintendents and board members, considering resignation, than I have in the last nine years.”
Caposey is calling on the governor to take immediate action.
“As I see it, you have two choices,” he said. “The first and most obvious is to remove the mandate. Unfortunately, I sincerely do not see that happening. So, the second is to provide a clear, declarative statement of exactly what will happen to any district that chooses to exercise its local control and to run their districts in a manner they see fit.”
Pritzker moved to impose his latest mandate after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently changed its guidance on masking in schools to establish that fully vaccinated people should resume wearing masks indoors.
"As COVID-19 case counts continue to surge, based largely on the highly contagious Delta variant, the Cook County Department of Public Health (CCDPH) along with the Illinois Department of Public Health, strongly endorses the new CDC guidance calling for universal masking in all schools, K-12 and is revising its School Masking Guidance," the Cook County Health Department said in a statement.
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