Back to school: Harrisburg Dist. 3 opens with a lot of cooperation
The Harrisburg public schools opened for the 2021-22 school year, mostly without the kind of mask-related drama that is occurring at other districts.
"We have been so pleasantly surprised and grateful, that even the people we know who adamantly oppose the mask mandate have complied," Superintendent Mike Gauch said Thursday.
He said that on Wednesday, the first day of class in Unit District 3, three students made a protest demonstration by coming in without masks. They were calmly sent home with homework, and on Thursday, Gauch said he had heard of no repeat demonstrations.
"We assumed we would have a lot more," he said. "We're grateful to parents who are as eager as we are to get kids back into school."
Gov. J.B. Pritzker's mask mandate for all public and private schools in Illinois was enacted Aug. 4 and will run out around Labor Day. It is expected the mandate will be renewed.
Gauch said that of the about 1,800 students in Harrisburg Unit District 3, fewer than 10 students are starting the year on quarantine. That's in contrast to Du Quoin, where 50 students are quarantined during the first week, as Perry County has had an alarming hike in COVID-19 cases.
Gauch said his older quarantined students are on remote learning this week, while the youngest have been given packets of homework.
He said he and other administrators have heard from parents who are angry about the mask mandate, but they all seem to understand it wasn't imposed by local officials.
"I can work with people like that," Gauch said, of people who are respectful in their disagreement. "It's the people who come in and call you a coward that I have a problem with."
Gauch said he wants all this students and staff to be safe. His issue with the state mandate, is that it robs local school officials of flexibility to do the right thing in their districts. Under local control, administrators who see a rise in cases locally can impose their own mandate, but once the crisis has passed can just as quickly remove it.
"If they would give us local control and let us look out for the best interests of our students, but we can better massage the situation in our own community," he said. "It's tough to adhere to a mandate from a gentleman in Springfield who may have never been in Harrisburg."
Gauch said he hopes that when the first state mandate runs out, Pritzker will consider giving power back to local districts.
State administrators have said, however, that a state mandate protects students and staff, while taking the political pressure off local school officials.