Shift in COVID Mitigation Strategy

We would like to provide an update to our community about ongoing litigation involving our school district. Naperville 203 continues to be involved as a defendant in a legal matter challenging the legitimacy of Governor Pritzker’s Executive Order mandating face coverings in all public schools. On February 4, the judge in the case granted the plaintiffs’ motion for a Temporary Restraining Order (TRO). In response, the defendants filed a motion to stay the TRO at the appellate court.

The counsel we received immediately after the TRO ruling was that the stay motion would likely be decided within days. Expecting a quick decision, we did not want to make a decision for Naperville 203 that would be quickly invalidated. Thus, we were advised to continue requiring masking along with our other mitigation strategies at least until that motion was resolved. The quick ruling on the stay motion has not happened. In fact, since the order was issued, we have received no additional guidance from the courts.

Additionally, schools in Illinois have not been given clear guidance from the Governor’s Office regarding how schools should transition. Last week, the Governor announced that the mask mandate will be lifted for almost every setting in the state, except public schools. While the Governor announced that guidance could be coming in the future weeks, that does not alleviate the immediate uncertainty.

In light of the resulting uncertainty and the impact of that uncertainty on our ability to focus on our primary mission of educating students, we have decided to move forward and implement the next phase of our mitigation plan. Based on Naperville 203’s metrics and our ability to successfully mitigate risk, we are confident that we are ready to adjust our mitigations and continue to provide a safe learning environment for all.

Naperville 203 Schools will shift the current mitigation strategies starting on Tuesday, February 15, 2022, until further notice. Beginning Tuesday February 15, 2022, masking will be strongly recommended, but not required, for all students, staff, and visitors, in all Naperville 203 facilities. COVID positive students/employees will be required to be excluded from school (close contacts will be informed) and unvaccinated faculty and staff members are not required to test weekly. Because of a Federal requirement issued by the CDC, masks are still required to be worn on school buses.

We will continue to have masks available for employees/students. We have delivered a supply of KN95 masks to each of our schools and have plans to increase our supply for those who wish to wear one. As always, we expect all students, faculty and staff to be respectful of others' decisions on masking at school.

Naperville 203 will continue to monitor our local metrics, our ability to successfully mitigate risk, and the ongoing legal case, each of which could result in future updates or changes to our plan.

We understand that this is a shift in our mitigation strategies and it will be met with differing responses from all stakeholders. Regardless of your personal feelings regarding this shift, I am asking everyone to be kind and respectful of individual choice. Naperville 203 will not tolerate bullying or disrespectful behavior of any kind.

As we have shared since the beginning, we follow the guidance of the CDC/IDPH/DCHD. In addition we will continue to monitor hospitalizations and consult with our public health officials. Below are the recommendations from public health agencies and the practices and data from Naperville 203 that was reviewed and supports a shift in implementation for our next steps. Further updates will be provided during the February 22, 2022 Board of Education meeting.

VACCINATIONS

Naperville 203 Practice

• The average percentage of fully vaccinated people in the weighted zip codes for communities that feed into Naperville 203 is 76.4%.
• The Illinois average percentage of fully vaccinated people is 61.9%.
• DuPage County has the highest percentage of fully vaccinated youth aged 5-11 at 42.22% in the State of Illinois.
• DuPage County has the second highest percentage of fully vaccinated youth aged 12-17 at 72.7% in the State of Illinois.
• This data demonstrates that our community has a higher vaccination rate than the many other communities across the state.

MASKING

Public Health Recommendation: CDC, IDPH and DCHD recommend indoor masking by all students, staff, teachers, and visitors to K-12 schools, regardless of vaccination status.

Naperville 203 Practice

• Naperville 203 strongly recommends indoor masking for all students, staff, and visitors regardless of vaccination status.
• As required by a Federal CDC mandate, face coverings will continue to be required on district transportation.

SOCIAL DISTANCE

Public Health Recommendation: In addition to universal indoor masking, CDC/IDPH/DCHD recommends schools maintain at least 3 feet of physical distance between students within classrooms when possible to reduce transmission risk.

Naperville 203 Practice

• Naperville 203 continues to leverage the mitigation strategies currently in place, which includes 3 feet of physical distancing when possible.

LAYERED MITIGATION

Public Health Recommendation: Public health guidance emphasizes implementing layered prevention strategies to support in-person learning, including:

Naperville 203 Practice

Naperville 203 continues to utilize layered mitigation strategies as listed below:

• SHIELD testing is offered for families who choose to participate

• Proper ventilation is already in place across all Naperville 203 facilities

• Educators continue to encourage hand washing and proper respiratory etiquette

• Continue cleaning and disinfecting practices

• Naperville 203 continues to conduct contact tracing and will notify families if their student was identified as a close contact with a positive case. Close contacts to a positive case will be encouraged to quarantine but will not be required to do so unless directed by the health department.
  

COVID-19 POSITIVE INDIVIDUALS

Public Health Recommendation: Students and staff who test positive for COVID 19, regardless of vaccination status, must be excluded from school for 5-10 days.

Naperville 203 Practice

Naperville 203 will continue to exclude students who test positive for COVID-19. If a student/staff member returns on Day 6 after symptoms have subsided, they will be asked to wear a mask on Days 6-10.

STAY HOME WHEN SICK

Public Health Recommendation: Students, teachers, and staff should stay home when they have signs of any infectious illness and seek medical testing and treatment when necessary.

Naperville 203 Practice
All members of our school community are encouraged to stay home when sick and consult individual medical providers.

MONITORING TRANSMISSION

Public Health Recommendation: Localities should monitor community transmission, vaccination coverage, screening testing, and occurrence of outbreaks to guide decisions on the level of layered prevention strategies (e.g., physical distancing, screening testing).

Naperville 203 Practice

Naperville 203 continues to review and analyze vaccination rates and the number of COVID-positive cases in our schools to determine any potential changes in required mitigations.

We know how challenging this uncertainty has been on members of our community. We appreciate your partnership and your patience in our efforts to ensure we are keeping our community safe while continuing to provide the best possible education we can for your students.

Sincerely,

Dan Bridges, Superintendent of Schools

& The Naperville 203 Board of Education