A suburban Chicago private school that lost its state recognition this week over its response to Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s school mask mandate said Thursday officials never planned to defy the public health order.
The Illinois State Board of Education said in a Wednesday letter to Timothy Christian Schools in Elmhurst that the school’s status as a recognized nonpublic school was being immediately revoked because Superintendent Matt Davidson “declined to affirm” the school would comply with the state’s universal masking requirement.
ISBE Superintendent Carmen Ayala said as a result of being non-recognized, K-12 students at Timothy Christian would be ineligible to participate in Illinois High School Association and Illinois Elementary School Association sanctioned sports, and graduating seniors would receive a diploma that is not recognized by the state board.
“This action is irreversible should the school later regain its recognition status, and these students will forever have a degree from a non-recognized school,” she wrote.
“The purpose of the universal indoor masking requirement is to ensure that all students can safely attend school in-person this fall,” Ayala said, adding: “Therefore, ISBE must take every action possible under its authority to ensure compliance in all schools with the Executive Order.”
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Ayala’s letter said the school board based its decision on conversations with Davidson and comments he made in a video posted Wednesday addressing the school community.
In the video, Davidson said officials at Timothy Christian planned to spend the two weeks before school starts examining the issue of universal masking in schools, and the mandate’s impact on Timothy Christian.
“We’ve taken a very prayerful and methodical approach … Our goal is to stick with the Timothy health plan, and that plan is mask optional,” Davidson said. He said the school’s decision “isn’t an act of defiance. We’re not puffing our chests out and we’re not trying to make any statement.”
On Thursday, officials at Timothy Christian said they were “puzzled by ISBE’s claim that it received a complaint, and is troubled by ISBE’s harsh action of immediate revocation of recognition, especially because the first day of school is not until Aug. 25 and the school never announced that it would be noncompliant.”
“Timothy was doing its ‘due diligence’ for its constituents,” officials said, but “made it clear in written and video messaging that it would not support outright defiance if it hit a dead end. That would not align with Timothy’s mission and values.”
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“Nevertheless, based on the current situation, Timothy has determined that it will follow the Executive Order, and see one another’s unmasked faces outside,” they said in a statement.
Officials said they told ISBE they intended to comply with the order in the school’s response Wednesday night, and were “working with ISBE on the restoration of its recognition status.”
“The school’s position is that it cannot allow such significant consequences as outlined by ISBE to adversely impact its students,” officials said.
Many of the high school students are looking forward to IHSA athletics and counting on college scholarships, and many families with children who attend Timothy “are receiving much-needed scholarship money from the Invest in Kids Act,” officials said.
“Children should not be used as leverage,” they said.
Timothy Christian Schools Superintendent Matt Davidson, right, cuts a ribbon during a 2017 ceremony to open the new middle school in Elmhurst. (Graydon Megan/for Pioneer Press)
ISBE did not immediately respond to a request for comment on why the state revoked the school’s recognition before the start of classes, and if its previous good standing would be restored.
In a letter sent late Wednesday to ISBE from the Chicago law firm representing the school, attorney Vanessa Clohessy said Timothy Christian “never communicated its intent to be non-compliant with the order.”
“This was communicated in written and video messages to the Timothy community, and was explicitly told to Dr. Ayala when she called Superintendent Matt Davidson late this afternoon,” Clohessy said.
“We trust this statement will be sufficient to reinstate the school’s recognition status, effective immediately, and without blemish to the school’s record,” Clohessy said, adding, “I would welcome the opportunity to have an amicable conversation about the rules under which the school’s recognition was ‘immediately’ revoked, in order to clear up any misunderstanding of the state’s authority.”
The dust-up between the board of education and Timothy Christian is unfolding days after a lawsuit was filed against Pritzker by a parent from downstate Illinois, claiming the mask mandate was government overreach.
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On Wednesday, more than 250 people gathered outside Lincoln-Way Central High School in New Lenox to decry the executive order, which is based on the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s recommendations that masks be worn indoors at schools, and as the COVID-19 delta variant and virus rates surge across the U.S.
kcullotta@chicagotribune.com
Twitter @kcullotta
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