Dear Ridgewood Families:
On Sunday, February 6, 2022, we sent an update to all Ridgewood families that our District had decided to maintain all of our Covid-19 Mitigations pending the outcome of the appeal process of the recent TRO order in Sangamon County. As expected, that decision was met with positive and negative reactions.
After several additional discussions since then, it has become clear that the process of enforcing certain COVID-19 mitigations has become a significant distraction in our buildings for our students, teachers and administrators.
The ruling against our state puts all schools in legal limbo with no chance of certainty and/or clarity until the completion of the legal appeal process. Our goal in our original decision was to avoid moving back and forth between protocols should an appeal overturn the judge’s TRO order.
However, we feel it is in the best interest of the District to “pause” enforcing masking, effective Friday, February 11, 2022 as we await the conclusion of the appeal process. We are hopeful for a swift decision. If the appeals process overturns the TRO, we will return to enforcing a mask mandate.
Please understand that we have students and staff who are immunocompromised. It is with this in mind that we strongly recommend that all students and staff continue to wear masks while inside the school until we have further direction from the state government agencies or court rulings. However, please note that masks must still be worn on buses at all times per Federal mandate. Additionally, when traveling to other schools for extracurricular activities we will expect our athletes, employees and parents to follow our host’s COVID-19 mitigations.
Please note that if a student and/or staff is COVID-19 positive, our current COVID-19 mitigations as it relates to positive cases will be enforced. We will also attempt to notify individuals if we believe a close contact has occurred in order to monitor for symptoms. We appreciate everyone's understanding as we navigate this unbelievably frustrating time.
Lastly, please discuss kindness, empathy and compassion with your child in relation to respecting everyone’s needs and choices. While we cannot always change the situation, we can control our actions and reactions. Let us be clear, we will strictly enforce our anti-harassment/bullying policies and protocols if needed.
We thank those that have responded with kindness and grace. We will communicate further developments as they arise.
Thank you for your continued support and patience.
Ridgewood Administration