The Hancock-Henderson Quill, Inc.
By Michael Rodeffer, The Quill
The La Harpe school board held a special board meeting Monday night, August 23rd, in the La Harpe school gym at 6:00 p.m.
The main agenda was to reconsider the executive order from Illinois Governor Pritzker that all K-12 grades must wear masks.
The La Harpe School District was put on probation for not complying with the Governor's mandate. At the school boards' July meeting they had voted to allow masks to be optional.
The school board was given 60 days, by the state, to comply to the mandate or risk losing all funding from the state or eligibility for any grants. Also the state had threatened to not let the school play in any IHSA sports events and risk losing their credibility to give out diplomas.
There were 12 guests at the meeting, plus 6 board members, Superintendent Michelle Lee, Principal Sara Ryner, and city police officer Lynn Hoyt.
Several of the guests addressed the board and expressed their dislike of the mask mandate and encouraged the board to vote against it.
Laura Jones, district bookkeeper, stated even though she disliked wearing a mask, the district would be in jeopardy of losing 1.8 million dollars of grant money if they did not comply with the Governor's mandate.
It was also suggested by one of the guests to hold out for the 60 days to see if the state would actually carry out their threats.
At 6:21 the board went into a closed meeting for 1 hour and 20 minutes to discuss the revised 2021-2022 Back to School Plan.
Before the vote, Michelle Lee, Superintendent, read the following statement:
"The board's attorney has made clear to the board and administration the district must enforce Governor Pritzker's mask mandate. Given this very clear guidance, it is my strong recommendation that the board direct the administration to comply with the mandate."
At 7:41 the board reconvened their open meeting and voted 4-2 to follow the Governor's mandate.
Ryan Johnson, Dustin Detherage, Jake Allen and Randy Shumaker voted to comply with the mask mandate.
Lacey Covert and Dana Blythe voted against the mandate.
The La Harpe School Board was adjourned at 7:44 p.m.
Board President Ryan Johnson said after the meeting the board will still back the litigation to fight the Governor's mandate.