Feb. 6, 2022

This message is to provide our school community with an update regarding the lawsuit that challenged state-mandated COVID-19 mitigations, of which Geneva CUSD 304 is named as a defendant.

On Friday, the Sangamon County Circuit Court granted a temporary restraining order affecting certain school districts and specific individuals in those districts. The TRO temporarily suspended enforcement of mask mandates for students and exclusion for asymptomatic close contacts. Our District was a party to that case. The case is being appealed and a request to stay the court’s TRO ruling has been filed. As a result, a final and certain outcome has not been reached at this point.

Our District administration continues to work with our faculty and staff to process additional considerations regarding how these developments may impact our current mitigation strategies. While the ruling came out Friday, the District continues to receive information that needs to be considered. To that end, administration of Geneva 304 has determined it is in the best interest of the District to implement an emergency day on Monday, Feb. 7, and school will be canceled for all students while our teams continue this very important work. This approach allows us to ensure that we are effectively collaborating on our plans while protecting a day of in-person learning, which will be made up on May 31.

We recognize the challenges this decision may have on our families, but given the fluidity of the situation we strongly feel that this time is necessary to effectively plan for any potential impact on our students, staff, and school community.

We know that many questions remain, and we will provide additional information on Monday as the situation evolves. Thank you for your continued patience and cooperation.

Dr. Kent Mutchler,

Superintendent of Schools