Gonzalez Files Legislation to Revoke School’s Recognition If They Don’t Follow Public Health Requirements

CHICAGO – In an effort to protect students from the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, state Rep. Edgar Gonzalez Jr., D-Chicago, has filed legislation to enforce schools to follow state public health requirements or risk losing their recognition as a school.

“We are still not out of the clear of the COVID-19 global pandemic and this new Delta variant is making children sick more often than before,” said Gonzalez. “Getting our kids back into school is absolutely critical to their ability to learn and have a little normalcy during these frightening times, but we need to be doing everything we can to protect our students from the ongoing virus.”

Today, Gonzalez filed House Bill 4135 in the state house that will further enhance the State Board of Education’s (ISBE) ability to revoke recognition of any public or nonpublic school that decides not to follow public health requirements issued by either the Department of Public Health or as declared a public health emergency by the Governor.

As children under the age of 12 are still not able to receive the COVID-19 vaccine, Gov. Pritzker announced that all in-person classes in the state of Illinois must follow a strict mask mandate in order to curtail the virus spreading among children. On Thursday, Gov. Pritzker also announced that he will mandate that every P-12 school teacher and staff to be vaccinated.

“It’s been well under a month and we have already seen schools and school districts in Illinois shut down due to COVID-19 outbreaks. The mask mandate, social distancing and other public health requirements are all crucial steps we need to follow in order to get this new variant under control,” said Gonzalez. “With pediatric hospital beds filling up, it is our responsibility to do everything we can to protect our students, especially those in communities that have been hardest hit by COVID-19.”

For more information about this legislation, or any other questions, please feel free to reach out to Gonzalez’s full-time constituent office at 708-295-9159 or email repgonzalez21@gmail.com.