BENTON, IL (WSIL) -- Students at Benton Consolidated High School will have to mask up again after their School Board of Education met and approved a revised, Return to Learning Plan.
It requires masks for all students, staff and visitors while indoors and on busses.
Benton was one of almost 30 schools placed on probation by the Illinois State Board of Education for failure to comply with the mask mandate. Benton Grade School district Number 47 is one of those on probation. They tell News 3 they plan to revisit their Return to Learning Plan at their board meeting on Monday.
Several parents say they support masks, but say it should be up to them, not the state.
"I believe we're going to end up having to have it," says Maranda Schmutz, parent of three students attending Benton District #47. She was picking up her kids Friday, ahead of what she says is the likely return of mask requirements by the School Board.
"If it's going to make it able to keep us in school instead of doing this remote learning, which is extremely hard on the teachers and the kids, I believe we should end up being able to stay in school," says Schmutz. "So if this is what we have to do, I'm all for it."
Angie Behringer was picking up her grandson, she says she does not think the school needs to require masks, adding the kids will not keep them on all day if they do.
Donna Fowler has four grandsons in Benton schools, she says if it going to help, she is for the requirements, but agrees in the challenges of kids wearing them all day. She says she believes there are some circumstances that make it difficult for a child to wear a mask, and in those cases, the parents should have the right to make the choice.
The School district says they approved their 'Return to Learning Plan' before the state issued its mask mandate. They started school on August 10th. Monday is their first board meeting since returning this semester.
