HERRIN, Ill. (WSIL) --ÌýHerrin Community Unit School District 4 is allowing students and staff the option to wear masks following a Sangamon County court's decision.
Last Friday, a judgeÌýruled against the state's school mandates, including masks, in response to lawsuits filed on behalf of parents and teachers from 150+ districts.
In response, several southern Illinois schools updated their guidelines, including Marion, which was named in the lawsuit, Carterville and Herrin.
Herrin's superintendent Nathaniel Wilson says the decision was made after countless discussions over the weekend among school attorneys and administrators.
Wilson says the district chose to make masks optional instead of requiring them because enforcing the mandate would be difficult in the wake of the judge's ruling.
"Honestly, we didn't have a leg to stand on," Wilson said.
Wilson says he and fellow administrators feel state leaders have slowly taken local control away from schools since the start of the pandemic.
Wilson argues that blanket mandates don't apply to all communities and that school districts should be able to decide for themselves how to move forward.
"We want to operate things here locally... It comes back down to those local decisions," Wilson said. "I'm probably more interested in what our local numbers look like."
Guests are still required to wear masks inside school buildings while students are still required to wear masks inside school busses or other school transportation.
Wilson said COVID numbers in the district have been lower in recent weeks. He's expected to give an update on those statistics on Thursday.