Chicago-area high school students stage walkout after principal tells them to mask up for class or leave

A group of high school students in the Chicago area walked out of class Monday after being told they had to wear masks to attend class.

The walkout came after Sangamon County Circuit Court Judge Raylene Grischow issued a temporary restraining order against Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s requirement that masks be worn in schools to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

Video shared on Twitter by Jon J. Kerr, publisher of The Kerr Report on Substack, shows a throng of maskless Vernon Hills High School students trickling out of the school.

Community High School District 128 told Fox News that students who refused to wear masks met with their principals and were given the opportunity to explain their position and ask questions.

The district, which includes Libertyville and Vernon Hills High School, said students were given three options Monday: put on a mask to attend class, leave school and have a parent report the absence, or stay in the gym and complete classwork.”

Many parents decried the district’s decision to keep the mask mandate in place. Several parents who spoke to Fox News said their kids were left in the gym all day with nothing to do.

“For two years, we have been living under mandates,” Libertyville parent Socrates Vela told Fox News. “My wife and I did not serve in the Army so 20 years later, Illinois bureaucrats could strip our children’s rights.”- READ MORE