Prairie State Wire

Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker should not be making the final decisions about the state's high school sports, according to a House representative from DuPage County.

“He has no business being involved as a lone person, dictating to our state,” Rep. Amy Grant (R-Wheaton) told the DuPage Policy Journal. “We have a coequal branch of government and all branches of government need to weigh in on this, not just Gov. Pritzker. The Republicans have been kicking and screaming about this all spring long and calling for a special session. We continue to call for a special session on corruption and ethics. No, not a peep. We're not in charge, [House Speaker] Mike Madigan's (D-Chicago)  in charge and he's just going to do what he wants to do when he wants to do it. We can kick, scream, carry on and write letters and make phone calls, but no one ever gets back to us, and when they do, they are silent. I don't want to be a complainer. We have to try. We have to continue to try.” 

Grant’s remarks were in response to Gov. Pritzker's recent announcement of limitations on high school contact sports just as the Illinois High School Association board of directors was preparing to issue a 2020-21 schedule, according to the Chicago Sun-Times. Traditional fall sports such as football and boys' soccer have been moved to a February-through-May schedule.

Illinois state Rep. Amy Grant (R-Wheaton) | File photo

“I will be attending a rally in September in my town’s Memorial Park over the restrictions on high school, junior high and even grade schoolers,” Grant said. “I hear my constituents say that they are attending school board meetings and that they are communist-like. I'm going to make mention that we need to open up our schools. If you're afraid, then you have the option to do the e-learning and that's your choice but otherwise, schools should open. If they don't open, the money that these people are paying for their children to go to school should follow that child to another school. That's not going to be very popular, but if there is no school, there are no school sports.”

According to Illinois’ COVID-19 guidelines, football, boxing, wrestling, competitive cheerleading and dance are limited to no-contact practices and training. Activities are classified into either high-risk, medium-risk or low-risk, and Levels 1, 2, 3, or 4.

For example, high-risk sports can play at Level 1 while medium-risk sports can play at Level 1 and 2. Medium-risk sports include basketball, soccer, water polo, flag football, wheelchair basketball and volleyball.

“I talked to a fireman over in Winfield today and he said that apparently St. Rita's, which is a big Catholic high school, opened but then they closed because there were too many cases testing positive for COVID. So, what is the answer? It's very inconsistent.”

ABC 7 Chicago reported that after two students tested positive for the coronavirus at St. Rita’s last week, live learning was switched back to remote learning.

As of Aug. 27, the Illinois Department of Public Health reported 227,334 coronavirus cases statewide and 7,977 deaths.