District 205 Cannot Require Saliva Testing: State

ELMHURST, IL — Elmhurst School District 205 told parents Wednesday that saliva testing was mandatory if they wanted their children to attend school in person.

A state agency, however, told Patch on Thursday the district has no power to require testing. It said it would contact the district.

In a mass email, Superintendent Dave Moyer said parents must sign a form to agree to the testing if they choose in-person learning for their students.

"The lack of consent will result in a remote learning designation," he said.

Patch contacted the Illinois School Board of Education about the district's authority to require such screening.

"At this time, the specific statutory/regulatory language that we believe is necessary to compel such testing/vaccination does not exist," the board's spokeswoman, Jackie Matthews, said in an email. "Stated another way, we do not know of any authority for a school district to mandate mandatory testing or vaccination for in-person attendance."

She added, "We have also reached out to Elmhurst."

Patch forwarded Matthews' comments to District 205's spokeswoman, Beverly Redmond, who said the health and safety of students, staff and the community is the district's first priority.

"We understand that the screening process has sparked questions, and we are committed to supporting our parents with information to answer any concerns," Redmond said.

At Tuesday's school board meeting, resident Tanya Cummins said during public input that she emailed the state school board about its power to require saliva testing for in-person learning. She said the state's reply read, "The regulatory language we believe is necessary to compel such testing does not exist. We do not know of any authority for a school district to mandate testing for in-person attendance."

Cummins said it took one email to get a response from the state.

"I am not here to question the morality of choosing to participate or not in saliva screening as I would never be so presumptive to have an opinion on what any parent feels what's right or best for them," she told the Elmhurst board. "Given this response by ISBE, this mandatory requirement feels like an overreach by the district."

Following its policy, the board did not respond to her public comments.

The board has discussed the possibility of saliva testing since the fall. It is set to start March 8.