Joliet Diocese Schools Superintendent Michael J. Boyle (L) and Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker (R) believe students shouldn't play sports without their faces being covered. | Linkedin/Wikipedia
Joliet Diocese Schools Superintendent Michael J. Boyle (L) and Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker (R) believe students shouldn't play sports without their faces being covered. | Linkedin/Wikipedia
Joliet Diocese Catholic Schools Superintendent Michael J. Boyle cancelled all boys and girls basketball at 40 schools over the weekend, after a Sangamon County Judge's ruling halted Gov. J.B. Pritzker's statewide requirement that children cover their faces while playing sports.
"As could be predicted, the court decision regarding the Temporary Restraining Order was handed down," Boyle wrote in an email to school principals late Friday night. "We are reviewing this now."
"However, I realize that there are basketball games tomorrow. I will not have any guidance completed and distributed in time to guide the expected behavior for tomorrow's basketball games," Boyle wrote. "I am cancelling all basketball games for this weekend."
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Joliet includes Will, DuPage, Ford, Grundy, Iroquois, Kankakee and Kendall Counties.
In July 21, 2021, the Joliet Diocese declared its schools would be "mask optional," writing that "parents will decide whether their children will wear a mask."
"All parents will be required to sign a “Mask Use” form. This is based on the decision-making control granted to local school administrators by the CDC guidance," the Joliet diocese wrote.
But when, three weeks later, Gov. Pritzker announced a statewide requirement for all schools, the diocese relented, claiming it had no choice but to follow the state mandate.
Boyle himself has been an aggressive advocate for covering students faces.
In 2020, he lauded officials at St. Isidore school in Bloomingdale on Twitter for their "awesome" work using "morning announcements to teach procedure with the new safety measures-- Social Distancing, Masks and Hygiene."
"IMPRESSIVE!!," Boyle wrote.
DuPage County schools impacted include All Saints Catholic Academy, St. Raphael and Saints Peter and Paul in Naperville, Holy Trinity in Westmont, Immaculate Conception and Visitation in Elmhurst, Notre Dame in Clarendon Hills, Sacred Heart and St. Pius X in Lombard, St. Petronille and St. James the Apostle in Glen Ellyn, St. Joseph and St. Mary of Gostyn in Downers Grove, St. Michael in Wheaton, St. John the Baptist in Winfield, St. Isidore in Bloomingdale, St. Isaac Jogues in Hinsdale, St. Matthew in Glendale Heights, St. Walter in Roselle and St. Scholastica in Woodridge.
Boyle served as principal at St. Michael's in Wheaton from 2004 to 2006.
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