By Dee Longfellow
For The Elmhurst Independent
According to the Superintendent’s Message issued by Dr. David Moyer at School District 205 on Friday, Oct. 16, all schools will be returning to remote instruction for at least two weeks beginning Wednesday, Oct. 21.
At the District 205 Board meeting on Tuesday, Oct. 13, there was a discussion related to COVID-19 during which Moyer told the board that the DuPage County Health Department was expected to announce that the county would move from the Moderate Community Transmission level to the Substantial Community Transmission level. Moving to the Substantial Community Transmission level would trigger the health department to advise fully remote learning.
Moyer told the board that the DuPage County Health Department cannot order the district into fully remote instruction, but instead strongly advises the district. It had always been the district’s practice to follow the health department’s guidelines, Moyer said, adding that the district’s attorneys have advised not to deviate from the county health department’s recommendations.
“Over the past several weeks, each of you has demonstrated an unwavering commitment to serving the students and community of District 205,” Moyer said in his message to parents and the D205 community. “The outcome of our students returning to school is something we should each be proud of achieving together.”
Moyer noted that it was exciting to be the first unit district in DuPage County to welcome back students to campus for hybrid learning during the week of Oct. 5.
“However, I shared candidly during the D205 Board of Education meeting Tuesday evening that DuPage County is experiencing an increase in positive COVID-19 cases and signaled the possible need to shift to remote learning in the near future as a result,” he said.
Moyer noted the urgency for families and staff to move quickly and flexibly between the learning models of the Open D205 Plan (in-person, hybrid and remote).
Early Friday morning, Oct. 16, it was learned that DuPage County moved into the Substantial Community Transmission category, as the weekly case count rose to 119 cases per 100,000 people in the county population, which is a 34-percent increase from last week. Cases have risen for young people under the age of 20 by 46.7 percent. According to the DuPage County Health Department, this means that the presence of COVID-19 is on a large scale and is widely spreading at a rapid pace that jeopardizes the health and safety of DuPage residents.
“One-hundred percent (100%) remote learning is recommended by the DuPage County Health Department at this time,” Moyer said. “Given this, D205 will transition from hybrid to remote instruction for two weeks beginning Wednesday, October 21, implementing an Adaptive Pause in accordance with IDPH guidelines.”
He said all students would transition to instruction via Remote Learning, consisting of daily synchronous (real-time live) and asynchronous (recorded and/or self-guided) learning opportunities based on daily schedules provided by teachers.
“This decision is not an easy one in a community that so highly values education and in-person learning,” Moyer said. “The District 205 Leadership Team, our teachers, and staff have worked hard to keep our schools physically open and we look forward to our students’ return to the classroom as soon as possible. The health and safety of our students, staff, and families must always come first.”
District 205 has now established a COVID-19 Dashboard, which is available at the District 205 website and includes City of Elmhurst updates.
