Following a meeting on Wednesday, July 29, District 205 released the following information to its community stakeholders about the plans to re-open for the new school year. The entire report can be found on the web site at theindependentnewspapers.com, but due to space limitations, the Independent is presenting highlights:
Student, Teacher and Staff Safety
The health and safety of our students, teachers and staff is the first foundational principle of the Open D205 plan. To date, the District is projecting that it will invest approximately a half million dollars this school year to provide for the safety of all students and staff. Examples of measures being implemented or considered include but are not limited to:
• Developing a health/self-certification app for parents and staff to verify wellness daily.
• Increasing space in classrooms to support proper social distancing by storing extra classroom furniture and equipment in trailers.
• Creating hybrid schedules to support social distancing.
• Establishing district-wide criteria to change to remote learning if in-person or hybrid conditions are deemed unsafe
• Revising building operations to support social distancing and prevent transmission, including prohibiting the usage of lockers, signage, adjusting traffic patterns, changing room assignments, modifying pick-up and drop-off procedures, hosting virtual orientation and community events, changing out tables for desks and reconfiguring classrooms. See sample classroom configurationsas drafted by Wight & Co., the architects for D205.
• Supporting medical exemptions for employees who are in a high-risk category
• Intensifying cleaning protocols to follow prescribed guidelines (e.g., lunch rooms cleaned in between shifts, wiping down classrooms any time new groups use a room, intense daily disinfecting of public areas as well as routine and frequent cleaning/disinfecting of high touch areas, etc.)
• Establishing isolation rooms if people begin to feel ill, quarantine procedures for students and employees, who may feel ill or are awaiting test results
• Purchasing district-provided masks for employees and students
• Distributing sanitizer and disinfectant wipes in all classrooms
• Using tents to extend the cafeteria/eating area to expand the social distancing space to include outdoor lunch opportunities when weather permits.
• Hiring additional lunch supervisors
• Allowing elementary specials to be held in classrooms and other measures to prevent co-mingling of groups.
Health/Self-Certification
The health and wellness of our students, teachers and staff depends on a daily symptom assessment and verification before leaving home. A remote app has been developed for families to complete the health/self-certification process.
Face Coverings
Face coverings/face masks provide a simple barrier that has been proven to greatly reduce the spread of COVID-19. The use and wearing of masks and face coverings by all persons in the school building will be strictly enforced. Students and staff with disabilities who are unable to wear a face covering may be provided reasonable accommodations per the Americans with Disabilities Act and other applicable law.
Remote Learning
Based on recent guidance from the ISBE, families requesting Remote Learning must be offered the option to do so. Therefore, families who initially select in-person or hybrid instruction will be able to change to remote learning at any time. However, families who elect for remote instruction will not be able to change to in-person instruction until January 2021.
To date, approximately 85% of our parents would like to see in-person or hybrid learning environments for their children. However, this will only be possible if there are enough teachers willing to report to work.
The District will continue to work through the logistics of providing a safe environment for students, teachers, and staff and supporting grade level schedules. It is possible that some adjustments to the original plan will be required when this information is available.
Teachers will be offered the opportunity to participate in Remote Learning professional development sessions this summer and Professional Learning Days on August 19-21 are dedicated exclusively to Remote Learning, including working with Zoom as a distance learning tool to increase synchronous instruction.
All-Day Kindergarten
Currently, in-person instruction five days/week is an option for students in grades EC-5. Remote Learning for kindergarten students will be consistent with the all-day curriculum. Families who were accepted in the all-day kindergarten program and wish to change to the half-day program may do so but they will lose their $270 deposit.
Lunch
The District will continue to provide meal service to students. The meal service program will be a combination of in-school serving and a “grab & go” program similar to the one implemented in spring of 2020. However, due to safety considerations, students will not be able to leave campus during lunch.
Fall Sports
The IHSA Board of Directors met last week and provided Governor Pritzker’s guidelines for youth sports. An article specific to this topic can be found elsewhere in this issue of the Elmhurst Independent.
