By Chris Fox
For The Elmhurst Independent
The Elmhurst Community Unit School District 205 Board held a regular meeting on March 16 at the District 205 Center, 162 S. York St. All seven board members attended the meeting.
Near the end of the meeting, board members voted unanimously to approve a plan for the district’s students to return to five full days per week of in-person learning, beginning Monday, April 12.
The district has not featured a full-week of in-person learning for more than one year. At the end of classes on March 13, 2020, all Illinois K-12 schools closed to in-person learning because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The state’s school buildings remained closed to in-person instruction for the remainder of the 2019-20 school year.
District 205’s current 2020-21 school year has featured fully remote learning, as well as a hybrid model of instruction in which students who choose the hybrid model are in school buildings for two days a week. The in-person school day in the hybrid model has been about five hours long, as opposed to the typically full school day of about seven hours.
Upset parents call for Moyer’s immediate removal
The public-participation segments of last week’s two meetings featured several critical comments from district parents. One day before the March 16 meeting, the board held a special meeting. The only open portion of that meeting was the public-participation segment. The board then went into closed session to review a slate of candidates to replace outgoing District 205 Superintendent David Moyer. Earlier this year, Moyer was named the next superintendent of the Arlington Central School District in New York. He officially starts that position on July 1.
Multiple parents who spoke during the March 15 and March 16 meetings asked the board to immediately relieve Moyer of his duties as District 205’s superintendent. Other parents urged the district to open its schools to five full days of in-person instruction immediately. Some of the parents who spoke noted that private schools in the area have been open to full-time, in-person instruction for months. Parents who spoke also criticized the district’s practice of saliva-based COVID-19 testing of students in grades 6-12. That testing began during the week of March 8.
Some of the parents who spoke during last week’s meetings also criticized the quality of remote learning and stated the board has shown no urgency to fully reopen District 205’s schools. Other comments stated that the lack of in-person learning has damaged children’s mental health.
Moyer responds
Moyer stated during the March 16 meeting that about 86 percent of the district’s staff had received both doses of the COVID-19 vaccine. He also noted that when the district does resume five full days of in-person learning on April 12, the schedules within each school may have to be adjusted. He stated that lunch schedules at schools may have to be spread throughout the day. Moyer said that lunches will be of a grab-and-go nature. He said students will have to sit six feet apart from each other and face the same direction while eating lunch. Moyer added that the district will rehire some of its lunch-service staff. The district may also have to rent some additional tables and tents.
Traveling during spring break raises concerns
Board member Courtenae Trautmann asked about a certification question for families to answer after spring break. The district’s spring break takes place the week of March 29. A question directed to district families asks if they have traveled internationally or to an area with a high risk of COVID-19. Trautmann said that if a family answered ‘yes’ to that question, its student or students would have to quarantine for 14 days after returning. Trautmann and other board members said that question should be worded more clearly. She noted that if a family did travel to a higher-risk area, but exercised precautions, its students should not have to quarantine for 14 days after returning to the district.
How to catch up on in-person learning
Board member Jim Collins asked if the district would consider using its emergency days at the end of the school year to provide more in-person education for students. York High School’s last day of the school year is scheduled for May 27. If the district used all five its emergency days, York’s last day of the school year would be June 4.
Collins said that he couldn’t think of a year in which the district had a greater need to utilize as many hours as possible. He also noted that the district’s in-person school days during the current school year had only been five hours long. Moyer said that all of the district’s school days this year had been counted as days of attendance. He said he was not in a position to declare any days of the district’s remote or five-hour days as emergency days. He said he would look into the matter to provide more information.
Bond decision saves taxpayers $5.8 million
Collins noted near the end of the March 16 meeting that the district’s decision to issue $40 million in bonds in November, instead of this spring, has saved the district’s taxpayers about $5.8 million in interest payments over the 20-year life of the bonds. The $40 million issuance is part of the $168.5 million referendum that district voters approved in November of 2018.
Superintendent to be announced early April
The board is holding multiple meetings this week to meet and interview finalists for the position to be the district’s next superintendent. The board plans to announce the next superintendent during the week of April 5.
Presentation on program for gifted, talented students
The March 16 meeting included a presentation from Leslie Weber, the district’s director of curriculum, about an analysis of the district’s program for gifted and talented students. Weber stated that the district’s current program is for students who demonstrate exceptional intellectual ability, and who need experiences extending beyond the regular curriculum.
Weber outlined a proposal that included creating district-wide magnet classrooms for gifted and talented students in grades 3-5. Those magnet classrooms would be housed at Conrad Fischer Elementary School. The district’s plan calls for the third-grade magnet classroom to open in the 2022-23 school year. The fourth-grade classroom would open in the 2023-24 school year, while the fifth-grade classroom would open in the 2024-25 school year.
The district is planning to build two additional classrooms at Fischer Elementary School. Moyer said the district will have enough classrooms at the school to accommodate all of its programming.
Some board members expressed concern that the magnet program at Fischer that brings in students from around the district would take away the concept of neighborhood schools. Board members stated that the district’s communities value their neighborhood schools.
