Dear Parents and Guardians,

What a week it has been! Thank you to everyone for your support in reopening our schools for in-person learning after six long months without students in them! We have enjoyed seeing our kindergarten and many of our special education students back in the classrooms again as part of our rolling reentry plan. The transition from virtual to in-person learning went smoothly - with students visibly excited to “meet” their teacher and classmates. A huge thank you for working with us to make the return to in-person learning a reality.

Since in-person learning resumed, we have not had a staffing issue or an outbreak of cases within one building. Our ability to safely open without significant viral transmission and our ability to ensure we can staff our classrooms are our two lead indicators.

We are experiencing a staffing issue with parents making last minute changes to their enrollment decision from in-person to virtual learning classrooms. Although the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) requires districts to accommodate parent requests to change to virtual learning settings at any time during the COVID-19 pandemic, it causes significant disruption to class sizes and staffing.

For example, we had parents of 15 kindergarten students request a last minute change from in-person to virtual learning, leaving an in person class at six students. We simply cannot run classrooms with six students. Therefore, we are being forced to combine and/or close sections, which doesn’t feel good for anyone involved -- not administration making the need-based decision, for our students that are having their classrooms changed or for teachers that are either gaining or losing students or even having their teaching assignment adjusted to accommodate these fluctuations.

If your child is returning to school in person, please remember to sign the self-certification card daily, verifying that your child is COVID-19 symptom-free. Students without certification signatures will have delayed entrance into the building which will take away from valuable instructional time. Please integrate this symptom check and signature into your daily morning routine. I know I speak for staff at our schools when I say just how important your partnership on this daily expectation is. Thank you.

Once again, thank you for your partnership throughout this process. We are delighted to see students back at school again and will continue to communicate with you at the school and district level on a regular basis.

Your partner in education,

Dr. Laurie Heinz

Superintendent of Schools