January 3, 2022
In the past several weeks, our county and area have experienced an unprecedented surge in Covid cases. At this time, it is our intent to continue to provide in-person learning as we have been doing all year. Masks, social distancing, good hygiene, and staying home when ill will help us with this goal.
Despite the recent changes in CDC guidelines for quarantines and close contacts, the Illinois State Board of Education has not yet adopted them. You may recall reading that these new guidelines are for the “general public.” As a public school setting, we do not fall under that category. What does that mean for you, your child, or family? We still will be following the guidelines from last October. They are linked here. In short, a quarantine/isolation period of at least 10 days will continue to be the standard. We are hopeful that ISBE will release additional guidelines for students and staff, but we do not have any updated guidance to share at this time.
We will continue to offer in person learning for all of our students and, according to the state, we cannot offer remote learning unless a child is required to quarantine due to illness or exposure. If your child has to be quarantined for testing positive or being exposed to a positive case, teachers will work with students and families to help them make up the work as best they can.
We will be making some immediate changes to assist with stopping the spread of the newest and oldest variants of Covid.
- Starting tomorrow, morning meeting will take place in the classroom and not in the gym.
- Until further notice, extra-curricular ball games will be limited to home fans only. We still will be broadcasting each game with our YouTube Channel.
- School day times may have to be altered if we don’t have the staff to offer quality in person learning.
- Latchkey will not be available in the morning or afternoon January 4 – 7 due to staffing issues.
In addition to these changes, please continue to monitor for symptoms and always keep your child home if they are ill. A negative Covid test or an alternate diagnosis from a healthcare provider is required to return after any illness. At home rapid test kits are not allowed for schools. Thank you to everyone who has followed these protocols from the very beginning.
If you need help communicating with the health department, please call 312-777-1999