Lake Forest High School Plans To Return To Classroom In September
LAKE FOREST, IL — In a unanimous vote Tuesday, the Lake Forest Community High School District 115 Board of Education approved a plan that would see students start to return to school two days a week starting in the second half of next month.
Incoming freshmen are scheduled to have a day of orientation on campus on Aug. 18 before all students start the school year with remote learning from Aug. 20 to Sept. 11.
Then, starting in mid-September, the district shifts to a schedule with a hybrid of remote and in-person learning, with staff instructing from classrooms, some students present and others at home, according to the plan approved by the board.
"We are in an uncommon and fortunate position to live in a community with the knowledge interest commitment and means to create a unique and positive solution that meets the needs of all of our stakeholders," Board President David Lane said at the meeting. "I believe that together we can seize the opportunity for the benefit of our students, community, teachers and staff."
Under the district's hybrid plan, one group of students would attend Mondays and Tuesdays with another attending in person on Thursdays and Fridays. Every Wednesday, the building will be closed for deep cleaning, and students and staff will have remote learning with shorter period focused on executive function.
Parents and guardians have until Aug. 24 to choose whether to allow their students to come to campus or take part remotely for the first semester. No excuses or doctors’ notes are required to opt for the fully remote option, although some alternative arrangements may be needed to complete hands-on requirements in specific courses.
Superintendent Mike Simeck said district officials would monitor local coronavirus metrics to determine if the reopening needed to be rolled back. Those metrics include the number of positive test results in the 60044 and 60045 ZIP codes and both the countywide and Lake-McHenry regional positivity rates.
If local ZIP codes exceed 8 new cases per 10,000 residents — or the county or region has more than three days with 8 percent of tests coming up positive for the virus that causes COVID-19 —the district could shift back to remote learning only, the superintendent explained.
Simeck also said district officials had been working for months on a voluntary testing program, although the cost and logistics are still being worked out.
"This would be a rapid test, a 15-minute test for students and staff," Simeck said. "This would not be the very invasive testing which they call the 'scratch-the-back-of-your-brain test', this is like placing a Q-tip swab in your nose. We've got the ability now, we're confident that we can execute against this."
Tuesday's unanimous board vote came just over a week after members of the board told administrators they could not accept a reopening plan that did not plan for the return of students to district buildings before 2021 after administrators recommended starting the year with a full semester of e-learning.
Earlier: LFHS Board Rejects Recommendation For Fully Remote Learning
Other than Lake Forest, New Trier High School is the only other North Shore high school district to have approved a hybrid learning model that would give student the opportunity to return to campus before the end of the first quarter of the 2020-21 school year. Chicago Public Schools on Wednesday announced plans to remain remote through at least November.
Teachers unions have publicly warned of strikes if they find safety precautions insufficient, and closed-door meetings to discuss collective bargaining issues have been a regular feature on recent suburban school board agendas.
Lake Forest High School Principal Chala Holland said not every student — even in a largely wealthy school district such as Lake Forest's — has a safe place to engage in remote learning over the internet from home.
"We have been working through all of the needs of our most vulnerable students," Holland said. "Some families actually need a place for their students to engage, and what would it look like for us to use some of our large spaces for students who need a quiet place to work because of a variety of different home situation?"
Other relatively well-funded high school districts on Chicago's North Shore, including Deerfield and Highland Park's District 113, Evanston Township High School District 202, Niles Township High School District 219 and Glenbrook High School District 225, have not publicly announced any plans to provide a safe learning environment for students unable to effectively take part at home.
This article originally appeared on the Lake Forest-Lake Bluff Patch
