From ‘quarantine academies’ to virtual substitutes, how schools are teaching students in isolation because of COVID-19
As Illinois schools welcome students back to fully reopened classrooms this month amid another coronavirus surge, educators face a thorny question: How do you teach students who are quarantined by COVID-19?
The dismantling of pandemic-era remote and hybrid instruction programs across the U.S. this fall arrives by state proclamation and on the urging of U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona, who earlier this summer said, “Schools have shown that they can — and should — be offering in-person learning opportunities five days a week to every student.”
Remote instruction can be offered to students while they are under quarantine, Illinois State Board of Education Superintendent Carmen Ayala said earlier this summer. But despite pleas from some parents who want a full-time e-learning option to continue, districts including Chicago Public Schools are reserving their virtual programs for students who qualify as medically fragile and have documented health conditions.
Some teachers and parents are applauding the full return to in-person learning. But the abrupt halting of remote instruction — which last year allowed in-person students who tested positive for the virus to pivot swiftly to online classes — is forcing school districts to get creative this fall when it comes to teaching kids who need to quarantine.
At Wilmette-based Avoca School District 37, Superintendent Kaine Osburn said Friday that one thing is certain: “Quarantined students will not Zoom into a live classroom.”
“We found this to be both ineffective and burdensome for our teachers, despite their herculean efforts to make that successful,” said Osburn, adding that classroom teachers will provide students with materials, and extra support from a designated substitute teacher as needed.
Chicago Public Schools, which opens for students Aug. 30, has been vague about its remote-learning plans for students placed in quarantine.
“All of the information around quarantine is still being talked through at the table with (the Chicago Teachers Union), and so when we come to a final consensus on how we will move forward, we will come back and share more information,” interim CPS Chief Education Officer Maurice Swinney said Thursday at a virtual town hall for CPS families.
Students who test positive for COVID-19 in Arlington Heights School District 25 will be able to attend their classes online through the district’s new Quarantine Academy, District 25 spokesperson Adam Harris said.
The district recently hired four “quarantine teachers” for the academy, which will run on Zoom and instruct students in a multigrade format, with each teacher assigned to a different section, including kindergarten to second grade, third to fifth grade, middle school, and children enrolled in the district’s early childhood and special education programs, Harris said.
Teachers at River Trails School District 26 will open up a virtual window to the classroom via Google Meet for students in quarantine to observe lessons and classroom activities, Assistant Superintendent for Teaching and Learning Kristine Seifert said.
“This is highly taxing on teaching staff and requires our teachers to continue to go above and beyond the call of duty to support their students during a pandemic,” Seifert said.
Like in other districts, only students considered medically fragile will be offered a remote learning option at Arlington Heights-based Township High School District 214, where students at the district’s six high schools are expected to remain engaged in classroom activities by keeping in touch with their classroom teachers, and following along with their assignments through the district’s online, Schoology system, District 214 spokeswoman Stephanie Kim said.
The district will also supply additional support, including tutoring, to students as needed, Kim said.
At Palatine-based Township High School District 211, each of the district’s five high schools has hired a quarantine instruction coordinator tasked with organizing tutoring services for students in quarantine and serving as a liaison for tutors, students and parents, spokesperson Erin Holmes said.
Students at Barrington School District 220 will have the option to participate in the district’s Test to Stay Strategy. It will rely on a slate of authorized PCR or rapid antigen screenings from the date of an exposure to COVID-19, with close contacts permitted to remain in the classroom as long as the results are negative, according to the District 220 website.
The strategy can only be used when “both the COVID-19-confirmed case and close contact were engaged in consistent and correct use of well-fitting masks, regardless of vaccination status,” officials warned.
Dr. Larry K. Kociolek, medical director of infection prevention and control at Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago, said it’s still too early to predict if bringing students back together at schools as the delta variant continues to rage will lead to an influx of children in quarantine. But he noted that childhood illnesses like strep throat and enterovirus tend to surge during the fall, even during a “normal” start of the school year.
“We have to rely on what we know, and what we’ve learned, and what we do know is that masks are highly effective in preventing the transmission of COVID-19, and wearing masks allowed schools to remain open nearly 100% of the time last spring,” Kociolek said. “Vigilance is better than fear, and we can live our lives fully and safely if we defer to the opinions of the experts.”
Krista Badani, a mother of five from St. Charles, agrees with Kociolek’s advice and is strictly following the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidance. She made sure her older children were vaccinated before the start of the school year.
Nevertheless, for 5-year-old Nico, who missed his first week of kindergarten after coming down with a respiratory virus, two negative COVID-19 tests have not been enough to allow the youngster — who is still congested, and too young for the vaccine — back in the classroom at Wild Rose Elementary School, Badani said.
“I’ve been emailing the nurse, because he has no fever, and these coughs can last forever, but I get why they have these rules,” Badani said. “His teachers have been great, and very communicative, and well, it’s kindergarten.”
Tribune reporter Tracy Swartz contributed.
