School officials weigh in on in-person learning during case surge
MACOMB — Local K-12 schools are working diligently to keep kids in school, even as new county COVID-19 case counts neared 700 last week.
Last year, at the direction of state officials, K-12 schools used remote learning and created plans to return to in-person learning to help slow the spread of COVID-19. Parents who wished to use online learning had the option to do so.
This school year, ISBE has directed schools to focus their efforts on keeping children in school while using mitigation efforts such as wearing masks and vaccination, citing better learning outcomes for students. Parents no longer have the option to request online learning over in-person learning, with medical situations being the exception.
The Voice reached out to the ROE #26 and the county's K-12 school district superintendents to ask about how this uptick is affecting their districts, and asked what measures parents can take if they have concerns about their child attending in-person.
Dr. John Meixner, Regional Superintendent of schools, and superintendents Dr. Patrick Twomey, and Dr. Guy Gradert responded. The Voice did not get an interview with Dr. Kathy Dinger of the Bushnell-Prairie City school district in time for this story
ROE #26
Dr. John Meixner, Regional Superintendent of schools, weighed in. “The state's primary goal is to keep kids in school as much as possible," he said. "They (schools) have done a great job at that.”
He said the State has given them some remote and e-learning options if school is needed to be attended remotely.
“When there's an outbreak, changes in school attendance are determined by the health department. The school is supposed to consult with the health department before making decisions on going to remote learning.”
Meixner said the other option is to cancel school like a snow day.
MCUSD 185
Both Meixner and MCUSD 185 Superintendent Patrick Twomey said that the more difficult part of managing the current situation is not just having students quarantined, is having faculty and staff out as well. This includes teachers, kitchen staff, janitors, bus drivers, etc.
Twomey said that since everyone has returned from break on January 3, approximately 200 students and 26 staff members have tested positive for COVID.
About a week ago, Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) and Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) confirmed the Center for Disease Control (CDC)'s new five day quarantine for positive cases and social distancing once they've returned.
Twomey says at that time cases were spiking and the combination of the two made it difficult to contact students, contact parents, schedule return, etc. Previously there were two weeks to get the information, contact trace, notify parents and get spreadsheets in order. At the same time, he says the five day quarantine is helpful because teachers can get back quicker.
“If there's a stress on the school system, it's because we don't have enough adults,” Twomey said. “I don't think, unless something drastic occurs with COVID, I don't think it will be because the kids are out. If we go remote, it will be because we don't have enough adults at school to run the system.”
He went on to explain the biggest issue is getting kids put on the spreadsheet, which is a live document. The bus system uses the same document. Kids who are sick are not supposed to be on the bus either.
“There was a short period of time where a child may not get taken off for the five days. When the child was ready to go back to school, their names were still on the list,” Twomey said. “This created frustration on the part of parents. We are now asking that parents let us know the day before their child can return. Call the child's building to confirm the following day is their last day (at home). This gives us another layer of checking to see if the child is able to return to school.”
“We are getting our legs under us,” he said. “We plan on continuing to modify our plans to keep kids in school.”
West Prairie CUD 103
Superintendent Guy Gradert said Thursday that he understands concerns people may have due to the recent surge in cases, but the district has "not taken an adaptive pause this entire year for remote learning because of COVID."
In terms of case load, the district currently has fewer than 10 students excluded (quarantined), three staff who tested positive and one staff member who has been excluded. He clarified that individuals do not have to test positive to be quarantined; they only need to have been exposed to the virus.
"So you can see, our numbers have been very manageable here the last couple weeks now. We had a little scare with pre-k, but we have yet to shut a class down because of COVID." he said.
He said the district has been following ISBE and CDC guidelines "from day one." He said the board has been very supportive of them following mitigation measures. "It's for the safety of everybody too. Not just to follow rules to follow rules, but it's the right thing to do."
He said the most important goal for the district and the community is to keep kids in school. "That's always been the goal, to do what we need to do to make sure our kids are in-person learning, because we know [online learning] is not ideal," he said.
He said a concern is a lack of reporting by individuals who test positive. "They're not always forthcoming about their condition," he said. "... That's a concern for all of us in the county."
He added that working with the health department and McDonough District Hospital has been a good experience. "With MDH and everybody, we got most of our educators here in the county vaccinated last February."
Gradert said he looks at the current situation as strictly a public health issue which needs to be dealt with like any other public health issue: "We take our precautions and get kids in school," he said.
He has had previous experience working in a school district in McLean County which had an outbreak of mumps. That situation was also marked by much of the volatility that has been noted in school districts during the current pandemic, but for very different reasons. In that case, parents wanted the district to exclude children who had not been vaccinated.
"The funny thing was, I had parents calling me, demanding I keep kids out of school that might have mumps. Asking me for names of children. Now, the shoe's on the other foot. It's just weird, the irony of it."
Editor Michelle Langhout contributed to this story. Please direct any questions or comments to her at mlanghout@mcdonoughvoice.com.
This article originally appeared on The McDonough County Voice: McDonough county case count challenges k-12 school efforts
