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With almost half of the student body out because of COVID-19 concerns, the I.S.D. 166 school district announced a short-term return to distance learning.
Cook County I.S.D. 166 Superintendent Chris Lindholm made the announcement in an email to parents on Thursday, January 13.
“The spread of COVID- 19 continues to climb in Cook County, and it has never hit harder here than in the past two weeks,” stated Lindholm in his email.
With the spread of infection, Lindholm said the school district is currently unable to fill all necessary positions and is approaching 50 percent of the student body out due to illness or being in close contact.
Because of the high number of students out, Lindholm said it was double the number of the pre-COVID threshold needed to temporarily close schools due to flu or other illness.
“With Inservice days already scheduled for January 17 and January 24, we’ve decided to implement distance learning on January 18, 19, 20, and 21 for all students. This will provide a ten-day “re-set” and hopefully allow students and staff to return healthy on January 25.”
Noting the anxiety this sudden transition makes for families, Lindholm added, “The weight of that burden is exactly why we have been reluctant to make any interruptions to our district routines thus far, but the current reality is our healthcare system and our inability to staff positions demands a pause.”
Things to note:
Meals for students will be available for pick up each day at the Eagle Doors between 10:30 a.m.-12 p.m. Please sign up to pick up meals by emailing lunchrequest@isd166.org listing the name and grade of the students and who will be picking them up.
There will be supervised spaces at school for students of essential employees who absolutely must have child supervision. Please call the attendance office to request to have your child placed in an on-campus learning pod.
Buses will run regular routes/times to pick up students that absolutely must come to school.
Scheduled student activities (games and practices) may continue next week.
The schedules for distance learning January 18-21 will mirror what the district has prepared for running E-Learning days in the future instead of closing for bad weather. This schedule was created to shorten the day a bit and to synchronize the lunch breaks for families with children in multiple schools and grade levels. Check with the I.S.D. 166 website for more details.
Meanwhile, Birch Grove Charter School (BGCS) had its first COVID-19 exposure ever on January 5, 2022. When asked if there were any plans to move to distance learning BGCS Director Diane Blanchette answered, “We do have some students and staff out due to illness or being a close contact. We have no plans to go distance learning at this time, our teachers however, have been prepared to do so since the beginning of the year. We will continue to monitor the situation while we continue on-site learning.”
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