District 300 Families,
I hope this message finds you well. I want to share some information with you all about our plan to open the new school year in August. We are looking to open the year with a combination of in-person learning and remote learning (known as a blended schedule).
It is important to remember that our current plans are based on the guidelines and requirements which are currently in place. If the requirements from the Illinois State Board of Education and Illinois Department of Public Health change, then our plans will change accordingly.
I have recorded a presentation in which I provide an overview of our plan. You can view that here or on our district website here. I encourage you to watch the presentation. Here are important points which I address in the video about our blended schedule which we hope to open the school year with:
- Students will be divided in two groups for in-person learning.
- One group will be in-person on Mondays/Wednesdays.
- One group will be in-person on Tuesdays/Thursdays.
- We will create groups alphabetically, but will accommodate students from the same household.
- All students will have remote learning on Fridays.
- We will initiate a Chromebook loan program for students who do not have devices.
- Our school buildings and other areas in the community will serve as hotspots.
- We are working to provide other means of assistance to families who lack connectivity.
- At this time, we are planning on utilizing the blended schedule during the first 3 weeks of school (until Labor Day weekend) at a minimum.
- Circumstances will determine how we can proceed. We will make a determination once we get closer to the time period.
- Guidelines/Expectations
- Face masks will be required for students, faculty, and staff when inside the school, on a school bus, etc.
- Symptom/temperature checks will occur daily for students, faculty, and staff.
- Students will be checked upon arrival.
- Parents of bus riders will have a process to certify their student is symptom/temperature free.
- Faculty/staff will certify they are symptom/temperature free.
- Social distancing guidelines will be followed.
- Appropriate cleaning will occur.
- Hand washing/sanitizing will occur.
- Remote Learning
- Professional development is occurring among our faculty.
- Accountability for remote learning will be in place:
- Grades will be given for work.
- Attendance process will be in place.
Our faculty, staff, and administrators are working hard to complete the details around the plan for the blended schedule as well as for remote learning. We appreciate your patience. We realize there are still many questions left to answer and we will be sharing more details in the coming days.
If you are the parent/guardian of a child with an underlying health condition who may need special accommodations and have not yet reached out to us, please contact the principal of your child's school (DES Principal Mrs. Diana Rea at drea@duquoinschools.org, DMS Principal Mr. Aaron Hill at ahill@duquoinschools.org, or DHS Principal Mr. Tim McChristian at tmcchristian@duquoinschools.org) or school nurse (DES/DMS Nurse Amy Fornear at amyfornear@duquoinschools.org or DHS Nurse Carolyn Dean at cdean@duquoinschools.org).
We appreciate your patience and support during this time. We will do everything we can to make the 2020-2021 school year a success for our students. We will be in touch again soon with more information.
Thank you