8/16/20
We are looking forward to the official start of the 2020-2021 school year with our students over the next two days. This is a year like no other in modern times, but our faculty, staff, and administration are committed to doing our best to meet the needs of all of our students.
A few friendly reminders as we open up:
- Symptom checks for all students attending in-person will occur daily. If you are the parent/guardian of a bus rider, you are asked to complete a symptom check form for your student before they board the bus. A daily text message will be sent to all parents as a reminder to monitor your child's temperature/symptoms every morning. The form for bus riders will be included in this daily text message. If your child has a fever of 100 degrees or higher, COVID-19-like symptoms, or is otherwise ill, please keep them home.
- Children will be required to wear a face covering on the school bus and at school. If your child needs a face covering, one will be provided.
- School doors will open at 7:20 AM. All buses will drop off in the front of the K-8 building between 7:20 and 7:40 AM. Parent drop off will occur in the back of the K-8 building with symptom checks. All buses will drop off in the back of the high school between 7:20-7:40 AM. Parent drop off will occur at the main entrance of the high school by the office/lobby.
- If someone in your household is COVID-19 positive or has been tested for COVID-19 and is awaiting test results, your child should be kept home and symptoms should be monitored regularly. Absences for this reason are excused and all work can be made up. If your child is in this circumstance, please contact your child's school so that arrangements for school work can be made as needed.
A couple of updates:
- The Illinois Department of Public Health has recently revised the timeline for individuals to be fever-free before returning to school/work. This timeline has been lowered from 72 hours back to 24 hours. As a result, this is the timeline we will be following as we start the school year.
- With community spread of COVID-19 still ongoing in our county and region, we are now extending our plan for the blended schedule. The blended schedule will now run through the first quarter which ends on October 16th. Naturally, if circumstances change significantly one way or the other, we will be prepared to make adjustments. We have seen school districts in our area open up to students only to have to shut down shortly thereafter due to COVID-19 exposure. We will all have to prepared for this, but we are hopeful that if we are all diligent in following guidelines and directions that we can follow our blended schedule for a good amount of time.
As always, we appreciate your patience and cooperation. We continue to closely monitor the COVID-19 situation in our area and, as school opens up, we will be closely monitoring the implementation of our plans so that we can make improvements as needed.
Thank you