Glencoe District 35 has selected a hybrid plan to start the upcoming school year with students coming to school half the day and learning remotely the other half.
At their Aug. 6 meeting, school board members unanimously chose the hybrid model based on the recommendation of the district’s administration on how to provide education amid the coronavirus pandemic.
“We have every interest in meeting and greeting our children and welcoming them to the new school year and doing it in a safe consistent way as possible for all those in our school community,” Superintendent Catherine Wang said at the meeting.
The administration recommended the hybrid plan over complete remote learning or all in-person classes after receiving feedback from a planning committee of stakeholders and recommendations from the Illinois Department of Public Health and the American Academy of Pediatrics, Wang said.
All school board members supported the administration’s proposal.
“I don’t think at the K-8 level there is an adequate substitute for in-person learning, especially those students in South School (K-2) and our seventh and eighth graders that are preparing to go into high school where the stakes are higher,” board member David Napier said.
However, the leadership of the Glencoe Education Association, the union representing District 35 teachers, preferred an exclusively remote option for the upcoming school year, citing health concerns.
“It is the safest option for all students, staff, and families and the wider Glencoe community,” wrote GEA co-presidents Heather Bauer and Karen Leeds in an email following the board meeting. “There is a great deal of staff anxiety about returning to any type of in-person learning.”
Bauer and Leeds wrote of the 166 teachers and teacher associates, three teachers are now slated teach remotely this year due to their own medical issues. On a larger level, they said they are working with the administration to address concerns of all the staff.
Wang added the district is working with the Glencoe Park District to provide childcare to staff members who might need such services.
Wang said families do have the right to select a completely remote option and as of Aug. 6, there had been requests for 80 students, which represents 6.7% of the student population.
With students set to return to the buildings Aug. 31, Wang said most of the school’s operations have been overhauled.
Tentatively, students whose last name starts with letters from A-K will come to the buildings in the morning and L-Z in the afternoon, Wang said. However, she indicated there could be some slight modifications to that breakdown after all the remote education requests are in place.
District officials are asking that daily temperature and symptom checks be performed for students and staff before entering the buildings and that all students arrive at school each day with a completed certification label that those tests have been completed.
Once they arrive at school, Wang said there would be random temperature checks, students will enter assigned doors and only essential visitors will be allowed inside.
In addition, Wang stated face coverings will be required, desks will be physically distant, facing forward with shields, students will have assigned seating and there will not be any sharing of electronic devices. Every student will instead receive their own iPad.
Water fountains will not be available, but students can use bottle filling stations. In addition, social distance guidelines will be set with a limited number of students allowed in the bathroom at one time.
Wang also said the district plans to increase the use of outdoor spaces, allowing for mask breaks if everyone is socially distant.
Busing will be offered only to those families who require transportation and have no other alternatives, Wang noted. Lunch and snacks will not be served.
Wang said she is hopeful that more in-person learning will be coming, but acknowledged the situation could change based upon the overall health situation.
Daniel I. Dorfman is a freelance reporter.
