Dear District 204 Community,
At the March 8 Board of Education meeting, I informed the board that all students will participate in remote learning on April 6. On that day, DuPage County and Will County election officials will be using 22 of our schools as polling places. Due to space utilization in our schools, as well as health and safety concerns, we will continue the practice of not having in-person instruction on an election day.
We also discussed our plan for increasing in-person instruction for Prairie Children Preschool students. Beginning the week of March 15, students currently enrolled in our special education self-contained classrooms will be attending in-person instruction four half days per week. Preschool students enrolled in our blended education classrooms will increase to three half days of in-person instruction per week.
This week, we begin our transition to four half days of in-person instruction for our elementary students. Starting March 23, our high schools will move to four half days, and our middle schools will transition on April 7. Once all grade levels have transitioned, we will have approximately 14,000 students at school four days a week. This was a collaborative effort. I want to thank our administrators and our supporting services staff for their logistical work and planning to make this happen. I also want to thank our teachers and parents for their work in supporting instruction for both our in-person and remote students. The partnership between home and school has continued to be critical for our students’ success.
As I previously shared, the instruction schedules this year are not ideal. While I know our teachers are excited to see their students in-person four days a week, we all very much look forward to returning to five full days of in-person instruction this fall.
Sincerely,
Adrian B. Talley, Ed.D.
Superintendent
Four half-day in-person plan announced for 204 elementary students
Feb. 23, 2021
Dear District 204 Community,
At last night’s Board of Education meeting, we shared information about the plan to increase our in-person instruction at our schools to four half days per week by combining our A-Day and B-Day in-person students. Based on space availability, parents with elementary school children in remote learning may have the option to switch to in-person. Because we are adhering to the 6 ft. social distancing guidance from the CDC, there are limits to the number of remote students who can switch to in-person. If the number of elementary students asking to switch from remote to in-person exceeds the space available, we will use a lottery system to select the remote students who want in-person instruction. We plan to start our four half-day schedule at elementary school on March 9. Parents of elementary students will receive an email from their principal today with detailed information. The deadline for making a request to change from remote to in-person is at Noon on Friday, February 26.
For middle and high school, combining A and B students while following CDC guidance to maintain 6 ft. of social distance is more complex. Part of the complexity comes from students changing classes every period, which creates a fluctuating number of students physically present in a classroom. For example, when we combine the two groups, we have found that some classes are able to handle the combination of students and maintain the required 6 ft. of social distancing while others are not. We have to find space in each school that will accommodate the overflow of students, period-by-period. The middle and high schools have limited “extra space” in their schools; however, our principals have been looking for those spaces and generating possibilities that will work. We plan on phasing in the four half-day schedule at middle and high school beginning March 15 and have all schools completed immediately after spring break. Parents of middle and high school students will receive an email from their principal today with detailed information. The deadline for making a request to change from remote to in-person is at Noon on Friday, February 26.
Let me be clear, none of the schedules for instruction this year have been ideal. As educators, we want nothing more than to see all of our students in our classrooms with our teachers full-time. I shared with the board that we are planning for public health guidance to allow us to open with full-time in-person instruction for all students this fall. We believe we can do this because of the declining rates of community transmission and the availability of the vaccine for our staff. We will continue to provide a remote option for students who have medical concerns about being in-person. We all look forward to returning to a normal school year in 2021-22 for our students.
Sincerely,
Adrian B. Talley, Ed.D.
Superintendent
