Friday, March 13, 2020
Dear District 23 Families, Staff and Students,
Based on the rapidly evolving situation with COVID-19, recommendations from public health officials, and in consultation with District 214 and our fellow Feeder Districts,
we are CLOSING schools for students Monday, March 16 through Friday, March 20, 2020
.
Monday, March 16 will be used as a Teacher Institute Day. However, students will participate virtually and
we will implement our Distance Learning Plan on Tuesday, March 17 through Friday, March 20.
This means students will be learning from home next week and these days will not have to be made up at the end of the school year. Spring Break will run as scheduled March 21-March 29.
While we hope to be able to resume normal school attendance on Monday, March 30, 2020, a longer period of school closure and distance learning days may be necessary. We will be closely monitoring the public health situation and will make a determination of our status, communicating our decision as soon as possible.
We will remind students to bring home their devices, chargers and any materials they would need to complete assignments TODAY. In the event a student forgets learning materials/devices at school, please contact the school next week.
The remainder of this letter addresses a number of issues related to our school closure:
- Rationale
- Distance Learning
- Home Internet Access
- Food Services
- Cleaning Protocol
- Spring Break Travel
- Sports, Clubs, and Community Events
- Communication with Families
Rationale
During Governor Pritzker’s latest press conference yesterday, he specifically noted the need to limit social contact and refrain from events with more than 1,000 people. We also know that several confirmed cases of COVID-19 have been treated at Northwest Community Hospital in Arlington Heights.
Yesterday we announced the cancellation of co-curricular activities, field trips and tours. Feedback from the community has been mostly positive to that decision. While students are not currently being significantly impacted in most cases by COVID-19, there is a major concern with “community spread.” Mitigating the spread of COVID-19 must be our collective primary medical goal, while recognizing that some spread will likely continue to occur. However, as the Governor noted in his press conference, stretching that spread out over a longer period of time will allow our medical systems and providers the time they need to adequately address each patient rather than our medical professionals being swamped with a flurry of cases at the same time.
As a result of the aforementioned, out of an abundance of caution and in consultation with medical professionals and area school district leaders, we have made the decision to cancel classes for students for the week of March 16. We hope that this preventative measure flattens the curve and aids in the mitigation of the spread of COVID-19 in our local community.
Distance Learning
We are implementing Distance Learning (E-Learning) Plans starting Tuesday, March 17 in an effort to continue instruction and offer some consistency to our students. A detailed letter outlining process, timing, and expectations for Distance Learning Days will be communicated to families by Monday afternoon and posted to the District website
www.d23.org
. Teachers will be communicating individually or as teams to students (4-8) and parents (K-3) starting on Tuesday, March 17th.
Please know this is our first time implementing such plans, so we ask for your patience and understanding. We will continue to refine our systems and improve as we move along. The District’s eLearning plan has been approved by the Regional Office of Education and aligns with other local Districts.
There will be limited access to D23 facilities, however if you find that your child has forgotten a critical learning material at school, please contact your child’s principal via email to explore options for retrieving that item.
Special Education and English Language Learning supports will continue during each distance learning day. If you have specific questions related to this, please contact your child’s principal via email.
Home Internet Access
Comcast
and
AT&T
offer low-cost high speed Internet access to families who receive free or reduced-price lunch. Comcast announced yesterday that due to the recent challenges with COVID-19, they are offering two months free with their program mentioned above. Local libraries may potentially offer mobile hotspots for check out. Please contact your local library directly to determine their availability.
District 23’s wifi network coverage has been expanded and will extend into our parking lots. While schools will be closed, students’ devices will connect to the Internet from the parking lot where a student can access the day’s learning activities and then return home to complete the activity offline. Please contact your school principal if you believe your child will have difficulty connecting to the Internet or requires a District device.
Continuation of Food Service
Though all D23 schools will be closed, we are working to provide non-perishable meals in accordance with the National School Lunch Program for students who qualify for FREE lunch at school. Distribution locations and schedules will be shared with qualified families as soon as possible.
Cleaning Protocol
On Monday, custodial teams will begin to clean, sanitize, and disinfect targeted areas of the buildings, starting with locations that have been vacant over the weekend and are not in use on Monday. This work will continue on Tuesday throughout the remainder of spaces District wide. Once spaces/areas have been cleaned, sanitized, and disinfected, we will essentially "close" the area off and focus our time on areas that will receive daily visitors throughout the closure, main offices, district office, etc. as well as building specific special projects.
Spring Break Travel
The Centers for Disease Control has issued guidance regarding quarantining for anyone who has traveled to a high-risk country. Presently, those include: China, Iran, Italy, and South Korea. Travelers returning from Spring Break trips to these countries would need to be in quarantine for 14 days (without symptoms) prior to returning to school. Such missed days would not be counted against the student and we would take steps to initiate remote learning opportunities for such students.
Please continue to monitor
CDC guidance
in this regard as the identification of high-risk travel destinations may change quickly. The district cannot prevent students from returning to school unless they are confirmed to be in required quarantine or are symptomatic for COVID-19 or have tested positive for it. Still, please use all necessary caution when deciding to return to school after Spring Break travel.
Sports, Clubs, and Community Events
All sports practices, team gatherings, and competitions, performances, clubs, class activities, and other events are canceled until further notice. All rental group and community partner use of our facilities are also canceled. We discourage students from organizing their own gatherings.
Communication with Families
We will continue to provide you with regular updates as this situation develops. For the latest information, please visit our website and monitor your email and phone for messages from the District.
Additionally, it is important that for our students that we model measured behavior and rely on each other for support. Our students take their cues from the important adults in their lives and we can weather this challenging time together by refraining from alarmist or stress-inducing language in their presence. Our principals have shared some information related to speaking with your children about COVID-19, and I am also including these resources here:
This is a stressful and unprecedented situation for our school, our families, and our local and global community. We know there will be bumps in the road along the way, but together we will support our students and do what is best for them. I am proud to be part of a community with such a strong history of support for education. Thank you for your support, your patience, and your understanding as we navigate this situation together.
Sincerely,
Don Angelaccio, Ed.D.
Superintendent
