Immanuel Lutheran School in Crystal Lake to start in-person learning again on Aug. 19

Immanuel Lutheran School in Crystal Lake students will have three options for the upcoming school year, a traditional school day, a more limited in-person offering or assistance for those choosing to home-school.

Noting the "unique situation" the COVID-19 pandemic has put families in, the school is open to discussing plans with families that may combine these options, according to a school reopening plan posted on Immanuel Lutheran's website. Their school year is set to begin Aug. 19.

The school said in its reopening plan that it is not able to provide a fully remote learning option at this time, but if the state mandates that schools go back to remote learning, that could change.

“We have a smaller infrastructure, so we’re able to offer in-person instruction, which is a huge benefit for the students,” Immanuel Lutheran Principal John Meulendyke said.

However, with this smaller infrastructure comes fewer staff, making the school unable to offer remote and in-person learning at the same time, Meulendyke said.

“[We’d be] asking teachers to do two full-time jobs, and we just can’t do that unfortunately,” Meulendyke said.

The first option, with full-day, in-person instruction, is a traditional school day where students arrive by 7:50 a.m. and participate in all classes, lunch and recess. Students would leave school at 2:10 p.m.

Under the second option, the split-day, in-person plan, students would participate in all core classes in person, but not lunch, recess or “specials” such as art or music class.

These core classes would be grouped before lunch for students in kindergarten through third grade and after lunch for students in fourth through eighth grade.

Students would have remote options for “specials” during the other portion of the day.

The third option is a home-schooling partnership between Immanuel Lutheran and families. Families will be provided instructional materials, curriculum and 30 minutes of guidance from teachers three days a week.

This option is not meant to take the place of any home-schooling requirements by the state of Illinois, the school said.

“We knew a lot of parents were going to want to home-school their children this year, but we want to keep the connection,” Meulendyke said. “It’s not expected to be full instruction. We’re not doing any grading. They’re not technically enrolled at Immanuel. It would just be more of a support system for those that are home-schooling.”

Families that choose the traditional school day option or the split-schedule option will have to pay the school’s full tuition of $4,725 for members of the church and $6,300 per student for nonmembers of the church.

Participants in the home-schooling partnership would be charged $1,000 for nonmembers and $750 for members.

While in school, students will be required to wear face masks, although they can opt out if they have a physician’s note stating that the child cannot breathe properly while wearing a mask. Those students will instead be required to wear a face shield during the day and a mask as they enter and exit the building.

“We want to make sure that in the most common areas, students and families are masking,” Meulendyke said.

Parents will need to regularly fill out a digital symptom screening form before sending their child to school each day. Teachers also will be provided with a protocol checklist to use if students are showing COVID-19-related symptoms. This documentation will be saved digitally.

Immanuel Lutheran recommends a temperature check before students arrive. School personnel also will check students’ temperatures as they arrive.

“Even more than what it is going to look like, families are wondering, ‘What is it going to feel like?’” Meulendyke said in a letter to parents accompanying the school’s reopening plan. “What it is going to feel like will be affected by some things that look different, like face coverings and symptom forms and remote learning styles? But what a place feels like is not all about the protocols. What a place feels like is about its culture and attitude. We control the culture. We control the attitude.”

For example, the school will put the Immanuel Lutheran Panther logo on the floors 6 feet apart from each other to make sure people are socially distanced, instead of the typical circles on might usually see.

“It’s a reminder of our culture, not a reminder of the chaos that is going on in the world right now,” Meulendyke said.