Crystal Lake’s Prairie Ridge High School, Lundahl Middle School to close due to COVID-19 cases

Two Crystal Lake schools closed to in-person learning as a result of COVID-19 cases, officials with the districts said in communication to families.

Crystal Lake Elementary School District 47 announced that the Lundahl Middle School building would be closed for the next two weeks and students returned to remote learning because of an outbreak of COVID-19 cases, according to an email sent to district families.

In the message, Superintendent Kathy Hinz said the McHenry County Department of Health notified the district Monday that it considers the confirmed cases of COVID-19 at Lundahl Middle School to be an outbreak.

“As we continue to prioritize the health and safety of all students and staff, we have decided to close the building and move everyone to remote learning for the next 14 days,” Hinz said in the email.

Prairie Ridge High School, part of Crystal Lake High School District 155, also will close for the remainder of this week beginning Tuesday “out of an abundance of caution” while the McHenry County Department of Health evaluates the school’s virus cases, according to a post on the district’s Facebook page.

The McHenry County health department notified school officials that Prairie Ridge is under evaluation because of the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases associated with its students and staff. Cases associated with Prairie Ridge have been traced back to social gatherings among students, according to the post.

“It’s important for us to remain vigilant and work together to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 in our community,” according to the Prairie Ridge post.

District 155 spokeswoman Shannon Podzimek declined in an email late Monday to say how many cases have been associated with Prairie Ridge. She also did not indicate whether they are among both students and staff.

The McHenry County health department defines an outbreak in a school as two confirmed cases of COVID-19 infections occurring within 14 calendar days of each other in individuals in the same classroom, team or club, according to the department’s website.

Crystal Lake Elementary School District 47 as a whole reported on its website 15 cases among staff and students, both remote and in-person, as of Oct. 16. The last update on Oct. 9 had districtwide cases at two.

The dashboard does not break cases down by school, but at a District 47 school board meeting Monday night, Hinz said six cases as of Friday were associated with Lundahl and about 50 people have had to quarantine.

Most of the close contact that could lead to transmission is not occurring in classrooms, but on school buses, Hinz said. State health officials allow up to 50 people on a bus at a time, she said.

A breakdown of how many of the rest of the nine cases are associated with each District 47 school was unavailable Monday, Hinz said. The district does not distinguish whether cases are among students or staff, district spokeswoman Denise Barr said in an email late Monday.

The McHenry County health department did not direct the district to shut down Lundahl because of the outbreak, Hinz said, but district administrators made the decision.

School board members lauded the practices in place at schools throughout the district to ensure in-person learning with reduced campus capacities remains safe.

“I think it’s been going fantastic, as well,” school board president Rob Fetzner said. “I’ve been really impressed with the work our superintendent, administrators, teachers, even our students, janitors, everyone has pitched in to try and make this as pleasurable experience as they could make it. It blew away my expectations.”

The McHenry County health department considers an outbreak to last 28 days, and the department will determine when the outbreak is over, Hinz said.

District 47 will put Lundahl through “rigorous cleaning and disinfecting protocols” that have been outlined by the state health department, Hinz said in the email.

At Prairie Ridge, students and staff will return to remote learning plans through Oct. 23, according to the Facebook post. After-school activities will be canceled for this week starting Tuesday.

District 155 decided to begin hybrid learning schedules Oct. 13, the Northwest Herald reported.

Food distribution will be available for all Prairie Ridge families Tuesday through Friday at the main entrance of Crystal Lake Central High School, 45 W. Franklin Ave. in Crystal Lake, at a fridge just outside the entrance, according to the post.

School district administrators throughout McHenry County that have discussed or decided to move forward into hybrid learning plans have stressed that transitions back into fully remote learning were possible because of the pandemic’s fluctuations. At least one district pushed off its switch to hybrid learning as a result of the poor metrics.

District 47 decided on returning students to school buildings starting Oct. 5, the Northwest Herald reported.

“As we continue to implement our return-to-learn plan and the hybrid model, these transitions to and from remote learning learning may occur at other District 47 schools due to changing pandemic conditions,” Hinz said in the email.

The district is posting information about how it makes such decisions online at D47.org/covid19.