Marengo, Union school districts say they will stick with in-person learning despite health department guidance

The three Marengo-Union area school districts that were McHenry County's only districts to begin the school year in person have said they will continue in-person learning despite last week's guidance from the McHenry County Department of Health recommending schools consider moving to remote learning.

Marengo Union Elementary School District 165, Marengo High School District 154 and Riley School District 18 issued a joint statement Thursday, saying they feel they are able to safely continue in-person learning because of the relatively low number of cases in their immediate area.

"We're small enough that we kind of have a good pulse on the community and so we're going to continue nurturing that relationship and just take it day by day," District 165 Superintendent Lea Damisch said Monday.

District 165 has reported a total of five cases of COVID-19 since starting the school year with in-person learning on Aug. 24, Damisch said. None of these cases were found to be connected with school activities and none were connected to one another, meaning the district has yet to experience an outbreak as defined by the McHenry County health department, she said.

District 18 is the county's smallest school district with only 278 students and an average class size of 15. The district has reported fewer than five cases and no outbreaks since the start of the school year, Superintendent Christine Conkling said Monday. They will also be monitoring their data closely and will move back to hybrid or remote learning if necessary, she said.

"We've had very few cases here compared to outside in other areas of the county," Conkling said. "We've had our protocols in place, and they've been successful. We've been doing a pretty good job here of keeping our students and staff safe, so I think a lot of it just has to do with every school's different circumstance."

All three districts have given students the option to learn remotely if desired and students who attend school in person go in for a shortened school day. In District 165, about one-third of students opted to learn remotely, Damisch said.

District 154 currently is using a hybrid learning approach, Superintendent David Engelbrecht told the Northwest Herald earlier this year. Engelbrecht could not be reached Monday for further information into the district's COVID-19 protocols.

Last week, the McHenry County health department released a statement recommending that McHenry County school districts consider moving back to full remote learning, stating that a number of the county's school metrics indicated "substantial" community spread.

Union's ZIP code (60180) has reported 19 cases of COVID-19, and Marengo's ZIP code (60152) has seen 234, according to the health department's COVID-19 dashboard.

The statement from the Marengo-Union area districts referenced comments made by health department officials who said that the decision of whether to transition between learning models is ultimately up to district leaders to decide.

The three districts work together to share resources and monitor COVID-19 data across all of their schools, in part because they also share bus routes with one another, Damsich said.

"We are lock-step with each other," she said. "That's unique for us because we're able to look at those local metrics probably better than the bigger communities."

As cases rise across the county, Damisch said she feels confident in the integrity of District 165 families in complying with contact tracing and quarantine procedures.

"We continue to rely upon ... that good, close connection with our community reporting honestly with us and really being diligent in keeping their kids home when they're not feeling well, taking them in to get tested and parents just being honest," she said.

District 165 students are not allowed back into school buildings without a note from the health department certifying that they have completed their quarantine and cooperated with the contact tracing process, Damisch said.

The Marengo-Union districts join at least five other county school districts that have chosen to stick with hybrid or fully in-person learning models.

These districts are Harrison School District 36, Richmond-Burton High School District 157, Nippersink School District 2, Algonquin-based Community School District 300 and Crystal Lake Elementary School District 47.

Alden-Hebron School District 19 also has decided to remain in its currently hybrid learning model, Assistant Superintendent and Elementary Principal Tiffany Elswick said.

"We continue daily to evaluate the McHenry County School metrics, local data, staffing and the [Illinois State Board of Education] transition plan," Elswick said in an emailed statement Monday. "Our community is aware that the transition back to full remote learning may happen at any time."

District 19 has reported two cases of COVID-19 since the start of the school year, one of which was reported within the last 14 days, and no outbreaks have been identified, Elswick said.

At least eight other local school districts have chosen to take a step back in light of the metrics reported by the health department, according to reporting by the Northwest Herald.

Those districts include Fox River Grove School District 3, Huntley School District 158, Woodstock School District 200, Cary School District 26, McHenry School District 15, Crystal Lake High School District 155, Johnsburg School District 12 and Prairie Grove School District 46.