Schools look forward to ‘educating and learning’ following two years of COVID restrictions

As summer draws to an end and the school year begins, schools throughout the area are looking forward to welcoming students with a back-to-normal kind of academic year.

After two years of remote learning and COVID-19 protocols, this academic year looks to be the closest thing to a normal year for students. Remote learning has nearly vanished and so too have mandatory masking policies and other safety measures.

District officials said they are following Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and local health department guidelines to inform approaches that now look more like common flu protocols than the extensive pandemic protocols that students have come to know.

“I’m very excited we’re having a school year focused on what we’re supposed to be about – educating and learning,” said Hank Thiele, superintendent of Community High School District 99. “It’s the natural direction we’re all moving in, even within the state.”

Community High School District 99, Glen Ellyn School District 41 and Downers Grove Grade School District 58 are no longer mandating masking and are letting students and their families decide whether they, individually, should attend school with a mask. District 99 is, however, continuing to mandate masking in health offices where students can receive a mask if they haven’t brought one to school with them, Thiele said.

Additionally, while neither districts 99 nor 58 will continue to report COVID-19 numbers publicly, they will track cases individually and advise students who feel sick to stay home. Both districts also said that if a student tests positive for COVID-19, they will be required to remain home for five days.

“The good news is we’re starting off this year in such a better place,” said Kevin Russell, superintendent of District 58. “We found that the more we involve kids in normal things, the better off they are socially and emotionally … so I’m excited for the kids and the staff to hopefully have a very typical school year again.”

Some protocols that students may not have noticed as much will remain in effect in all three districts. For example, all three districts will continue to provide higher ventilation and air flow for students, a common safety precaution put in place during the early days of the pandemic. Additional sanitation and signage encouraging students to wash their hands and cover their coughs also will be posted throughout many schools.

Remote learning will continue to be provided, but will be accessible only for those who are absent because of COVID-19. Thiele said students respond differently to being COVID-19-positive, and whether a student will attend classes remotely will be judged on an individual basis in his district. District 58 has a similar attitude.

“We want to work with families to make sure we connect with students who may get sick, and that will be on an individual basis,” Russell said. “D-58 has a health and safety committee and we will be working to stay up to date and understand the guidance that comes out.”

Districts are looking forward to welcoming students and staff back to a year with sports, clubs, homecomings, proms and other extracurricular activities. While schools had many of these activities in the spring of the past academic year, it is a huge success to start a school year on such a positive note, Thiele said.

“We’re picking up where we left off and we saw no major uptick as a result of these changes last year, so we’re hopeful,” Thiele said. “We’re going to keep an eye on it this year and see how things go.”