District 211 Details 3 Learning Scenarios For 2020-2021 Plan

PALATINE, IL — Palatine-Schaumburg High School District 211 Friday announced Friday its reopening plan for the 2020-2021 school year next month, including three learning scenarios school officials said may occur at any point during the school year amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. In an emailed letter to district students and parents, District 11 Superintendent Lisa Small outlined details regarding scheduling options, safety protocols and choices for families ahead of the first day of school on Aug. 13. Small added that these regulations will be used during Phase 4 of Gov. Pritzker's Restore Illinois plan, which happens to be the current phase.

In the email, Small added that the current estimate of how the school year would kick off is under the remote-learning or hybrid scenario:

According to district officials, the three learning scenarios that may occur at any point during the school year include:

• Remote Scenario: No students physically present in school.
• Hybrid Scenario: 50 percent of the students physically attend school for a week, while 50 percent of students attend school remotely for a week. Each student group, representing 50 percent, rotates weekly between remote attendance to class from home and physical attendance.
• Traditional Scenario: All students attend class according to the typical course schedule.

More details on each scenario can be found in the letter.

According to the letter, students at home would be viewing what was taking place in the classroom and students during their in-class week would have the option of instead monitoring class from home.

However, according to Small, the district is still five weeks from the start of school, and the health status of the region could change.

Related:

• District 15 Releases Plan For 2020-2021 School Year

In addition, parents and community members are encouraged to share their input regarding the 2020-2021 school year via an online survey on the district's website.

"Prior to the next communication on July 17, if you have feedback or questions regarding the start of the school year, also share those using the same link," Small wrote.

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Small also included the detailed guidelines required for Illinois public schools while in Phase 4, provided by the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) and Illinois Department of Health (IDPH):

• Require use of appropriate personal protective equipment (PPE), including masks as face coverings.
• Prohibit more than 50 individuals from gathering in one space.
• Require social distancing be observed as much as possible.
• Require that schools conduct symptom screenings and temperature checks or require that individuals self-certify that they are free of symptoms before entering school buildings.
• Require an increase in school wide cleaning and disinfection.

"My sincere thanks for your patience and flexibility during this lead-time to August 13," Small wrote. "I hope this communication has given you a general understanding to the possibilities for the next school year and the choices available to each family. The safety of our students and staff within our schools is my highest priority, and I look forward to sharing more details regarding those protocols in the next communication."

More details:

• Superintendent's Email Update for School Start & Survey
• 2020-2021 School Day Schedule Scenarios