Indefinite Delay In D202 Students' Return To In-Person Learning

PLAINFIELD, IL — The Plainfield School District 202 is extending its "adaptive pause" indefinitely and will not return students to in-person learning until coronavirus numbers in the region improve, Superintendent Lane Abrell told the Board of Education during its Monday meeting.

The district has also decided to not allow students to participate in basketball, although the Illinois High School Association last week said schools could do so starting Nov. 16.

"We cannot in good conscience bring more students back into our buildings thereby increasing the risks to human health and safety," Abrell said. "I know some of our neighboring districts are doing different things. We wish them well and will continue to communicate with them as they face challenges of starts and stops to their in-person plans. But we are most concerned about our own students and staff."

This comes after Gov. J.B. Pritzker announced Monday that state officials will impose Tier 2 mitigations on Region 7 (Will and Kankakee counties) as the region is seeing a test positivity rate that remains above 8 percent and continues to rise after more than 14 days under Tier 1 mitigations.

The COVID-19 seven-day positivity rate for Will County reached 16.5 percent on Friday, according to the Illinois Department of Public Health.

The decision regarding basketball is based on input from legal counsel, and guidance from IDPH, the State Board of Education and Pritzker.

The IDPH placed interscholastic high school basketball in the "high risk" category for participation. The IHSA said practices may begin on Nov. 16, however the governor immediately countered that school districts could face significant legal liability if they allowed high school basketball to be played this winter.

"We anticipate practices will begin two weeks prior to any scheduled contests, whether before a delayed winter start or a start date later in the school year," Abrell said. "As long as the sport or activity is categorized as ‘high risk’ by IDPH it is difficult to justify us allowing participation."

About 300 multi-needs special education students returned to school on Oct. 26 and about 100 more opted to continue with remote learning. They were the first group of students to return because they need direct attention and support more than other students.

District officials are concerned about the continued attendance of the multi-needs grades of students in light of the COVID-19 related numbers increases and encouraged parents to make contingency plans, Abrell said.

Preschool and kindergarten students were originally scheduled to return on Nov. 5. The district announced an "adaptive pause" on Oct. 26 as the number of COVID-19 cases started spiking. District 202 started the school year Aug. 31 with remote learning for all students.

District administration will continue to monitor five key metrics:

• Positivity rate (5 consecutive data points flat or trending down of COVID-19 cases in Will County)
• Guidance from IDPH, ISBE, and CDC as well as Kendall and Will County Health Departments
• Cleaning and disinfecting supplies are readily available and able to be refilled in a timely manner
• PPE supplies readily available and able to be refilled in a timely manner
• Substitute pool is greater or equal to the number of substitutes needed for in person learning.

Abrell said he understands parents wanting to return to the original plan for returning students to in-person learning announced several weeks ago, he said. However, conditions have changed significantly.

"The community and the county need to get numbers of cases or positivity rate back down to where they were three or four weeks ago, and we encourage folks to become substitute teachers and paraprofessionals," he said. "Doing those two things will get us back to our plans much sooner rather than later."

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