Burr Ridge Community Consolidated School District 180 issued the following announcement on Aug. 7.
Dear Burr Ridge Parents and Guardians,
I hope that this email finds you well.
Enclosed in this e-mail is our plan for starting school next year. It will look familiar to you as it was sent on July 20th and July 21st. Both times it was sent it was received by nearly 90% of our parents. Additionally, this plan has been sent out several times on our twitter feed: @brccsd180
(Please follow us if you do not already.)
This information and much more about our re-opening can be found on our website and the special COVID information page that we have had up in running since March.
There are plenty of easy ways to learn more about our district and approach to re-opening schools, plus you can alway reach out to your building principal or me.
I don't want to miss this opportunity to thank you for your support of our educational programming this spring during the onset of the pandemic and again as we start our summer school program.
In order to prepare for the 2020-2021 school year, the district will adjust our school year calendar (pending State approval) to allow for several days of professional development so that teachers can prepare to serve your children this school year.
In order to accommodate this change and comply with making November 3rd (Election Day) a non-attendance day, the school year will begin for students on Thursday, August 27th (a week later than anticipated). A calendar is attached.
Our district plan follows the ISBE Phase 3 Transition guidance of:
• Require use of appropriate personal protective equipment (PPE), including 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 schools; and
• Require an increase in schoolwide cleaning and disinfection.
In order to be as safe as possible, the district (at this time) is not bringing every student back to in-person learning in order to maintain significant social distancing. Our plan limits class size to around 10 total students per classroom and around 20 students per bus. To do so means that we cannot have every student in class at the same time and for the full school day.
I know that this is a disappointment to many parents who would prefer that every student was in school for the full school day, but we are starting slow in an effort to ensure student and staff safety and to ensure that we will not have to repeatedly return to remote learning.
For our community we have chosen to gradually return to in-person learning with as much social distancing as possible. It may be that we will be able to invite more grade levels back to in-person learning, but for now, as we do not exactly know what the conditions will be in August, this is our starting point.
In making this decision the district used parent and staff feedback from remote learning experience this Spring which indicated that parents and staff preferred consistency in student schedules (i.e. not half days and not alternating days) as child care for both students was a concern.
We also learned from parents and teachers that effective remote learning was very difficult for special education students and younger students. Making these students a priority is also an emphasis on the state's guidance regarding re-opening.
For that reason, the decision was made to have selected special education students in person learn Monday-Friday, Pre-K thru 4th grade learn in person Monday-Thursday and, 5th-8th have in-person on Friday. All students will have remote learning days on the days they are not in-person learning.
Not listed in the attached plan are the specific health regulations regarding schools as those are determined by the DuPage County Health Department and various State agenciesand we will be following that guidance.
Please feel free to e-mail me or your building principal if you have any questions.
These are challenging times but working together I believe we can do what we do best, provide quality educational opportunities for all of our students and families.
Thanks,
Tom Schneider
Superintendent
Blended Remote or Transition Learning Plan
2020-2021 School Year Calendar
Original source can be found here.
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