Dupage Policy Journal

When a student arrives for school at St. Luke’s every morning, they immediately undergo a temperature check. If even a slight rise is detected, the child is sent home for parental monitoring as a safety precaution against COVID-19, according to St. Luke Parish School Principal Andrew DiMarco.

“If the symptom improves within 24 hours, the student is allowed to come back to school,” DiMarco said. “If it doesn’t improve, we ask for a COVID test or to quarantine the child for 14 days.”

It’s precautions like temperature checks and many others that have lead St. Luke’s to a successful re-opening of in-person learning.

“We’re set up in cohorts and we have not had to quarantine any cohorts,” DiMarco told the DuPage Policy Journal. “Various students have had to quarantine based off of potential exposure from outside of school but we have not had to quarantine any students or teachers for anything COVID-related within the school building.”

As of Dec. 10, Illinois reported 823,531 coronavirus cases statewide, resulting in 13,861 fatalities, according to the Illinois Department of Public Health.

“For teachers, the most challenging precaution is within the classroom because we're taking away the idea of working together in groups,” DiMarco said in an interview. “Students really have to work independently and stay 6 feet away from each other. We’re not able to have parent gatherings or even teacher gatherings. All of our teacher meetings are virtual so that we all can stay in our pods and not break that.”

The secret to reopening without a coronavirus hitch, according to DiMarco, is a lot of planning and mindfulness.

“We have markings around the building of 6 feet,” he said. “We spent a couple of extra days at the beginning of the school year teaching our students, who range from 3 years old to eighth-grade, sharing with everyone what 6 feet looks like. If you walk around our building, you’ll see students with their arms out trying to ensure they are 6 feet apart.”

At lunchtime, students are required to sit even further apart because they remove their masks to eat.

“All those guidelines from the CDC and from our Illinois Department of Public Health have all been put in place and things have been going really well from the first day of the school year,” he said.

What has been interesting to DiMarco is the positive attitude that children now demonstrate toward attending school.

“It's surprising how thrilled the students are to be here,” he said. “I thought they would have issues with wearing a mask but they’re fine with it. They have not had issues with wearing masks because they know that's what they need to do to be here.”