Highland parents overwhelmingly favor in-person learning for their children this fall

Fewer than 20 percent of Highland parents have chosen remote learning for their children this fall.

As of the deadline last week, a total of 487 students have registered for remote learning. That’s about 17-18 percent of the student body, according to Assistant Superintendent Derek Hacke.

Originally, the district had set a deadline for July 22 for parents to decide whether to choose remote learning or in-person classes for the first quarter, which begins Aug. 17. Parents had to commit for the full quarter.

On-campus students will be required to wear masks and self-certify for health, and will be spaced as far apart as possible, according to Superintendent Mike Sutton.

Middle and high school on-campus students will only be in school for half days and dismissed at lunchtime to allow the teachers to spend the afternoons teaching the remote learning classes. Sutton said that is in part to keep from putting large numbers of students in cafeterias, and in part because licensing requires upper-level teachers must be qualified to teach a specific subject. Therefore a high school teacher can’t teach all subjects to older students as they do in the elementary levels, he said.

The district later extended its deadline for parent choice to July 29, and moved up release of its full COVID-19 plan to last week so parents would have more information for their decision.

But Sutton reiterated several times in last week’s school board meeting they cannot anticipate every possible circumstance, given the changing nature of the pandemic.

“I hope people are not expecting this plan to be magic information to make it easy to decide whether to select remote or in-person learning. There are so many unknowns at this time,” Sutton said. “When you think about the impact of what this will look like, all I can do right now is say I’m sorry, I’m sympathetic, and I wish we weren’t here.”

Sutton said the district’s employees have gone through all the classrooms — especially in the elementary rooms — and removed whatever items they could to ensure spacing and reduce the number of items that could be a vector for infection. When students begin arriving at the high school, they will open spaces for 50 students at a time to keep them as separated as possible.

Challenges of social distancing

But Sutton’s biggest concern was the one thing they physically can’t do is 6 feet of social distancing between each student, he said.

“The guidelines say 6 feet or to the extent possible,” he said. “We are going to try everything we can ... but if you tell me social distance is one hard guideline ... then we can’t have all our kids here.”

That would mean a hybrid plan where students attend online part of the time and on campus part of the time, which Sutton later clarified will not be an option this fall. Though, he said, pressure on some other districts has pushed them toward that option, a hybrid plan “gives no one what they want,” he said.

In the parent survey conducted earlier in the summer, 65 percent of Highland parent said they wanted full in-person learning, and 35 percent were unsure. Of those who were unsure, half said if the district required masks, they would not send their children to school.

Fluid situation for schools

The board approved the reopening plan unanimously July 27. But Sutton warned the plans may change if the numbers continue to worsen in the metro-east.

“We have to be ready to pivot,” he said. “Circumstances change, our understanding of science changes, and we’d have to change our plan.”

If the region or the state must return to Phase 3 or earlier in the Restore Illinois Plan set by the state, the district would be required to operate entirely under remote learning.

However, the district plan states now that they have had time to prepare for remote learning, it will be “a dramatic departure” from what took place last spring.

Key questions, answers from meeting

Observers in the YouTube broadcast of the Highland District 5 school board meeting July 27 had a lot of questions, many of which were addressed during the meeting by Sutton and other school administrators. Among those questions:

• What will the plan be if there is a positive COVID case in a class? Teachers will have instructions on what to do if a student is showing symptoms. If someone tests positive, the student would not be allowed to return to school until they had been symptom-free for at least 24 hours, which can be anywhere from four to 14 days in most cases of COVID-19. If there is a positive exposure, that student would be asked to quarantine for 14 days. Contact tracing will be required and anyone the student was in contact with would be notified, but a positive case would not necessarily close a classroom, a school or the district, Sutton said.
• What will happen with vocational classes? Sutton said they will be searching for a construction project on the campus for students in vocational classes to do their annual building project without risking exposure out in the community.
• Will teachers have daily video interaction with remote-learning students? Students must check in with their teachers at set times and will have a schedule and deadlines for assignments, which can be flexible to work into family schedules. However, there will not be a camera in the classroom during in-person learning for privacy reasons, officials said. Attendance will be taken for online students and accountability will be important, Sutton said. Teachers will be available throughout the school day.
• What happens if an on-campus student refuses to wear a mask? Students who remove masks will be instructed to put them back on, and if they blatantly refuse they will be sent to the office and the parents will be contacted to discuss remote learning options. There will be mask breaks, but masks will be required for staff and students in the building. “If a parent refuses to have their kid wear a mask, eventually, the result is going to be that the kid is not allowed to attend school,” Sutton said. “If that is eroded away, the whole situation erodes away. We have to protect our teachers and our students.”
• How will the district handle IEPs and children in resource classes? Sutton said it’s obvious students with special needs can’t receive the same level of services at home as they do at school, but on a case-by-case basis they will work out solutions for each child’s needs.
• How many students can be accommodated in the average classroom? Normal elementary class sizes are about 24 students per classroom in Highland. Remote numbers will reduce that, but it is anticipated 6-foot spacing will not be possible, Sutton said.
• Will devices be provided for remote learning? Sutton said the district has purchased 1,000 Chromebooks and is looking into providing hotspots for free wifi for families in need. Sutton said the majority of families in the district do have technology at home, but they will continue to work with families that may not have those resources.
• What will pre-kindergarten look like this year? Sutton said it is not clear yet what will be permitted for very young children until there is further guidance from the state for the 3- and 4-year-old classes. However, it is expected that pre-kindergarten will be recommended for fully remote learning.
• Will free lunches be provided if students do remote learning? Last spring, Highland school buses delivered lunches to families that qualify for free or reduced lunch under the state poverty guidelines. Sutton said that is something the district is discussing with the bus company, but nothing has been finalized yet.
• What about the latchkey program? The latchkey program will continue with its normal hours, beginning at 6 a.m. until the beginning of school and after school until 6 p.m. Students will not be gathered into groups larger than 50.

The full district reopening plan has been posted on the Highland District 5 website.

This story was originally published August 3, 2020 at 12:01 PM.