More Highland families request in-school classes for their children despite COVID
Highland schools entered the Thanksgiving break with a shortage in substitute teachers and more students testing positive or quarantined in the COVID-19 pandemic, but many parents are requesting their at-home learners shift to in-school learning for the next semester.
In the last week and a half before the break, Highland reported seven teachers and staff members have tested positive for the coronavirus, as well as eight students and more than 100 in quarantine. Over the course of the semester, there have been at least 85 positive cases in Highland schools.
As of last week, parents were again being offered the option to switch from remote to in-person learning or in-person to remove for the third quarter beginning in January. Parents have until Friday, Dec. 4 to complete the online form for their child.
As of the first week, Superintendent Mike Sutton reported that 16 of 19 families were opting to go from at-home instruction to in-person learning, and three to go from in-person to at-home.
There’s no way to know if that trend would hold, he said, and it will involve tracking how many students are in person or online and the staff to teach them so they can maintain appropriate class sizes.
In his letter to parents on Nov. 20, Sutton reminded parents that the protocol required of schools is to put symptomatic students in quarantine for 14 days unless they test negative for COVID-19. “This is simply the rules our school administrators and nurses are being asked to enforce,” Sutton said. “They are not popular with many families. We know this. But this is how it is and will be for the foreseeable future.”
Meanwhile, Sutton reported that substitutes have been running short in Highland schools; on at least one day, the district did not have enough subs to fill all the in-person classes.
Sutton said that while they began the year aiming for consistency, at this point “consistency is pretty much out the door and we’re trying to deal with every situation on its own merit.”
One of those changes, he said, was appealing to teachers in quarantine to help instruct students in quarantine for better quality instruction than the usual homework packets.
However, Sutton said that public appeals to the community have led to 15 new subs registering with the district, and the community has come through with support.
“Without all of them pulling together in one direction, what we’ve been able to do this fall would not have happened,” Sutton said. “The motto we have taken on is ‘whatever it takes to make it happen.’”
Licensed substitutes are paid $100 a day; teacher-licensed subs are paid $110 and retired Highland teachers $120 a day. Substitutes must have an associate’s or bachelor’s degree or higher, and must apply for a substitute license through the Illinois State Board of Education at isbe.net. Sutton said despite the new subs signing up, they are still in need of more substitutes.
The board also voted to amend the school calendar, adding a half-day early dismissal on Dec. 4 and March 5 in addition to the Feb. 5 and May 7 early dismissals already on the calendar. In a change from previous years, Highland Primary and Elementary will dismiss at 11 a.m.; Alhambra and Grantfork at 11:05 a.m.; and the middle and high schools at 12:35 p.m. Parents were informed in a letter from Sutton last Wednesday.
This story was originally published November 30, 2020 at 9:24 AM.