CDC recommends remote learning for Illinois schools. They’ve been hybrid for months

Most school districts in the metro-east have been using hybrid learning plans for months, mixing at-home digital lessons with limited in-person classroom instruction.

But the latest COVID-19 guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends many counties in the region stick to remote learning.

Only 4% of the country’s students live in counties where the COVID-19 transmission rate is low enough to meet the CDC’s guidelines, according to the New York Times. The latest national guidance has been criticized for being behind where many of the country’s rural and suburban school districts have been operating in their return to learn plans.

“Most of the time, you’ll find — in my experience — anything that comes from Washington D.C. is looking at things from a higher perspective, and it’s going to be very difficult to make a game plan for every school district in the country,” said Robert Werden, regional superintendent for Madison County. “That’s the beauty of local control.”

Kelton Davis, regional superintendent for Monroe and Randolph Counties, said the CDC guidance doesn’t seem to be in favor of reopening schools and is concerned that some districts might feel they have to follow the most restrictive recommendations to avoid legal repercussions.

“We explicitly need relief from requirements,” Davis said. “They need to be explicit to say ‘our recommendation, if you have reached this level, is in-person’ or remain silent on the issue and not have a recommendation so schools in local communities can resume.”

Schools largely avoided outbreaks

A growing body of research shows that schools, by and large, are not a major contributing factor to community spread.

Locally, metro-east school districts have rolled back their hybrid learning plans when community spread triggered high rates of testing positivity rates, or after the holidays when their staff and students may have traveled or attended large gatherings.

But most have avoided virus outbreaks, according to data from the Illinois Department of Public Health.

Located in St. Clair County, Belleville 201 has used a hybrid model for much of the school year. The CDC guidance recommends middle and high schools in the county stick to a remote plan. The district says that with hybrid learning, they’ve had few cases within the school, and even fewer confirmed transmissions, all of which have reportedly been off school grounds.

“It’s very difficult to define in one way how it looks everywhere,” Belleville Township High School District 201 Brian Mentzer said of the CDC’s guidance, adding that districts need to work through guidance and recommendations from the federal level, down to the local level. “ … I do think you get more granular as you move down that continuum.”

Cases of coronavirus in schools

Contact tracing shows that many people who tested positive for COVID-19 have been inside a school. In metro-east Region 4, 19.8% of those diagnosed in the 30 days prior to Feb. 26 indicated they had been in a school. That does not necessarily mean the individual caught the virus there or transmitted it to anyone else.

Previously, Gov. J.B. Pritzker has said it’s expected that schools and other workplaces to rank high in contact tracing data, since so many people are there every day.

The CDC recommends all elementary schools be open in some way. For middle and high schools, though, the non-binding guidelines the CDC recommends are based on an area’s test positivity and case rates.

There are exceptions for schools that follow strict safeguards or offer regular testing, and schools that are already operating ahead of the CDC benchmarks set for them do not need to close.

East St. Louis School District 189 has been the most conservative local district when it comes to bringing students back for in-person learning. The district plans to bring elementary students into the classroom for the first time in nearly a year next week.

Mentzer said the plan for Belleville 201 is to stick with its hybrid learning plan through the end of the current school year.

COVID-19 benchmarks for school reopening

In areas where full in-person learning is recommended — where the CDC reports fewer than 50 new cases per 100,000 people in a week and a seven-day positivity rate of less than 8% — the classroom is still far from “normal.” Schools are expected to follow safety precautions against the virus, including social distancing, wearing masks, washing hands and sanitizing surfaces.

In Region 4, only Randolph County meets the CDC’s benchmarks for full in-person learning, according to the latest data available from the Illinois Department of Public Health. Region 4 includes St. Clair, Madison, Monroe, Clinton, Randolph, Bond and Washington Counties.

Hybrid learning is recommended when a community has 50 to 100 new weekly cases per 100,000 people or a seven-day positivity rate of 8 to 10%.

Clinton and Washington Counties meet the CDC guidance for hybrid learning at the middle and high school levels.

Full-time remote learning for middle and high school students is recommended in areas with 100 new cases per 100,000 people or a seven-day positivity rate of 10% or greater.

The CDC recommends the rest of Region 4 — St. Clair, Madison, Monroe and Bond Counties — stick to remote learning for middle and high schools.

The entire region is well below the 8% threshold for test positivity. With a seven-day positivity rate of 5.6%, Madison County is the highest. The benchmarks for new weekly cases per 100,000 — between 50 and 100 for hybrid learning and fewer than 50 for full in-person learning — are where counties falter with the CDC guidance.

“It’s extremely difficult on both ends to talk about (reopening schools) in general terms,” Mentzer said. “Every district is different, in terms of size, in terms of makeup, in terms of facilities. Those things all factor into what you think as a district you can do safely.”