Without state guidance, IL superintendents want control to plan new school year

A group of Illinois superintendents have launched a campaign asking for their peer administrators and school boards to call on state agencies to either provide them immediate guidance to open schools or trust those decisions to local hands.

More than 160 administrators have already signed, as of 4 p.m. on Thursday, including 23 from the metro-east.

The Illinois State Board of Education adopted a resolution supporting in-person learning in May, but the resolution didn’t come with specific guidance on how local administrators should account for the potential threat of COVID-19 as they plan for the coming year. At the time, State Superintendent Carmen Ayala said school leaders were seeking clarity about expectations and the resolution was a “signal” to educators to let them know the direction things were moving.

Now, with less than two months until classes resume, school administrators are demanding updated guidance.

“The lack of clear, coherent, or updated guidance from ISBE, (the Illinois Department of Public Health) and the Governor’s office is frustrating and of great concern as we are about to welcome our students back for the 21-22 school year,” said an email sent by the 10 superintendents heading the campaign to their colleagues across the state.

At this time last year, COVID-19 guidance for school reopenings had already been available for two weeks.

Collinsville CUSD 10 Superintendent Brad Skertich, who is one of the 10 superintendents heading up the campaign, said ISBE has said they’re waiting on new guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and that its guidance would follow suit.

“That doesn’t benefit us. It’s go time right now for us to gear up, and we really can’t afford to wait any longer,” Skertich said. “ … It’s too late right now. We should have guidance already.”

The most recent COVID guidance posted on ISBE’s website is from June, and is mostly focuses on vaccinations and school-hosted vaccine clinics for students ages 12 and older, not what the new school year should look like. A Q&A about the resolution supporting in-person learning, as promised by Ayala, is marked “coming soon.”

Since the last school reopening guidance was released, Illinois entered Phase 5 of the Restore Illinois plan in June, which drastically rolled back some COVID safety precautions, including ending capacity limitations for businesses, including bars and restaurants and lifting mask mandates for most settings.

Individuals in schools, daycare settings and educational institutions should follow separate guidance from ISBE, IDPH and the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services, according to the Phase 5 guidance.

While the resolution drafted by the superintendents calls for clear guidance or local control, it does not include any statements that school districts will not follow the guidance provided, a point the email to administrators underlines.

“Instead, it is asking for the ability to make decisions at the local level given the absence of timely guidance provided throughout the last several months of the pandemic,” the email reads.

Many of the school districts who have signed on to bring the resolution to their local boards don’t have their July meetings until later in the month. Skertich said the hope is that the increase in support between now and then will put some pressure on the state.

“There’s still time between now and when those are adopted for the state to give us local control,” he said.

While pushing for local control, Skertich said there are issues on which Illinois school districts still need higher guidance, including quarantine protocols, COVID testing and contact tracing, and whether there are thresholds that would force a district to require masks or close a school back down.

Not all districts have the same needs and capacities, Skertich said. Even within his own district, he noted that he has one cafeteria with a capacity of 75, and another that could hold 450 kids.

“A plan for Collinsville might not be good for Edwardsville or Belleville,” he said. “We need to be able to act based on our needs.”

The 23 metro-east administrators, including Skertich, to say they’ll take the resolution to their board include: Mike Toeben, Albers ESD 63; Phil Hamil, Aviston SD 21; Tom Siegler, Bartelso SD 57; Jill Griffin, Bethalto CUSD 8; Travis Schmale, Breese SD 12; Annie Gray, Carlyle CUSD 1; Dustin Foutch, Central CHSD 71; Dawn Elser, Central SD 104; Dustin Nail, Damiansville SD 62; Kelly Carpenter, Dupo CUSD 196; Robin Becker, Germantown SD 60; Vic Zimmerman, Grant CCSD 110; Jeffrey Strieker, Marissa CUSD 40; Bradley Landgraf, Millstadt CCSD 160; Darcy Benway, O’Fallon Township HSD 203; Rob Pipher, Prairie du Rocher CCSD 134; Jonathan Tallman, Red Bud CUSD 132; Debra Kreutztrager, Roxana CUSD 1; Courtney Castelli, Smithton CCSD 130; Gabrielle Schwemmer, Sparta CUSD 140; Thomas Rude, St. Libory CSD 30; Erick Baer, St. Rose SD 14-15; and Jennifer Filyaw, Wesclin CUSD 3.

This story was originally published July 9, 2021 at 7:00 AM.