Reversing course on its plan to let parents choose between in-person and online classes, Barrington Area Unit School District 220 announced Wednesday that it would offer only remote learning when school opens next month.
In a message to the school community announcing the change, Superintendent Brian Harris said officials concluded that the original plan to welcome some students back on campus is not attainable.
“This is an extremely difficult decision and while I know many families and staff will welcome the change, I realize many others will not,” Harris wrote.
The remote learning plan is necessary to meet current public health guidelines and keep all students and staff healthy, he added.
Read more from the Daily Herald here.
That is truly a terrible photo. Everyone is dealing with the same stresses and constraints right now. As much as I feel bad for my high school Senior, in my opinion the school board is doing the best they can given the circumstances
I watched the 220 meeting tonight. The Observer was 100% justified in using their photo. The longer I was forced to listen to Harris drone on the more I imagined his image in the photo! I thought he would never shut up!
While I appreciate the effort of whoever does the distribution of this missive, the included commentorial use of the picture is offensive and denigrates the integrity of the message.
Please simply report the news and let folks form their own opinions.
Mr. Wolf,
Thank you for your comments. Please note that the tagline for The Observer is, “News and Commentary for Barrington Hills Residents Since 2009.”
Regardless of whether it’s “commentary”, the picture is quite tacky and classless.
Open school and send kids back to their classes! You are hurting them by making it online! Use real Covid sites,do not listen to Pritzker! The Covid numbers are false,they are putting out false positives!
I’m sure that many have read today’s WSJ, but perhaps missed this article on page 2: “For Many, Grasping Virus Risk Proves Tricky.”
I don’t know of a way to attach the article to my comment, but the gist of the article is that teachers are only slightly more likely to contract Covid-19 at school than they are when they are out and about shopping, etc., and that likewise students are no more likely to contract it at school. Further, more children have died from the regular flu, so far this year, than from Covid. Harris and the 220 Board appear to have caved to the teacher’s union, as usual, at the expense of students and their families that pay their salaries and benefits.
The teachers expect to see Heinen’s and Jewel open and staffed, providing them with their food. They expect Ace Hardware and Home Depot to be open and staffed, providing them with their home goods needs. They expect hospitals to be open first responders to be available; but, they apparently do not feel obligated to perform their duty to the students, or to the families that pay the exorbitant real estate taxes that support 220 and its teachers.
I understand that many are frightened, for the reasons stated in the artice; but, teachers should be expected to understand statistics, and to make decisions logically, and not emotionally. I guess that’s too much to expect.
Very well stated! Could not agree with you more as a parent and taxpayer. Thank you.
Have the teachers been quarantined for the summer? Doubtful. More importantly, kids haven’t either. They’ve thrown off the cloak and weight of COVID-19 hysteria where strangers were photographing them when playing with their friends outside without a mask and mask shaming them and their parents on social media, and gotten back to LIFE. As they should! Suicide and depression are more pervasive than Covid-19 cases among the D220 youth. Has there been even one positive Covid19 case in any D220 student?
By the way, what’s been happening over the past five months to try and upgrade the schools with PPE to protect against possible exposure? Plexiglass, faceshields, filters, etc… Why aren’t we using the referendum $$ for that? The general public is taking it in the chin. We can’t afford to be paying the insane property taxes we pay into a school that isn’t being used and to teachers, coaches, staff that aren’t working.