Getting students back into schools for full-time instruction is an ambitious goal school administrators have been struggling with since the start of the pandemic.
Several suburban superintendents weighed in this week on President Joe Biden’s pledge to reopen a majority of K-8 schools for in-person learning five days a week by the end of his first 100 days in office, which is April 30. They say that while it’s a good idea in theory, there are practical and logistical challenges.
Among the hurdles are parents’ hesitancy with sending children to school amid a pandemic, space constraints, and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines requiring 6-foot social distancing in classrooms and monitoring of transmission rates.
“If we were to adhere to all the guidelines, could we offer five-day, in-person instruction for every student? The answer is, no. We don’t have the space,” said Fred Heid, superintendent of Algonquin-based Community Unit District 300. “The president and his team are very well-intended, but the reality of what they are trying to accomplish and what it actually means in terms of the logistics, it’s almost impossible.”
Roughly 70% of District 300 families have opted for in-person instruction for the second semester. Students in prekindergarten through fifth grade now attend school in person four days a week, while students in sixth through 12th grades attend two days in person and three days remotely.
Starting March 1, middle and high school students will be split into two groups rotating between attending three days in person one week and two days in person the following week. Elementary students will begin attending five days a week beginning March 22.
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