Students, Staff Test Positive For COVID As D300 Mulls Reopening

ALGONQUIN, IL — Five employees and four students within Community Unit School District 300 have tested positive for COVID-19. District 300 superintendent Fred Heid said more students are now awaiting test results and the positive cases so far were "a clustering event," meaning the cases have been linked to each other, according to the Northwest Herald.

Meanwhile, the five employees that have tested positive for the virus were not related to the school, and no "clustering" has been detected, Heid said. Teachers within the district have been going into schools to conduct remote learning while students have been learning from home since the start of the year. Heid said the teachers have been practicing social distancing and wearing masks when not alone in their classrooms, according to the article.

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The test results have been turned over to the Kane County Health Department.

The news of the COVID-19 cases comes on the same week that students and parents within District 300 rallied outside the district offices, asking district officials to reopen schools to in-person learning. The District 300 Board of Education is expected to meet Friday morning to discuss switching to a hybrid schedule, meaning half of the student population would be in classrooms on any given day and the other half would be learning from home.

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That switch could come as early as Oct. 13 if the school board votes in favor of it. Administrators within the district are recommending the switch to hybrid schedule, according to the D300 board packet.

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