Elmhurst D-205 Union Says School Reopening Plan Will Fail

ELMHURST, IL — The teachers union for Elmhurst School District 205 is pushing the district to start with remote learning, saying the district's reopening plan, which calls for in-person learning, will fail. District officials could not be reached for immediate comment.

In a statement Monday, Max Schoenberg, president of the Elmhurst Teachers Council, said the science points to limiting large gatherings, maintaining distance and wearing masks.

"These are practically impossible for students to sustain and incompatible with daily life in an intellectually thriving, physically active and emotionally caring environment," Schoenberg said. "Without being able to ensure enforceable safety measures, the only option is remote learning now."

In mid-July, the Elmhurst school board decided on a blended approach for middle and high school students — dividing students into two groups and providing each group with two days of in-person lessons a week and the rest online. Elementary students would attend school every day.

After its statement Monday, the union released a new one Tuesday morning, further making the case for remote learning and questioning the district's plan.

In the new statement, Schoenberg said the union wanted to answer the question about why it now publicly disagreed with the board's plan when teachers served on planning committees. Though teachers were on those committees, he said, the "Open D205" plan was an administrative decision made unilaterally, not a negotiated agreement with teachers.

Schoenberg also said the situation has changed since parents were surveyed in mid-June. Then, he said, many parents were optimistic that the reopening of the state was going according to plan, and they expected the situation to be under control by August.

"But the reality dashed those hopes," Schoenberg said. "In July, we saw increasing numbers of cases. We saw medical reports that older children can be as susceptible to the virus as adults. Younger children can have high densities of droplets of the virus in their respiratory systems. Younger children can spread the virus quickly to their teachers, assistants, parents and grandparents."

The district promised in-person learning five days a week for elementary students, but so many parents found that option appealing that projected class sizes are too big to comply with social distancing requirements, Schoenberg said.

Teachers, Schoenberg said, do not know what is expected of them in the classroom in any detail, yet students are expected to be "crowding into those small classrooms" in less than three weeks.

"So should teachers prepare for in-person or hybrid instruction at Madison (Early Childhood Center) and in our elementary schools? No answer," Schoenberg said. "Teachers cannot explain what Wednesdays look like for middle school and high school students. Teachers might have to help students learning in-person and remotely at the same time, but have not been provided with training on how to do this, if we do this."

The vast majority of teachers, he said, do not believe the district's safety measures are sufficient. He cites the district's policy on contact tracing: "The District will work with the DuPage County Health Department and all school staff members to provide contact tracing."

That is not a plan, Schoenberg said, only a number for the district's administrators to call. The district would be relying on an agency that is already swamped with cases to track, he said.

"How fast will this contact tracing happen? If they miss a contact by one day, that is potentially dozens of other students at risk of infection. It is no wonder the staff has no faith in this plan," Schoenberg said. "The plan will fail. The only questions are how soon and how many students and staff will get sick first."

He said the district should start the school year with remote learning, as have neighboring districts. The in-person system, he said, will "inevitably collapse as parents pull their students out after the quarantines spread."

The Elmhurst Teachers Council is part of the Illinois Federation of Teachers. District 205 employs nearly 600 teachers, according to the Illinois Report Card.

District 205 serves more than 8,000 students, equivalent to the population of Clarendon Hills.

Under the current plan, school starts Aug. 24.