EPCHS Lays Out COVID Mitigation Plan For School Opening

EVERGREEN PARK, IL — The first day of instruction for all Evergreen Park Community High School students is Aug. 23. The high school is planning to return to full day, in-person instruction for all students.

Starting at 8 a.m. Aug. 19, Dist. 231 will have orientation for freshmen and transfer students. D231 continues to plan for the 2021-22 school year with the understanding that plans are subject to change according to Illinois State Board of Education and Illinois Department of Public Health guidelines.

Key points for the 2021-2022 school year based on current guidelines include:

• All students will attend school in person from 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. every day.
• EPCHS plans to resume the regular block schedule (i.e., four 73-minute class periods), including lunch and an IDEA period. • This fall, daily instruction will not be live-streamed and students will not have the option of attending classes virtually.
• Traditional options will be available for students to make up work when they are absent.
• In classrooms, three feet of physical distance will be maintained.
• Compliance with virus mitigation will continue as necessary.
• Cleaning, disinfection and sanitation measures will remain in place.
• As in a typical year, students must be compliant with all state-mandated medical requirements for school physicals, dental exams, and immunizations. The COVID-19 vaccination is not required for students, according to current state law.

On Tuesday, the CDC changed its masking recommendations that would require vaccinated residents to mask up indoors over concerns about the Delta variant of COVID-19. Yet as numbers rise, state health officials have not indicated whether they will announce more-stringent masking guidelines for students as schools prepare to open.

Face masks for vaccinated and/or unvaccinated students has not yet been spelled out in the high school opening plan.

“We are anticipating updated guidelines, and we will share our plan once we have those updates,” Dist. 231 Supt. Dr. Tom O’Malley said.

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