Evergreen Park Schools To Reopen In Person; Parents Have Option

EVERGREEN PARK, IL – As schools nationwide continue to contemplate what shape learning will take in the fall, Evergreen Park officials have announced the district will reopen for in-person learning, but indicated that parents will be given the choice to opt out and have their students learn remotely for the first semester.

The district released its reopening plan on Thursday, which outlines what in-person and remote learning will look like. School officials sent a survey to district parents, which asks whether they prefer that students learn in-person or from home, which became required after the coronavirus pandemic set in earlier this year.

The reopening plan is subject to change depending on guidance that school officials receive from state health and education officials as the pandemic continues. On Thursday, the state announced its highest number of confirmed coronavirus cases since late May.

"This has been an incredibly difficult time for our families and children, our faculty and staff, and administration," school officials wrote in the reopening plan. "We know the anxiety caused by Covid-19 and the uncertainty surrounding the virus that caused the closure of schools, businesses and recreation facilities.

"Although Illinois has worked hard to mitigate the virus, we must remain vigilant to ensure we continue to control the spread of the virus. Therefore, it is imperative we follow our guidelines with fidelity to support our goal of keeping our learning environment safe and secure for our children and their families."

After originally setting a Thursday deadline for surveys to be completed, district officials announced in a Facebook post that parents will have until Monday to decide how their students will learn. As of Friday, hundreds of responses have been received, district spokesman Alex Mayster wrote in an email. Parents who choose to select distance learning are committing to that model for the first semester, the spokesman said. Anyone who does not complete the survey or who selects in-person learning will have their student automatically enrolled in in-person learning, Mayster indicated.

As part of the district’s reopening plan, in-person learning will take place in each of the district’s schools. Students will be assigned to cohorts and teachers will travel to work with students in each classroom. According to the plan, classes such as physical education, fine and applied arts and music will be held in the classroom but will not look like the traditional programs.

Class sizes will be smaller but the district announced in its plan that it is committed to keeping the staffing the levels the same at each of its schools for the duration of the school year. Classes will be socially distanced and students will be required to wear masks.

Remote learning will include five hours of instruction for students between the first and 12th grades with kindergarten students learning remotely for 2 ½ hours per day. As much face to face or ‘synchronous’ instruction as possible will occur and all learning activities can count toward the minimum five clock hour requirement, the reopening plan states.