Deerfield, Highland Park Schools Close To Combat Coronavirus

HIGHLAND PARK, IL — All public schools in Highland Park and Deerfield are closed starting Friday to prevent the potential spread of the new coronavirus, administrators announced. All after-school events and on-campus activities have also been canceled.

Leaders of schools in Bannockburn School District 106, Deerfield School District 109 and Township High School District 113 announced plans to shift to e-learning next week, while North Shore School District 112 aims to implement plans to provide for the continuation of education after spring break.

According to local superintendents, a suspected case of COVID-19 — the disease caused by the virus — was reported to Deerfield High School administrators Thursday evening, although it has not been confirmed by the Illinois Department of Public Health.

As a result, District 113 Superintendent Bruce Law said Deerfield and Highland Park high schools and other district facilities will be closed to all non-essential personnel until further notice.

"Our next step is to sanitize both schools, the transportation building, and the administration building," Law said. "We understand that people may need to come back into the buildings to retrieve items. We will communicate when it is safe to allow people to enter the buildings and the process for retrieving items."

The Lake County Regional Office of Education approved an e-learning plan for the high schools Thursday, according to the superintendent. The plan has been placed District 113 board agenda for approval at a meeting Monday with hopes of starting the remote teaching curriculum Tuesday.

"We have been working for weeks on how we would respond if school closes due to the new coronavirus. Our teachers have been working together to determine how to deliver instruction to our students, and you will not be surprised to read they have been working very hard to provide meaningful experiences as we try to do remotely what we do so well in person," Law said. "We knew that we would one day have an eLearning program, but eLearning was meant for one or two snow days here and there, not a pandemic, and this is not how we ever intended to come to it. I am confident in the skills and great heart of our teachers, and we are launching more quickly than we wanted our eLearning Plan."

Administrators anticipate the e-learning curriculum to remain in place through April 14, allowing for a two-week period following spring break before students return to classrooms.

"The scale of national closure to prevent the spread of COVID-19 and direct guidance for social distancing requires our local schools to also take action," said District 109 Superintendent Anthony McConnell and District 112 Superintendent Mike Lubelfeld. "By closing schools to prevent the potential spread of COVID-19, we help lessen the burden on hospitals, which will need to focus their energy on people who are ill."

Lubelfeld said NSSD112 was working on ways to provide meals for families in need, since more than a quarter of the families in the district qualify for free and reduced lunches.

Other area school districts — including public schools in Lake Forest, Lincolnshire, Evanston, New Trier and Northfield townships — have also announced the cancellation of on-campus activities and the implementation of remote learning.

"We are not closing out of fear. We are closing as a precaution," District 106 Superintendent Scott Hermann told parents Thursday evening, explaining Bannockburn School was expected to be closed for at least three weeks starting Monday. "Our goal is to help protect not only the members of our school community, but also to be responsible citizens to help protect those who are most susceptible to this virus."

Illinois Coronavirus-Related Cancellations, Closures
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The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Illinois Department of Public Health have recommended local authorities reconsider non-essential gatherings of large groups of people to minimize the spread of the novel coronavirus.

Gov. JB Pritzker called for the immediate cancellation or postponement of any events of more than 1,000 people Thursday. He strongly recommended any events with 250 people or more also be called off, appealing to the "civic, patriotic and humanitarian character of the residents of Illinois."

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The Illinois Department of Aging has asked all senior agencies in the state to immediately implement a temporary suspension of all gatherings of older adults. Many North Shore senior centers have been closed until further notice. Senior citizens, along with people with pre-existing health conditions and weakened immune systems, are most at risk of developing a severe case of COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel strain of coronavirus first identified last year in Wuhan, China.

Slowing the spread of the virus, whose global reach led the World Health Organization to declare it had become a "pandemic," will reduce the risk of overloading the health care system. More information about coronavirus prevention is available online from the Lake County Department of Public Health, Illinois Department of Public Health and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Residents with questions or concerns may also call the Illinois COVID-19 hotline at 800-889-3931, or email dph.sick@illinois.gov.

"This is a very different time in our community than we have ever seen," McConnell said. "It is important for all of us to do our part to ensure the health and safety of ourselves and our friends, neighbors, and community members. Kindness, compassion, and caring of others is imperative at this time."