Troy 30-C: E-Learning Lessons For Students

JOLIET, IL — Governor JB Pritzker's announcement that all public and private schools across Illinois will be closed from Tuesday until at least 30 has forced Troy School District Superintendent Todd Koehl to change his plans for students in 30-C.

By Friday evening, the district sent out an automated voicemail message from Koehl informing parents that students will receive instructions on e-learning programs and materials when they show up for class on Monday.

March 16 will be the only day that Troy will hold class in its buildings over the next two weeks.

By the time Koehl sent out his automated voicemail to parents, the governor had already made his announcement as Illinois has seen 14 more positive COVID-19 cases since Thursday, health officials announced during a press conference late Friday afternoon.

Earlier in the day, Joliet Catholic Academy announced on Friday that it will not hold regular classroom activities next week. Students at JCA will be moving to an online learning environment because of the spread of the coronavirus in the Chicago area.

On Thursday, Troy's superintendent announced that "effective immediately, we are cancelling all large group activities that involve the public interacting with our students. In essence, this means that all sports and activities events where the public or students from other districts will attend will be cancelled. This includes events where we are attending and not at our home school. These cancellations do not include practices and local events that involve just our students and staff. For now, these activities will continue.

"While we have seen other states close schools and some school closures in our state, we remain open for normal business. We are continuing our work on an e-learning plan as well as a plan on how to designate closure days if the Illinois Department of Public Health or the CDC requires us to close schools for a designated period. It is in our current plan to provide you with our school closure plan and the directions for the use of e-learning next week."

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