D128 To Start School With Remote Learning

LIBERTYVILLE, IL — The District 128 Board of Education voted Wednesday to return to school with remote learning in place. The district, which includes Vernon Hills and Libertyville high schools, will offer "extended e-school" to allow students and staff to utilize online resources until conditions allow for larger groups of people to safely return to buildings, school officials said Thursday.

The school district plans to continue offering athletics, fine arts and extracurriculars under guidance set up by the Illinois State Board of Education, Illinois Department of Public Health and the Illinois High School Association.

District 128 officials are still working through the details regarding the new remote learning plan and will finalize that in the coming weeks, according to information posted on the District 128 Facebook page.

The Daily Herald is reporting the school board debated its options, which included in-person instruction, remote learning or a combination of both, for 4.5 hours on Wednesday. Superintendent Prentis Lea said the school district spent thousands of hours looking into ways to return to in-person instruction safely amid coronavirus concerns.

"But as you continue to dig into this," Lea said, "it's a dead end."

Libertyville High School Principals Tom Koulentes said "the (models) fall apart the minute the infection hits," according to the Daily Herald.

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