District 140 Superintendent Responds To School Reopening Guidance

ORLAND PARK, IL – The superintendent for Kirby School District 140 responded Friday to guidance released Tuesday from the Illinois State Board of Education on reopening schools for the 2020-21 school year, asking parents and students for patience as the schools figure out how best to proceed.

In a message posted to the school district's website, Superintendent Shawn Olson said the 60-page guidance document will help answer critical questions about what the upcoming school year will look like.

The school district faces many uncertainties about the upcoming school year, including whether instruction will be in person, what scheduling will look like, how to provide safe transportation, how to properly social distance students and staff and how to keep everyone safe and healthy while educating students.

"Right now we don't have all the answers to those questions as this document was released to school districts at the same time it was released to the public," Olson said in the message. "Therefore, we kindly ask for your patience as our staff thoroughly reviews this detailed guidance and implements the suggestions into our district's own transition plan."

Olson said the district's Reopening Task Force committee is currently discussing options and will seek input from school communities through surveys and meetings in the next few weeks.

After five consecutive weeks of declining coronavirus case counts and COVID-19 deaths, Gov. J.B. Pritzker on Tuesday announced plans to return to in-person learning.

Plans will be in line with state guidance as the state moves into phase 4 of the Restore Illinois plan, and measures include wearing masks, limiting gatherings to 50 people or fewer, increasing school cleaning and disinfection, and even implementing symptom checks at schools.

The full guidance can be seen on the ISBE website.

Related:

• IL Phase 4: Here's What Reopens, What's Allowed
• Illinois Coronavirus Update June 26: 139,434 Cases, 6,810 Deaths