I fully agree with Weston Auburn of Flossmoor, whose recent letter presented a realistic and responsible risk assessment of a hasty return to in-person learning. In his letter, Mr. Auburn admirably implores the District 161 School Board “…to start seriously thinking about how they can improve the children’s remote learning.”
To reopen or not to reopen? That remains the question for the Flossmoor School District 161 Board of Education.
The District 153 school board will conduct a special meeting at 7 p.m. Monday to outline plans for the start of its hybrid learning program.
The meeting will be conducted by Zoom and can be accessed through the District 153 website.
The 2020-2021 school year is still rife with challenges amid the COVID-19 pandemic, but for the most part that course has already been charted.
“The rest of this year, there aren’t too many changes we can make,” said Dana Smith, superintendent for Flossmoor School District 161.
When Willow School kindergarten teacher Christina Stevens got her class list for the 2020-2021 school year, she could not help but feel like something was off.
“This is so strange,” she said to herself.
It was the start of her second year as a teacher, but it felt like she had never finished her first. The shutdowns related to the COVID-19 pandemic started happening in mid-March. No one finished the school year inside of Willow’s walls, and that meant the Homewood teacher and her first class missed out on the end-of-the-year things kindergarteners would typically do.
Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed Senate Bill 1569 into law to provide support for educators, students and families.
The Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) is calling it an “act of God.”
No one is to blame for what’s happening because of the COVID-19 pandemic, and everyone is trying to make the best of it, especially the schools in Homewood and Flossmoor.
