After almost an entire school year of a hybrid model, shuffling students between remote learning and in-person classes, Woodland Community Consolidated School District 50 will allow more first through third grade students into its schools starting April 13, as the Board of Education has approved an updated version of its hybrid learning plan.
The wait for in-person learning will be longer for fourth through eighth grade students. The number of older students in the district is much larger, and the district does not have enough space to bring back all of the students and abide by social distancing requirements.
The most recent version of the plan was unanimously approved at a special Board of Education meeting Wednesday. The district developed the changes to the plan with guidance from the Illinois State Board of Education and the Illinois Department of Public Health.
Superintendent Lori Casey gave a presentation at the meeting outlining the newly updated hybrid model that the district will be implementing as it brings more students back into the classroom.
First through third grade students who have chosen to attend in-person school will attend every week from Tuesday through Friday, and will attend school remotely on Mondays. The students previously were on a rotating schedule, where they would attend school on alternating weeks, labeled A and B weeks. Fourth through eighth grade students will still be on the A and B weeks schedule.
District 50 was previously following another version of a hybrid model that allowed one grade level back into each school building at a time. The district has four school buildings — a primary school for early childhood and kindergarten students; an elementary school for first- through third grade students; an intermediate school that services third grade dual-language students and fourth through fifth grade students; and a middle school for sixth through eighth grade students.
Special education students, who were in self-contained classrooms, have been attending school every day, Tuesday through Friday, while all students were participating in remote learning on Mondays.
The district said that there will be some exceptions that would allow certain fourth through eighth graders back into the buildings during both A and B weeks.
“We’re looking at it on a prioritized list,” Casey said about which fourth through eighth graders will be able to return to in-person learning more frequently. “Any of our homeless students would have the opportunity to come back A week and B week together,” she said.
Casey added that special education students, students with a 504 Plan and students who have English as a second language would also be prioritized, along with students who were not progressing “the way we wanted them to virtually.”
“We’re making sure that those students who really need to be in-person, if we can get them in person we will,” she said.
Additionally, social distancing restrictions will be cut down from six to three feet among students, and between students and vaccinated staff members under the new plan. It is still recommended that unvaccinated staff members keep six feet of social distancing.
In an interview with the News Sun, Casey said that she is unsure of how many staff members are currently vaccinated, but she sends out an optional survey on a weekly basis asking if staff members have received their vaccines. She added that the district has made vaccines available for all staff members within the district.
The model will go into effect on April 13 to allow students a two-week time frame to quarantine after returning from spring break. Casey said that it also will allow time for movers to move desks, the retaping of buildings and setting up contact tracing, among many other “background” items that need to be completed.
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“We didn’t want to say we’re going to start tomorrow because there are so many things [to be done],” Casey said. “We have to keep the same mitigation strategies, just with more students.”
Casey said that the board received no public comment at the meeting, but Brooke Hagstrom, the district’s communications manager, said approximately 15 parents submitted questions prior to the meeting that were incorporated into the presentation.
“This is what we’ve been working for a year,” Casey said. “A year ago, I had to have a board meeting where I said we’re shutting it down; and to have a board meeting to say not only are we opening it up, but we’re opening it up more and we’re planning for the fall is so exciting.”