Students at several schools in central Lake County returned to class Thursday, and district officials said they feel excited for the new year.
Both Mundelein High School District 120 and Mundelein Elementary School District 75 made the return Thursday, along with Libertyville High School and Vernon Hills High School — which make up Community High School District 128.
SD120 and SD75 spokesman Peter Gill said the theme for this year is “restart, restore and reconnect,” which he said is about trying to get students back into school and giving them a normal experience.
“It was really, really fun to have everybody back,” Gill said. “You could see the kids, they were pretty pumped up too just to be back and have it normal because it’s been so long.”
At SD128, the school year started with full-day, in-person instruction and spokeswoman Mary Todoric said there is “definitely high” among the staff and students. New Superintendent Denise Herrmann started as of the 2021-2022 school year. But, Todoric said there is still caution since the coronavirus pandemic is ongoing.
Students will also be able to get back into athletic and extracurricular activities, which Gill and Todoric said the kids have seemed excited about.
Gill said the lead-up to the year had its challenges, particularly with the mask policy. However, he said the start of this school year wasn’t near as challenging as summer 2020 had been. And beyond the masks, he said everything seems mostly business as usual.
Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s mandate requiring masks in schools also made the decision easier, Gill said.
“We knew going in that we were going to be a lot closer to normal,” he said. “But … masks will help to keep kids in school.”
One thing that made this summer better compared to last was the district having the ability to focus on the curriculum rather than other factors, Gill said.
Todoric said as the year progresses, the district is expecting challenges to arise. And while an eight-period day is the most normal it’s been compared to last school year with remote and hybrid learning, everyone being masked and socially distanced signals things are still a little different.
“The schools and district continue to monitor numbers in our school community and will make all adjustments necessary to keep our students and staff safe and healthy during the 2021-22 school year,” Todoric said.
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