Oswego-based School District 308 has informed families that it will begin to implement revised pandemic-related health and safety guidelines when students come to school on Tuesday.
The Illinois Department of Public Health and Illinois State Board of Education issued changes to guidelines last week that align with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommendations for shorter quarantine procedures for staff and students, district officials said in a letter issued Friday.
Students may return after a five-day isolation period following a COVID-19 infection or exposure, if certain conditions are met, district officials said. The previous guideline involved a 10-day isolation period.
A summary of restrictions, including for those who are symptomatic regardless of their vaccination status, is available in the letter to families. For an individual experiencing one or more symptoms of COVID-19, they are not to attend school until they are fever free and absent of vomiting and diarrhea for at least 24 hours, and receive a negative COVID-19 test result or remain quarantined for at least five days.
Results from home COVID-19 tests are not acceptable. However, a COVID-19 test from any lab location is fine, according to the district.
In addition, parents have the option to continue the quarantine for 10 days if they do not want to have their student return with the necessary restrictions.
The district continues to offer free COVID-19 testing at the former Traughber Junior High School location in Oswego. Testing is open to staff and students as well as their families, and results are available in two to three days depending on the volume of tests being handled.
Testing is encouraged after traveling, gathering in crowded areas or after a potential exposure to COVID-19, according to officials.
Meantime, District 308 has plans worked out for a return to remote learning if that becomes necessary, district officials said.
“We do have plans if we need to have any classrooms, schools or the full district to take an adaptive pause or go on remote,” Superintendent John Sparlin said.
Sparlin at a recent school board meeting said that in sixth grade through high school, students have sufficient devices to work remotely.
“If we needed to take an adaptive pause at any school at this level we would transition to remote and students would follow a normal schedule,” he said.
For students in the early childhood program through fifth grade, different plans would be implemented based on what is needed at the time, officials said.
“If we were to have one, two or maybe even three buildings that needed to go remote, we have enough devices at the district office and for the affected school grades so that all students can have a device,” Sparlin said. “Here we would deploy devices from the district office and teachers would be able to teach remotely.”
In an another scenario, if multiple schools from early childhood through fifth grade needed an adaptive pause and there were not enough devices at the district office for all students to have one, the district would move to a transitional plan while it grouped devices and checked them out for the start of remote learning.
However, the superintendent emphasized the district will continue to take measures to ensure students remain in the classrooms, he said.
“We are committed to keeping our schools open and doing everything we can to maintain in-person instruction,” Sparlin said.
The district continues to monitor the COVID-19 positivity rate in the area, he said.
“As we all know the positivity rate in our region is at an all-time high and it is important for us to be prepared to change directions in the classroom, by individual school or as a district,” Sparlin told the school board.
The district is encouraging families to continue to follow the district’s mitigation strategies, to use the free coronavirus testing at the former Traughber Junior High School and to not send children to school if they are showing any signs of COVID-19.
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“As a parent, I fully understand keeping your child home can cause an inconvenience but we all must be vigilant in doing what we can to prevent the spread of the virus and keeps our kids, staff and community healthy and safe,” Sparlin said.
Linda Girardi is a freelance reporter for The Beacon-News.