St. Joseph CCSD #169 reviewed the district’s “Roadmap to Reopening” Monday night.
Should the Central region in Illinois remain in Phase 4, St. Joseph Elementary and junior high students will go in-person half day, every day as they begin the 2020-21 school year. The other half of the day will be supplemented with remote learning material.
If the Central region goes back to Phase 3, the district, like other districts, will return to remote learning.
Superintendent Todd Pence said that remote learning in the 2020-21 school year will look differently than what it was in the spring months. The goal at that time was to maintain what students had already learned in the 2019-20 school year.
During the 2020-21 school year new material will be introduced and attendance will be taken.
Pence said that Illinois State Board of Education guidance on remote learning has not yet been released at this time, although the district will once again have to submit their remote learning plan to ISBE.
Students with medical conditions or those living with caregivers who are at risk will have the option to do a complete remote learning schedule that will be set up with the district.
Pence said the district thought it was important to get kids in the building everyday to make sure they were getting the material they needed to learn. But the only way that they could ensure physical distance between students is to go half-time.
Parents will be surveyed by the district to see if they prefer morning or afternoon, but they will also be asked the reason why that is their preference.
St. Joseph Elementary students will focus on math, reading, language arts and writing while at school and will rotate through specials throughout the week. The junior high staff is still working on what the day will look like, but students will get their core classes along with specials.
Students, staff and visitors will be subject to temperature checks when entering the building or getting on the bus. Students will also be required to wear a mask, if they can, and the district is looking at face shields for staff. Pence said it would be difficult for kids to learn without seeing their teacher’s face.
The district will also provided packaged meals, breakfast and dinner, for students to take home the day of school or the next day.
Students assigned to the AM session will have the opportunity to order Lunch for that day and/or Breakfast for the next day. Students assigned to the PM session will have the opportunity to order Lunch and/or Breakfast for the next day. The meal/s will then be delivered to their classroom before dismissal and the student will take the meal/s with them at dismissal.
The 26 page document below gives details to what the day will look like for teachers and students at St. Joseph Elementary and Middle School, but Pence said at this point anything is possible.
“We don’t know what’s going to happen,” he said. “We will do everything we can to make it as safe as we can.”
[pdf-embedder url=”https://sjodaily.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/St.-Joseph-Elementary-and-High-School-return-plan.pdf” title=”St. Joseph Elementary and High School return plan”]
