During Remote Learning Days, schools may implement either an E-Learning Plan or a Remote Learning Day Plan that provides students with instruction and access to educators through whatever means possible. Schools may use up to five Remote Learning Planning Days at any time after March 30 to work on Remote Learning Day Plans in partnership with their collective bargaining units.

Remote Learning Days, Remote Learning Planning Days, and Act of God Days count as actual student attendance days. All of these days count toward the minimum length of the school year and absolutely do not need to be made up. View ISBE’s emergency rules for Remote Learning Days.

The Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) convened a Remote Learning Advisory Group of teachers, students, paraprofessionals, related service personnel, principals, and district and regional superintendents to make recommendations to support educators, students, and families during Remote Learning Days. The recommendations provide overarching best practices for instruction, grading, communication, social-emotional needs, content selection and delivery, family engagement, and other important concerns, as well as specific guidance for different grade bands, English Learners, and students with disabilities.

View the Remote Learning Recommendations.

“I am deeply grateful to the 63 members of the Remote Learning Advisory Group for giving their time and their expertise to help ISBE and schools across the state navigate a new way of teaching, learning, and caring for our students,” said Dr. Ayala. “We continue to be awed by the phenomenal creativity, resilience, empathy, and problem-solving prowess of Illinois’ educators, administrators, and students. The stories we see every day on social media, in the news, and in our email show us just how focused our educators are on supporting our children in this time of crisis.”

The Remote Learning Recommendations strongly encourage that school districts’ local grading policies during Remote Learning Days embrace the principle of “no educational harm to any child” and that school districts adopt grading models of pass or incomplete.

The Recommendations state that “Grading should focus on the continuation of learning and prioritize the connectedness and care for students and staff. All students should have the opportunity to redo, make up, or try again to complete, show progress, or attempt to complete work assigned prior to the remote learning period in that time frame. A focus on keeping children emotionally and physically safe, fed, and engaged in learning should be our first priority during this unprecedented time.”

ISBE has partnered with other agencies and advocates to provide additional clarity on other key topics.

ISBE released joint guidance with the Illinois Board of Higher Education and Illinois Community College Board to advise secondary and postsecondary institutions in Illinois on supporting and accommodating students who are enrolled in dual credit courses during the suspension of in-person instruction. 

ISBE also met with the Illinois Federation of Teachers, Illinois Education Association, Illinois Association of School Administrators, and Illinois Principals Association to update the joint guidance regarding pay and work.

Additionally, Governor JB Pritzker’s Executive Order 2020-15, issued today, suspends state assessments for spring 2020, including the Constitution exam. This action officially ends assessment activity statewide for the Illinois Assessment of Readiness, Illinois Science Assessment, SAT, and Dynamic Learning Maps-Alternate Assessment for the 2019-20 school year.

ISBE recognizes that the free SAT provided by the state is the only opportunity many students get to take a college entrance exam. ISBE is working with the College Board on developing options to allow current 11th grade students to take the SAT in the fall.

ISBE has refreshed its comprehensive guidance document with all of this information, as well as updated guidance on driver’s education, nutrition, flexibility in expending grant funds, and Early Childhood Block Grant recipients providing child care to the children of essential workers. View the comprehensive guidance.

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The Oakwood School District is on spring break from March 23-27. 

“This will be a good opportunity to implement this plan in case the Mandatory School Closure executive order is extended beyond March 30 by the Governor,” Superintendent Larry Maynard said.

Details of the plan will be disclosed at a later date.

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Broadlands

Lincoln Street Lounge closed until March 30, due to government’s COVID-19 response

Homer

Charlie’s Pizza is still open for take out.

Homer Bakery: closed until March 30, due to government’s COVID-19 response.

Oakwood

Exit 210 Saloon will continue to offer package liquor and take out food at their drive thru window. With their new kitchen up and running, they plan to offer their staff an opportunity to keep serving you; since staff can’t be on the floor, they will put them on the road and bring your order to your door. Call us 217-442-3696 to place your order.

The Liquor Box closed until March 30, due to government’s COVID-19 response.

McDonald’s: Will continue with carryout and drive-through service.

Obie’s Arctic Chill Co.: Plans to open on April 6 or 7 for the summer

Pitstop Bar and Grill: Try to do curbside pick-up, 11 a.m. until 9 p.m., no longer have specials until get back to business, have a full menu (online or come pick one today)

Possum Trot will re-open Thursday for carry-out. They will be offering a fantastic menu including some new items that they have been wanting to try. They are also reviewing delivery options.

Ogden

Billy Bobs: Please call in orders at 217.582.2277 or 217.582.2040 and Billy Bob’s will arrange to deliver to your car window. They can also carryout package liquor to go with your meal. Got Spot coupons will be honored as well. To view Billy Bob’s menu, visit https://billybobsunderthewatertower.com/.

Paul’s American Fine Thai Food will continue service 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. with carryout.

The Pink Pig: In accordance with the governor’s ruling, Pink Pig will be open for takeout orders only thru March 30th. Their hours will be 11am to 7pm only, no orders will be taken after 7pm. Please call ahead with your order, 217-582-8026. Their menu is viewable in their Instagram highlights, on FB and at www.pinkpigrestaurant.com. Their full menu, plus ribs and brisket (while they last), brownie skillet, bread pudding and bacon ice cream will be available. They have Pepsi products to go as well as packaged alcohol (no one site or opened items will be sold).

Rich’s Family Restaurant: 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sunday-Thursday, only carryout, Friday and Saturday 8 a.m .to 7 p.m carryouts until the end of the month.

Royal

Freeman Tavern will be closed until March 30, due to government’s COVID-19 response. Gift certificates will be available for purchase over these next two weeks to use at a later date. Contact Debbie or Brooke for purchase.

St. Joseph

Dairy Queen St. Joseph: Drive through open for regular hours beginning March 17

El Torro Order your favorites from El Toro for delivery in the comfort of your home or curbside pick up.

Geschenk Boutique and Coffee and Tea Haus will be open for carry out and curbside only. The boutique is still open and customers are encouraged to stock up on coffee, tea, and more so you have it at home. Feel free to call ahead and they can have your order ready for you; if you would like them to bring it out to you just let them know – wait times may vary. They also have their take and bake meals, giving you a great way to feed the family without the prep.

Monical’s St. Joseph: Beginning Tuesday 3/17/2020, Monical’s Pizza will be open and staffed, offering DELIVERY SERVICE (hours may vary per location), PICK-UP (at locations with pick-up windows) and CURBSIDE (call restaurant to let us know when you are there and we will bring your food out to you).

Padano’s Pizza will continue to be open for curbside pickup or home delivery! Give us a call! 469-9016

Roch’s: At this time Roch’s plans to put cones on the side of their building and bring to-go orders outside.

Scratch: Beginning March 17, Scratch will serve all guests via carry-out and curbside pick-up only.

The Wheelhouse will be closed March 17-March 22. They will reaccess for takeout and delivery beginning March 23.

Wyldewood: Wyldewood is still open 7 days a week just with temporary new hours: Monday-Sunday Noon-5pm. Wyldewood is also offering Curbside service as well, just call 217-469-WINE (9463); they will meet you outside or you are still welcome to come inside. They have suspended samples and tastings until further notice.

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fred@mahometnews.com

Spring officially arrives on Thursday.

The debut of spring sports are further down on the horizon.

For the professionals, everything is on an indefinite hiatus, due to the global coronavirus outbreak, but the expectations are that the sports will return in 2020.

All college conferences at every level have already made the unprecedented move to cancel the entire spring sport schedules.

For members of the Illinois High School Association, it’s still a wait-and-see proposition.

There will be no practices or competition through March 30. Some high schools, such as Mahomet-Seymour, have announced there will be no games through April 6.

The hope is that after that date, a gradual resumption will occur, but there are no guarantees.

The Mahomet Daily contacted spring sport coaches from Mahomet-Seymour, St. Joseph-Ogden, Oakwood and Villa Grove/Heritage to hear their perspectives on the situation and what might be in store.

The mandatory break imposed by the IHSA came after nearly two full weeks of workouts in preparation for a season that originally would have included competition starting on Monday, March16 for baseball, soccer, softball, boys’ tennis and track.

Track, however, is in a different situation in that indoor practices began in February and several schools had already competed in meets.

Oakwood baseball coach Ryan McFarland said that if schools do receive a green light to resume activity, it doesn’t mean games will be played immediately.

“I feel whenever we go back, we would need at least a week to get pitchers back into shape,” McFarland said. “Oakwood baseball has played many first games without being on a field before that time, so that’s not as big of a deal as arm care.”

The uncertainty for all coaches is what their athletes are doing during the down time. The teen-agers can work out on their own, but can’t have in-person instruction from their coaches.

“When students don’t have school and their routine is disrupted, coaches are always looking for ways to help them stay on a similar schedule,” VG/Heritage baseball coach Jason Conn said. “This will be like coming back from Christmas break and being thrown into games without practices.

“We were fortunate to be on our field all but two days the first two weeks of practice, so I feel like we got a lot of stuff in other teams that are stuck in a gym may not have.

“Hopefully our players will be able to get out and play catch. Hitting is a little harder if guys don’t have somewhere to go or the equipment for it.”

The ability to play is not the only strike against players.

“What’s hard is we usually encourage our guys to watch baseball and learn the game,” Conn said. “With the MLB delaying their season, they cannot even do that.”

VG/Heritage track and field coach Heath Wilson hopes his squad members are diligent during their time away.

“Staying in shape is very important,” Wilson said. “I have encouraged the athletes to still get in workouts on their own as it is important to maintain the endurance that we were working towards starting in February.

“Coaching the technical aspects of the sport is a greater concern at this time, but we will work through those aspects once we are able to continue the season.”

Wilson hopes his athletes work out individually rather than in groups.

“The safety of the athletes is most important,” he said. “With the guidance of state and national leaders to socially distance ourselves, I will not encourage ‘Captain’s Practices.’

“Athletes are encouraged to get workouts in on their own.”

Conn’s point is one that was also emphasized by M-S baseball coach Nic DiFilippo.

“The guys are not allowed to do team practices,” DiFilippo said. “I do not expect them to work out as groups.

“I know individual kids will work out on their own. My No. 1 goal is when we get back, they are all healthy and safe. We can figure out how best to compete once we get back.”

Oakwood boys’ track and field coach Lyle Hicks said some of the challenges are similar to what are faced in other years.

“We will be set back and starting over somewhat as normal after spring break,” Hicks said. “We gave workouts to athletes and hope they will do some work, but it’s hard to do timed speed work.”

SJ-O softball coach Larry Sparks understands what it will mean to the student-athletes to get back to the games they love.

“The kids were already chomping at the bit to play games, so if and when we’re able to resume, I think they will have immediate focus,” Sparks said.

Like Sparks, VG/Heritage’s Wilson said his athletes are preparing as if there will be a season.

“Villa Grove athletes are thirsty to compete,” Wilson said. “They are engaged and ready to be coached from a distance.

“We have been communicating electronically and the athletes are working out on their own. Would they be further along if we were able to have practices? Of course, but I am very proud of what these athletes are accomplishing on their own during this shut down.” 

Sparks emphasized that players won’t return at mid-season form.

“Resuming the schedule would be doable, just losing out all of our earlier games would make the whole process slower in that the chemistry on the field during competition would take longer to build,” Sparks said.

“As far as injury, you always run the risk of that, but if a player does nothing over this time period, my opinion is they would run a greater risk of possible injuries.”

DiFilippo said if high school sports can be salvaged this year, all schools will start in an identical place.

“It will be difficult, however we have been in difficult spots before, and we will be again,” DiFilippo said. “This is unprecedented, and all teams are in the same spot.

“We will do the best we can.”

One unknown is whether the high schoolers will even get the chance to play any games after spring arrives.

Conn would like to be optimistic, but he fears that a cancelation of the season could be imminent.

“I think it is very possible,” Conn said. “We have just recently had our first local positive tests in Champaign and Coles counties. I think we will see a lot more.

“I hate it for the seniors involved in all the activities. I couldn’t imagine the teams that qualified for the boys’ basketball state tournament being told you don’t get to play. But if the IHSA was willing to make that move with very few positive tests, I think as we see more people test positive, they will feel like they have no choice but to cancel the spring sports.”

McFarland likes that there wasn’t an immediate rush to a decision.

“I think it’s very possible the IHSA cancels the spring sports,” he said, “but at least they gave a day when they will re-evaluate, unlike the Big Ten, which just canceled it.”

McFarland said if he were asked, he would prefer any sort of a season to none at all.

“I would like to see a shortened schedule, maybe 15 games over the end of April and start of May,” he said. “Probably just conference games and maybe a few nonconference that you have on the back end of the schedule.

“Maybe back the IHSA tournament up a couple of weeks to add some games. These kids deserve to play, but unfortunately it just may not work out that way. Then you just hope everyone is going to be OK and get through all of this.”

Sparks said that until – or unless – there is an announcement declaring the end of the spring sports season, he will remain optimistic.

“Thankful that the IHSA at this point has only postponed the start of our season, leaving hope that we may be able to play,” Sparks said. “I think that even given the ever growing information we receive on this virus that there were some hasty decisions made early by some groups to cancel seasons when maybe putting things on hold would have been easier to tolerate at least for now.

“And as the days go by, reality may set in and some tougher decisions might have to be made.”

Sparks is concerned about how all of the student-athletes are coping with – at the very least – what will be a reduced schedule, but one group in particular tugs at his heart.

“I feel really bad for all the athletes and coaches who are affected by this halt to their seasons,” Sparks said, “but especially for all the seniors who have worked so hard for their final season only to have something completely out of their control snatch it away.

“Those kids will all be better for this in the long run, but in some cases will always have to wonder what if we would have had our whole season or possibly even any of it.”

Conn emphasized that sports aren’t the only spring activity currently in limbo.

“All activities our students are involved in have been put on hold or cancelled,” he said. “We push our students to be the best at what they do. And now they may not get the chance to show their work.

“It is terrible that our seniors may not get their last season/play/debate/class/etc. in that they have worked hard for. I hope our students get an opportunity to compete/perform one more time before they graduate, but at the end of the day, we need to understand what’s important.”

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They are also the Oakwood High School Athletic Awards Night for March 17th. Coaches will be contacting athletes to distribute their awards.

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At this time, there are no suspected cases of Coronavirus COVID-19 in the County and therefore we are NOT planning to close school. 

Superintendent Larry Maynard said that the district continues to work on a contingency plan for the possibility of a school closure and encourages parents and guardians to plan in advance for childcare if a closing occurs.

“A closure would likely last a minimum of 2 weeks, per CDC guidelines, and could last longer,” Maynard wrote in a letter to parents.

Vermilion County Superintendents met Thursday with the Vermilion County Health Department.

In order to be cautious, Oakwood School District is taking the following steps:

•         Extracurricular activities will be limited to only those events located within Vermilion County involving Vermilion County schools.
•         Field Trips will be limited and determined on a case-by-case basis.
•         Limit visits of non-school personnel to schools.

These measures are being put in place through April 5, 2020 and will be reevaluated at that time.  Other Vermilion County schools are adopting similar protocols. 

For those looking to travel overseas, the CDC is requiring a 14-day self-quarantine for anyone traveling to a Level 3 country (https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/travelers/after-travel-precautions.html).  

“We will continue to monitor the rapidly changing status of news regarding the Coronavirus (COVID-19) as the situation continues to be a concern for us all,” Maynard wrote. “Please continue to monitor our website and social media for future correspondence and direction. Do not hesitate to reach out with questions.”

Oakwood School District has canceled all athletic events through April 5, OHS Athletic Awards Night for March 17th, the gym to all non-school extracurricular activities, postponed the staff/student basketball game, the spring play OGS PTO Award/Movie Night and freshmen orientation.

Oakwood is also moving the end of the year Teacher Institute Day on March 19th to the end of the year.

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