The start of the school year at District U-46 has been positive but for one thing — the number of teachers and staff testing positive for COVID-19 or in quarantine for being exposed to or showing symptoms for the virus, Superintendent Tony Sanders said.
“With all the great and wonderful things that have happened (with the opening of school) … I have to note that we continue to have COVID cases,” Sanders told the U-46 School Board Monday. “When you see a spread of COVID within our communities, you are also going to see it within our schools.”
As of Monday afternoon, 11 students and three staff members had tested positive for coronavirus and another 180 students and 10 staff reported to the district that they were either symptomatic or had been exposed, he said.
The cumulative numbers since Aug. 5 shows 83 students and 20 employees have tested positive and 848 students and 57 employees were either exposed or symptomatic, he said. The first day of school was Aug. 16.
U-46 students live in Cook, DuPage and Kane counties, all of which remain in the moderate range for COVID cases but are experiencing climbing 7-day positivity rates, Sanders said.
The superintendent stressed the district is continuing to follow a layered prevention strategy, and will start doing voluntary COVID testing of students and staff after Labor Day.
In order to alleviate lunchroom congestion, the district has purchased picnic tables that will allow students to eat outside when the weather allows, Sanders said. They should be delivered by week’s end, he said.
Suzanne Johnson, deputy superintendent of instruction, said students who are quarantined are working with teachers to access such online resources as Canvas. Teachers also have the option to set up classes so they can be viewed by the student at home and online tutorials will be ready to launch in early September, she said.
Should an entire classroom or building need to be closed because of COVID, the district would handle it the same way as it has dealt with other infectious diseases such as H1N1, MRSA and influenza, Sanders said. Any any closure would come in consultation with the regional office of education and state and county health departments.
“We would seek their guidance before making any such decision,” Sander said.
Student board advisor Jessica Pearce, a junior at the the STEM Academy at Bartlett High School, told the board later in the meeting that students are very happy to return to a normal classroom setting.
“People are really glad to be back in school,” she said. “It’s certainly better than Zoom, even with masking.”
Mike Danahey is a freelance reporter for The Courier-News.
