PEORIA, Ill. — Another group of Peoria Public Schools students will return to the classroom on October 26. Kindergarten and 1st graders were back in schools October 5.
Special Education students returned to class on Monday.
At Monday night’s school board meeting, Superintendent Dr. Sharon Desmoulin-Kherat presented an updated back-to-school plan.
2nd through 4th grade students will return to class on October 26/27, grades 5-6 will go back November 4/5 and 7th and 8th grade students will return November 9/10.
“All remaining high school students’ first day will be January 5th and 6th. So, it would be a clean start to the semester for sure,” Kherat said.
All PPS students will return to classrooms on the hybrid A/B schedule.
Dr. Kherat said a big reason for the accelerated return to class is the ability to use rapid COVID-19 testing for students and staff.
“So, this opportunity will allow us to return to in-person instruction in a matter that minimizes the spread of COVID-19 without the necessity of quarantining large numbers of students and staff,” Kherat said.
The rapid results testing is being paid for through a $200,000 donation from the Bob Gilmore Foundation that will be matched by Reditus Labs in Pekin.
PPS plans hinge on local COVID metrics holding steady, according to Kherat.
