PEORIA, Ill. — Peoria Public Schools District 150 called a special meeting Wednesday night to update parents and students on the status of the fall back-to-school plan.
While no changes to the plan have been made since July 2, when it was announced the “A” and “B” groups would alternate learning in person on Fridays, Superintendent Dr. Sharon Desmoulin-Kherat thought it was important to give parents an overview of where things stood.
“I just looked at this board meeting as an opportunity to present an update,” she said.
“They voted on the plan on [June] 22nd, so today we were able to provide details, show we’ve added substance, and we’ve added meat to it and we’re building it and it’s coming together.”
Included in that “meat” is the three-tiered bell schedule.
High schools will attend from 7:30 A.M. until 1:00 P.M., while grades five through eight will go from 8:30 A.M. to 2 P.M., and grades kindergarten through four at most primary schools will be scheduled from 9:30 A.M. to 3:00 P.M.
Daily wellness checks will be required for all student, staff, and visitors. Checks will be done on every person who enters the school, and again on students who use buses.
Students with a fever of 100.4 or higher will automatically be sent home, and must be fever-free, independent of fever-reducing medicine, for 72 hours prior to their return to school.
Locker usage will be prohibited during the first quarter of the school year. Students will instead be allowed to carry their backpacks on their person throughout the school day.
Breakfast and lunch will be provided at schools, but students may bring a sack lunch if they wish. Fast food will not be allowed.
The first day of school is set for Aug. 19.
In addition to presenting details about the fall plan, Kherat also said the meeting was a good opportunity to take feedback.
Two parents who are educators within the district attended the meeting and voiced strong opposition to the hybrid learning model the board approved.
Hedy Elliott-Gardner, educator at Lincoln Middle School, was one.
“My concern is for my students,” she said.
“Two days a week? A lot of my kids are already far behind for a variety of reasons, either because they’re a chronic truant, they’ve had some behavior problems, sometimes they’ve been incarcerated or have had other issues.
“In the A/B week, the chronic truants coming one day a week, maybe, but that’s a real concern. I think we need to talk about satellite classes.”
Gardner suggested “taking the school to the people.
“Why not have kids in school four and five days a week, but have a class at the Friendship House, a class in Taft Homes, a class at the Riverwest Library, a class at the zoo — how enriching would that be, to have a first grade class at Glen Oak Zoo?
“I think kids need to be in school. I think that’s imperative, and if we’re looking forward, and in nine weeks, we say to go back to school, the school year is gone again for a lot of kids, like the kids I teach, because I can’t see them just snapping their fingers and coming five days a week again.”
Marie Lindahl, kindergarten teacher at Thomas Jefferson and mother of Richwoods High School students, echoed many of Gardner’s concerns, and added some of her own.
“Two of my daughters have 504 [education plans] and need that in-person attendance to be successful in school,” she said.
“With one of my daughters, during our time this spring, when we were home, she was to a point where she was so down, she asked me to take her to Methodist [Hospital], because she struggles with that,” she said, fighting back tears.
Kherat said she understood the concerns of Gardner, Lindahl, and other parents who have come forth to express disagreement with the plan, and acknowledged there is risk involved.
Still, she said, she found it to be the least risky of the three options.
“We truly cannot implement the full, in-person, five days right now,” she said.
“My recommendation is to give me some time, and let us, for nine weeks, try the hybrid. If the coast is clear, we can easily add to it, and I’m excited about that prospect.
“But, jumping in with both feet, you can easily drown.”
Kherat reiterated the fact 131 “stakeholders,” consisting of faculty, staff, parents, and students attended over 70 meetings, researched all options, and came to the conclusion the hybrid model was the best option, because it accommodates safety and learning with the ability to expand or retreat.
She said a small majority of families and teachers surveyed also settled on the hybrid model.
The Board of Education’s next meeting is scheduled for Monday night.
