PEORIA, Ill. — After announcing last week that K-1 students would return Oct. 5, the Peoria Public Schools Board of Education approved a plan Monday night for grades 2-4 to return to hybrid in-person learning Oct. 26.
Superintendent Dr. Sharon Desmoulin-Kherat proposed the plan to the board, and the board gave consensus to move ahead with the plan.
Students on the A schedule in grades 2-4 will return on Oct. 26, and students on the B schedule will return on Oct. 27.
Peoria Public Schools is still giving families the option to continue virtual learning if they choose to do so rather than returning to classrooms.
Kherat said that parents will be contacted on Tuesday regarding the return to in-class learning.
In addition, the Board of Education voted to begin the process of renaming certain schools within the district.
The idea was brought up during a last month board meeting by Vice President Gregory Wilson, and the approval Monday night gives the building committee the authorization to begin the renaming process.
The schools being looked at are the following: Harrison Community Learning Center, Charles Lindbergh Middle School, Roosevelt Magnet School, Thomas Jefferson Primary School, Washington Gifted School, and Calvin Coolidge Middle School.
Board member Dr. Anni Reinking voiced her support for the changing of the names.
“Although some people still have an emotional attachment to these names and claim that they would be erasing history, it’s possible that what they are actually mourning is a perceived loss of their own privilege,” Reinking read from a statement she received via email regarding the name changes.
Board member Dan Walther was the lone “no” vote, citing some community concerns that the board shouldn’t undertake the task in the middle of a pandemic.
