Peoria Public School District 150 will use a hybrid plan to reopen schools this fall during the COVID-19 pandemic. But for other districts in the Tri-County area, hybrid learning may not be the best option.
“It just depends on the district, the students and families they serve, and then they’re using all that information to make the best decisions they can,” said Beth Crider, Peoria County regional superintendent of schools.
Crider said most districts are choosing one of three methods: full remote learning, full five-days-a-week, in-person instruction, and the hybrid combination. She said many factors contribute to what fits a particular district.
“A lot of it is what mediation that you have to put in place,” she said, citing three primary challenges. “Number one is space: How do we have social distancing? I’m a former kindergarten teacher, and the thought of social distancing with kindergarten is quite the challenge.
“Our second challenge is access to PPE (personal protective equipment). Different districts have different resources, so if you need masks for students, if you need sanitizer, if you need cleaning wipes … access to PPE and the resources to provide it is the second challenge.
“The third one is staffing. To be able to have students in smaller groups to spread out to be outside at different times to access their lunch and their meals, you need additional staffing and different districts have resources for that that are limited.”
Crider said the primary focus is keeping children safe by implementing as many mitigation factors as possible. However, a top concern for parents is addressing child care needs when students are not in the classroom.
“Let’s face it, school is a critical child care provider. It is not our core mandate; we’re going to teach students,” she said. “But this is how parents and families are able to get back to work. So, figuring out the child care piece has probably been the hardest thing.”
Crider said adapting to the situation remains fluid and people need to be understanding and prepared for change.
“We all need to be patient,” she said. “No one has ever experienced something like this before, and we’re not going to get it right 100% of the time. But we’re absolutely with the best of intentions going to try to make sure that students are learning next year and that they are safe. That is the most important thing that we can be focused (on)."
Crider said plans for how to address a COVID-19 outbreak were discussed during a July 2 meeting between all the Peoria County districts and Peoria City/County Public Health Administrator Monica Hendrickson.
“She has told us that what they will do if we have a positive case is that they will then come to the school district,” Crider explained. “They will look at what mitigation did we put in place: how did we reduce the amount of interaction that the students had with one another? How did we reduce transitions for further exposure? Were we able to contain the student in what we’re calling a bubble where they’re not exposed to other students?
“From that information … we will then look at: do we have to just close the classroom, do we have to close the school or do we have to close an entire district? Those are going to be the hard questions that we face once we’re all back together.”
Crider said an outbreak requiring school closures would not halt the academic year,but would force districts to transition to virtual instruction.
“All school districts have to go back and revisit their remote learning plans from the spring,” Crider said. “This is the time to go back and take a look at: what did we do well, what do we need to improve, what kind of grading procedures do we need to put in place.
“Honestly, I just don’t think it’s a matter of ‘if,’ it’s ‘when.’”
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