Consolidation complicates D227 reopening plans
Shuttering of Rich East in Park Forest brings additional challenges to pandemic-era schooling
Officials in Rich Township High School District 227 are adjusting to teaching students this fall amid a global pandemic, just like schools elsewhere throughout the state, nation and world.
District 227, however, faces additional challenges. The district is consolidating thousands of students into two schools instead of three after deciding last year to close Rich East in Park Forest.
The district also is dealing with a principal’s resignation weeks before the start of the new school year and working to regain the trust of some community members who opposed the Rich East decision and criticized the process.
District 227 is offering parents the option of allowing children to learn remotely at home to start the school year or attending in-person classes several days a week as part of a hybrid model.
The top priority is to ensure the safety of students, their families and district employees, Superintendent Johnnie Thomas said Thursday night during a special school board meeting.
“We’re going to have to come together as a community to teach our children the danger of this virus,” Thomas said.
More than 300 people participated in the town hall-style video conference call in which Thomas and others described their expectations for the 2020-2021 school year. Classes are set to begin Aug. 24. COVID-19 is impacting every aspect of the school experience, including instruction, athletics, food service and busing.
The district’s enrollment has declined in recent years to fewer than 3,000 students. Parents of 48% of students are opting to keep their children home, while 52% have signed up for the hybrid option, said Stephen
Bournes, assistant superintendent for educational services.
Gov. J.B. Pritzker ordered schools to close March 17. Teachers and administrators scrambled to offer remote instruction for the final quarter of the last school year, but studies lacked rigor and many students did not participate.
“In the spring about 60% of our students participated in remote learning,” Bournes said. “We were not able to adequately prepare in the spring.”
The district wants to ensure safety but also wants to offer in-person instruction when possible so students don’t fall behind, Thomas said.
“Last spring our students lost 30 to 35% of their knowledge
base,” Thomas said. “We’re concerned about that, but also concerned about the safety of our students and staff.”
Every student and adult will be required to wear masks inside buildings, he said. Classrooms will have capacity limits and students will be physically distanced from one another. No more than 50 students at a time will be allowed in a cafeteria or on a bus, said Alicia Evans, assistant superintendent of business and operations.
“There will be floor markings and signage” about distancing, Evans said. “Hand sanitizer will be provided. Acrylic partitions will be installed in some heavily trafficked areas.”
Every student will do remote learning every Friday so buildings can be closed for weekly deep cleanings, she said. Building ventilation systems will be improved by adding air intakes and changing filters more often, she said.
Students will not be allowed to access lockers. Everyone will have their temperatures taken before entering buildings.
Teachers will be challenged to serve remote learners as well as those in classrooms. Families with children staying home who qualify for free or reduced-price meals will be able to pick up breakfasts and lunches from schools a couple days a week.
The district provided every student with a Chromebook laptop computer and Wi-Fi hot spot devices to those who needed them, Thomas said.
District officials fielded questions from community members for about 90 minutes Thursday night.
A woman asked how the district intended to respond if a student refused to wear a mask.
“We will use a progressive disciplinary model to make sure we’re keeping everybody in the building safe,” Thomas said. “This is a very serious issue to us.”
Many people in Illinois stayed home until early June, when the state eased restrictions. Since then, however, the number of positive cases of coronavirus reported daily by health officials has steadily increased.
Pritzker has warned the state could revert to increased restrictions if the trend continues.
A woman asked why the district wasn’t starting the school year with full remote learning, as Chicago Public Schools recently announced it would.
“We want to respect the 50% of parents who want to do remote and the 50% who want their kids in school,” Thomas said. “We have the flexibility to move between the two.”
District 227, like other schools, may be forced to react when students or employees test positive for COVID-19.
In July, two employees of the district tested positive. Coworkers who were in contact with the employees were directed to get tested and selfquarantine for two weeks if they were positive, the district said in a July 7 letter to employees.
Some parents said they were anxious.
“I understand everything you’re trying to do, I’m just trying to figure out what is the best option for my son,” parent Teonseh Masirnille said during the public meeting. “It’s hard for them to be home but I’d rather they be alive than dead.”
More than 8,000 people in Illinois and 160,000 Americans have died because of COVID-19.
This is the first time since 1952 that Rich East High School will not be open. The school board voted 4-3 in October to close the school to reduce costs amid declining enrollment in the district.
The district is rebranding itself as a single school with two campuses. The former Rich Central in Olympia Fields now is the Science, Technology, Engineering and Math Campus, and the former Rich South in Richton Park now is the Fine Arts and Communication Campus. The Raptors has been adopted as the new districtwide school mascot.
On Friday, the district announced that LeViis Haney had resigned as principal of the STEM Campus. He was named Rich Central principal before the start of the 2019-20 school year. He previously served as principal of schools in Kenilworth and in Chicago during his 18-year career, District 227 said at the time.