Chicago-area schools transition to remote learning as COVID-19 cases increase
By most accounts, Thursday was an emotional day for Evanston Township High School students, parents and staff members.
The school was placed on lockdown in the morning after two handguns were found. Students were dismissed in the early afternoon, with no shots fired and no injuries reported.
Now Evanston Township students are not expected back on campus for the rest of the year — because of a rise in COVID-19 cases. The school transitioned to remote learning Friday, and it’s expected to last until winter break starts Dec. 24. “Non-essential” activities, events and field trips have been canceled for the time being. “It was a relief that the kids are remote just because they need the emotional mental-health break,” said parent Cam Axelrood, whose daughter, Ava, is an Evanston Township senior.
“The downside is that you don’t want them sequestered again because they need to be social, and parents do get concerned when (kids) don’t get to mingle together and hang out. There is that fine line of wanting them to be safe at home, but then also making sure that they’re OK mentally.”
Evanston Township is not the only Chicago-area school to switch to e-learning this week because of COVID-19. Parker Junior High School in Flossmoor transitioned Thursday, with students expected to learn from home until winter break starts Dec. 22, a School District 161 spokesperson said.
In Chicago, the teachers union said the hallways at Park Manor Elementary School were “virtually empty” Thursday because the South Side school is experiencing a COVID-19 spike. The increase in COVID-19 cases in the Chicago area and across Illinois comes as students prepare to take the holiday break and gather with family indoors, where the virus spreads most readily. City public health Commissioner Dr. Allison Arwady said Thursday she expects the COVID-19 surge to continue into January, with the omicron variant making its presence known. During her online question-and-answer session, she fielded a question about whether Chicago Public Schools will turn remote in the new year if case numbers continue to rise.
“We continue to be in close conversations with all of our school partners — this is obviously a big conversation nationally — and there have been, and continue to be, a lot of disparate effects on families that have moved to that remote learning,” Arwady said.
“Certainly we expect to see some more cases in schools, just like we’re seeing, and we’ll be doubling down on protections within schools. There may be individual schools (where remote learning) may need to happen, but I am hopeful and actually confident that won’t need to be a citywide decision.”
The rates of school-age kids testing positive for the virus have shot up since November, according to a Tribune analysis of recent state data.
For those ages 5 to 11, the average daily rate of new cases had risen this week to roughly twice what it was at the height of the late-summer surge, with a higher proportion of kids continuing to test positive in the suburbs. McHenry County’s kids that age are testing positive at a rate of 110 a day, per 100,000 in that group. Chicago’s rate, although rising, is still half of McHenry County’s.
For older kids, the trends are similar, with troubling signs heading into the winter break. Suburban Cook County, for example, now has the highest daily rate of kids age 12 to 17 testing positive, topping 80 per 100,000, when the rate was just half that heading into Thanksgiving break. Most other parts of the region are seeing similarly stark rises.
In Kane County, a classroom-related outbreak involving 11 students and staff members at Elgin Math and Science Academy was reported Nov. 15, according to the Illinois Department of Public Health.
Principal Jacquelyn Willer said the elementary school has canceled afterschool activities, increased testing and moved parent meetings online to slow the spread of the virus. Willer said she expects to be out of “outbreak” status Jan. 7.
Outbreaks included on IDPH’s roster are those that have been identified by a local health department to have three or more COVID19 cases involving people who may have a shared exposure at a location and are from different households. As of Friday, IDPH is reporting 199 current outbreaks in schools across the state.School districts that want to temporarily transition to remote learning must consult their local health department and offer remote learning days for the duration, according to the Illinois State Board of Education.