The Examiner U-46 News Feed

Dates released by U-46 for return to hybrid classes

By Seth Hancock
  School District U-46 has released dates for a return to some in-person learning starting in the second semester.
  The Board of Education was updated at a Monday, Dec. 7 special meeting, and Superintendent Tony Sanders released statements the following day.
  All students will remain in distance learning through the end of 2020 and return to distance learning when classes resume after Christmas break on Jan. 4, 2021. Elementary students are expected to return to in-person instruction under a hybrid model on Jan. 11, 2021 middle schoolers as well as high school underclassmen and DREAM Academy students on Jan. 19, 2021 and high school upperclassmen on Jan. 25, 2021.
  Sanders stated about half of families chose a hybrid option and half to remain fully remote.
  “Safety remains paramount,” according to Sanders. “Along with school districts across Illinois, we continue to follow the guidance and specific rules set forth by the (Centers for Disease Control), the Illinois State Board of Education, the Illinois Department of Public Health, and our local county health departments.”
  Elementary students through second grade will remain with their current teacher but third through sixth graders could have a new teachers, according to Sanders. Assignments are expected to be released on Jan. 5, 2021.
  Regarding the different timelines for underclassmen and upperclassmen, Sanders wrote: “This phased-in approach will allow our students who have never had an opportunity to visit their school, or who have spent less than a year at their school, to have a little bit of time in their buildings, with fewer students, to familiarize themselves with their school and learn the new safety protocols.”
  Sanders stated secondary students in the hybrid model will be in-person at least twice a week with “at least 120-130 minutes synchronous or ‘live’ instruction (online and/or in-person) per each period, each week, along with a similar amount of asynchronous, or independent, learning periods.”