D47 Students To Soon Resume Hybrid Learning

CRYSTAL LAKE, IL — Nearly two months after hybrid learning for students at Crystal Lake Elementary School District 47 was halted due to rising positive coronavirus cases across the region, school officials indicated this week that younger students at the school will begin to return to the classroom in January.

District 47 Superintendent Kathy Hinz announced at a school board meeting Monday night that the process of returning to hybrid learning will begin on Jan. 11. At that time, pre-kindergarten to second graders, along with all self-contained special education programs, will resume hybrid learning, the Northwest Herald reported on Tuesday.

The remainder of students at the school will begin returning to school for classes on Jan. 25 before the district’s sixth through eighth graders will return to the hybrid model on Feb. 8.

District 47 began the academic year on a fully remote basis before shifting to a hybrid model on Oct. 5. Less than a month later, as COVID-19 cases across the region began to rise, the district was forcedto return to remote learning for the remainder of the semester, with the exception of special education students, who returned to the classroom this week.

At the time, positivity rates across Lake and McHenry County exceeded 8 percent for three straight days, which prompted school officials to revert back to remote learning.

"We are all in agreement that face-to-face teaching and learning is what's best for our students and we are all disappointed to have to temporarily suspend in-person instruction," Hinz said at the time.

Students will remain out of the classroom until after the holiday break, school officials announced Monday before the district begins the process of moving closer to returning to hybrid learning.