D-205 In-Person Plan Moves Too Slowly: Board Minority

ELMHURST, IL — Two Elmhurst school board members who voted against the superintendent's plan for in-person learning Tuesday said they wanted the school system to move faster in its timeline for some grades. And they proposed another option for parents, which the superintendent said he could not recommend "in good conscience."

Superintendent Dave Moyer's plan, which a 5-2 board majority approved, calls for phasing in more days of in-person instruction for all levels in Elmhurst School District 205, except middle school. A Patch story on Wednesday contains the details of the plan.

During the board meeting, member Courtenae Trautmann said it was a "hard pill to swallow" to have a plan that included no date for a return to five-day-a-week, in-person learning for middle school students.

While officials expressed optimism that Churchville Middle School may see full in-person learning this semester, they were more doubtful about Sandburg and Bryan middle schools, where they said social distancing is more of a challenge. Sandburg and Bryan's students are divided into three groups — A, B and C — for in-person learning, meaning less time in the actual classroom. Other schools are split between A and B groups.

"I can't wrap my head around not getting our kids going back to A-B next week. I feel like the key to making this happen is offering our families choice, not just the choice between full in person and full remote, but also hybrid," she said. "That will alleviate space issues."

Trautmann said she liked the part of the plan for elementary schools, where five-day-a-week, in-person instruction is slated to be phased in the rest of February. But she opposed the plan for the middle schools and York High School. At York, students are slated to return in person four days a week March 15.

The district, Trautmann said, is not giving middle and high school students the "same path to success" as it is for elementary students.

If the district offered the hybrid option, it could require students with that choice to follow the A-B schedule, rather than going to class whenever they wanted, she said.

Superintendent Moyer, however, said he would not recommend adding a hybrid choice. Class sizes, he said, would be unpredictable and inconsistent. Moyer cited the objections of an elementary school principal who said contact tracing would be nearly impossible and that it would be difficult to know which students would attend each day. Teachers, he said, oppose offering a third option.

"My educators who are doing the work disagree," Moyer said. "I'm not going to recommend it. I will do what I'm directed to do, but I'm not going to recommend it. I can't recommend it in good conscience."

Trautmann said she "respectfully" disagreed with Moyer's position. She said the schedule would be completely consistent with a third option, with days designated each week for the A and B groups.

Board member Chris Kocinski said he was on the same page as Trautmann.

"Folks can choose between the three options. I just feel like customers first," he said. "After our staff has been fully vaccinated, it is our responsibility to operate fully across all grade levels. Families can do what's best for them. That's occurring at two of the three levels. It should be occurring in middle schools as well."

In response, Moyer noted the Centers for Disease Control is still recommending 6 feet of social distancing, but the district is reducing that to 3 feet between students.

"When you talk about customer service, if you can't deliver a quality product, customers aren't going to be satisfied," Moyer said.

Adding the third option would create a layer of complication that would reduce such service, he said.

"I'm just going to tell you our teachers are doing everything they can to pull this off," Moyer said. "This is going one step beyond what we can do."

Besides Kocinski and Trautmann, the other board members supported the plan.

"This is not a prefect plan, but it's a plan. It moves us forward," member Margaret Harrell said. "Overall, I say I support it. Everybody is going to be mad at us for one thing or another. I've gotten used to that at this point."