D-205 Says No To In-Person Classes For Rest Of Semester

ELMHURST, IL — Elmhurst School District 205 confirmed this week what many likely expected: It is not returning to in-person learning for the vast majority of students during the last weeks of the semester.

In a statement Monday, the district said it fully considered resuming in-person learning, but said it was not advisable before the start of the next semester.

The district's "adaptive pause" for entirely remote learning began in October.

Other high schools have taken a different approach. Hinsdale Central and South have stayed open, with a quarter of students on campus at a time. Meanwhile, Lyons Township High School started its pause in mid-November. But it announced Wednesday it would return to in-person learning for the last two weeks of the year, with half of students on campus at a time.

District 205 said the number of new coronavirus cases and positivity rates remain high and of "great concern." According to county figures, Elmhurst's virus cases have more than doubled since early October. But nearly all the city's 51 coronavirus-related deaths were early in the pandemic.

On Monday, special needs students returned to Elmhurst schools. This group amounts to 200 students, or less than 3 percent of the district's more than 8,000.

Like elsewhere, District 205 is facing pressure from parents to reopen for in-person learning. Parents have created a Facebook page called Reopen D205, which now has 1,200 members.