D-205 Students Return To School Jan. 11: Officials

ELMHURST, IL — The Elmhurst school system is planning to return to its blended model of in-person and remote learning Jan. 11.

See related stories:

Coronavirus Testing For D-205 Students?

Bryan Middle Seems Shorted Under In-Person Plan

For nearly two months, Elmhurst School District 205 has been remote, with officials citing a surge of coronavirus cases. Special needs students returned after Thanksgiving.

As with many districts nationwide, the school board has been caught between a big majority of parents seeking in-person learning and a teachers union pushing for remote instruction.

In the next semester, officials wants to avoid a situation where the entire district goes remote again, Superintendent Dave Moyer told the school board at a special meeting Thursday.

Moyer said the district planned to be more "surgical" about decisions on remote learning, instituting such measures at a classroom- or school-specific level.

"We would not want to go back to a situation where we go back and forth between hybrid and remote as we did this time," Moyer said.

The district has been consulting with an infectious disease doctor, who recommended an "absolute fidelity" to masking, Moyer said.

"In order to make sure we do that, we have to eliminate snack breaks," he said.

The schedules for elementary schools and York High School are slated to remain largely the same.

One of the three middle schools, Bryan, will see substantial changes, officials said. Because of the number of students planning to attend in-person classes, they will get less in-person time. The plan for Bryan prompted a discussion among officials at the board meeting.

The board also discussed instituting a program of saliva testing for students. They are set to make a decision Tuesday.