Fully In-Person Elmhurst School Successful: Leader

ELMHURST, IL — The leader of Elmhurst's private Timothy Christian Schools says the campus ended a fully in-person semester successfully.

This was all done with minimal cases of the coronavirus, Superintendent Matt Davidson said in a recent letter.

According to the letter, 92 percent of the students from pre-kindergarten through 12th grade have been on campus since Aug. 19.

That means about 1,200 people have been at the school every weekday, which translates into people frequenting the campus 100,000 times since the semester's start, Davidson said.

"(Y)et our cases have been very limited — only 39 positive student cases or roughly 3 percent of our entire student body," Davidson said in the letter, which was addressed to DuPage County Board Chairman Dan Cronin, an Elmhurst Republican.

"Our families have been incredibly cooperative, and we've done what it takes to make this work!" Davidson wrote. "History will remember our teachers — they have marched into work each day and stepped up to the challenge."

Earlier this week, Cronin posted the letter to his Facebook page.

"Timothy Christian Schools have written the playbook for teaching and learning during these times," he said. "This is leadership."

Meanwhile, Elmhurst School District 205 has been entirely remote for most of the semester, except special needs students.

This has drawn a lot of opposition locally, sparking the creation of a Facebook page titled "Reopen D205." The letter was posted to the page, drawing much praise for Timothy Christian.