No Return To Classrooms For Joliet District 86: Rouse

JOLIET, IL — While Joliet Catholic Academy, Troy Community School District and Plainfield are already returning to regular classroom activities for their students, Joliet's largest public grade school district is not following that path.

Joliet Public School District 86, which is led by Superintendent Theresa Rouse, agreed to remain with remote learning activities for the rest of the 2020-21 school year.

A letter sent to parents on Thursday morning from Rouse indicates "after reviewing local COVID-19 and current vaccination data" at Wednesday night's meeting, the school board voted unanimously to keep students in remote learning for the third trimester.

"We will continue to review the data to see when it is safe to bring students back," Rouse wrote in her letter. "Our top priority remains the safety of our students and staff members.

"We realize that remote learning can be a challenge for some students. If your student is struggling, please contact your child's teacher. If additional support is needed, contact your school principal," Rouse's letter advised.

A copy of the full letter can be read at the bottom of this Joliet Patch article.

Rouse has been Joliet's grade school superintendent since the summer of 2016. She previously spent several years as a school administrator in California.

Elsewhere, Plainfield Patch recently reported that the Plainfield School District 202 is bringing its students back to their normal classrooms starting next week.

The Plainfield students will be returning to their school buildings in small groups between Jan. 25 to Feb. 16, according to Plainfield's administration.

"As we have said many times this year, we all want our kids back in school," Plainfield Superintendent Lane Abrell said at his last school board meeting. "But we must remember that this is a community health issue, and we must consider the impact that a large school district has on the rest of the community. We are trying to balance that fact with the fact that in-person learning is the best for most if not all, of our students. That is one of the biggest reasons we have been and continue to be so cautious."

A spokesperson for Joliet's District 86 said that a few Joliet grade school students will have to return to their respective buildings on a limited basis either for bilingual testing or the state's standardized testing for grades three through eight starting in March.

According to its website, District 86 has 15 elementary schools, four junior high schools, one Early Childhood Center and one alternative school. The district enrollment at the end of September was 10,337 students.

The district has 1,505 employees including 750 teachers.

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