Lake Forest High School Considers Pausing Amid Coronavirus Surge

LAKE FOREST, IL — Three weeks after the Lake County Health Department recommended all schools in the county shift to entirely remote learning due to increasing numbers of new coronavirus cases — and one day after Lake Forest High School seniors returned to in-person classes — administrators announced recommendations for an "adaptive pause," reducing the number of students on campus starting as soon as Monday.

"It's unmistakable how important it is for kids to be in the building. It's also unmistakable how difficult it is, as we've heard, for some of our staff to be in the building, some willingly and some not so," Superintendent Mike Simeck said Tuesday at a remote school board meeting. School nurses have warned him the increasing prevalence of COVID-19 in the broader community is having a growing impact on school operations.

"I see the mitigation strategies as being incredibly effective. What I don't want to have as our primary metric is: 'Have we had an outbreak?'" Simeck said. "And I'm afraid that we're getting closer and closer to that, and hence the recommendation for an adaptive pause."

The Illinois Department of Public Health defines an "adaptive pause" as "a strategy that allows for movement into any level of remote learning to prevent disease transmission during a pandemic," Simeck told the school community after the meeting. He said he may recommend a reduced number of students on campus starting next week rather than a full school closure.

As of Monday, there were 14 current positive confirmed coronavirus cases among students. Seven staff members had active infections, according to the superintendent's presentation to the board. There were also 82 students and 34 staff members on the exclusion or quarantine list. Nearly two-thirds of students are taking part in on-campus instruction as part of two cohorts defined by the first letter of students' last names.

Board President David Lane said the school year started with a lot of concerns about how the district's hybrid model of in-person and remote learning would work. Part of the reason the board insisted administrators prepare a hybrid plan for the fall was to demonstrate that the district could safely operate the school with measures in place to reduce the chance of spreading COVID-19 among students and staff, he said.

"We've proven how we do it. We've proven that the protocols and the safety measures inside the building are robust and detailed. I'm going to support Mike's consideration going into next week. Let's see. More data will come. You can't deny the fact that the risk factors are going up. The reality is, though, that we've got the students in the building. We've got real-time experience," Lane said. "I think that we've proven that we can operate the building safely and the safety measures work."

Representatives of the district's teachers said it was unsafe for staff to be in the school building and urged the board to move to fully remote learning.

Becca Schwartz, a math teacher and president of the Lake Forest Education Association, said 76 percent of her members favored a shift to entirely e-learning.

"The numbers in our state, our region, our county, and even our ZIP codes are higher than even what your own District 115 dashboard says should indicate a return to remote learning. There is COVID in the community. To repeatedly state that we've had zero in-building transmissions is a misleading statement," Schwartz said, adding that sports teams have had to be quarantined, classrooms have been cleaned due to possible exposures, and some students have become ill.

"We understand the desire to have a sense of normalcy, but you are putting these students and the community in danger by allowing this to continue," the local union leader said. "We ask again that you listen to the medical professionals and make the move to virtual learning until the numbers return to the limits deemed acceptable by the county health department."

The seven-day rolling average of new coronavirus cases in Lake Bluff and Lake Forest ZIP codes was more 33.5 per 100,000 people as of Nov. 9, according to the Lake County Health Department. The rate for Lake County as a whole was 52 new cases per 100,000 people. Public health officials recommend fully remote learning anytime the incidence rate raises above 14 new cases per 100,000 residents.

Peter Lubliner, an English teacher, read an advisory from the Illinois Education Association, the local bargaining unit's affiliate, warning that the board's action would endanger the health and safety of staff. He noted an alert from the district's law firm about at least one school district insurance cooperative informing its members that liability claims related to COVID-19 were excluded from coverage. The union, he said, suggested students or district employees who get ill or injured should contact a personal attorney to discuss possible legal actions.

"It has advised against the district taking such a reckless course, not only has the school board acted to endanger the very persons that it is obligated to protect but it may be putting the assets of the districts in peril," Lubliner said. He suggested the district might have to cover the full cost of legal fees and any settlement that result from civil lawsuits, despite laws that provide board members legal protection from personal liability for negligence.

"By ignoring the public health concerns presented by the Illinois and Lake County boards of health," he said, "the decision to continue in-person learning is potentially not mere negligence but may rise to the level of willful and wanton conduct and intentional action, removing the board and its administration from the statutory protections afforded in the statute."

Board member Sally Davis said a lawyer for the teachers union had already delivered similar remarks.

"The board understands this to be a threat of litigation and will act accordingly," she said.

Between August and early October, there were 11 negotiation meetings between the district and the union concerning working conditions during the pandemic. A federal mediator was brought in to moderate after the first six meetings. According to the district, there are 75 teachers who have received accommodations to teach remotely.

Simeck said Lake Forest High School has a relatively high proportion of its student body interested in attending classes in person compared to other school districts. Other districts may have only 5 to 15 percent of students taking part in their hybrid option despite being open for up to 50 percent capacity, leading to some classrooms with only a few in-person students per teacher.

"Personally, I think one of the factors that is why we have 60 percent of our kids that, despite all the circumstances, 60 percent of our kids want to be in our building, I think that points toward the fact that our students have a different connection to the physical space than many other communities' children have to their physical spaces," Simeck said.

Principal Chala Holland said she was spending about half of her day focused on responding to new infections and exposures. She asked the community to respond completely and honestly to contact tracers when they call.

"In all the situations when something happens in the building, there's a closure of spaces, but overall we have an investigation," Holland said. "The investigation takes a lot of time, but we also know that it's time sensitive, so we try to learn as much as possible from as many relevant people about a specific case."

Holland said there were competing interests and priorities at play.

"This is a lot of work. I do have concerns about everyone's safety. I know our staff, everyone's on the front line every single day and exposed. So I understand concerns around the social-emotional benefits of being together. I also fully recognize safety concerns, and I'm reminded of that every day as I'm sorting through all of this," she said.

"There are benefits, of course, to being in fellowship in community with each other but there's also a high risk," the principal told the board. "So part of the challenge I have in moving things forward as well as being attentive and supporting all stakeholder groups is building a sense of responsibility for everyone. And that's challenging, especially at a time when there is heightened fear."

Related:
Lake Forest High School Stays Open Despite Health Department Guidance
Remote Learning Recommended Amid Rising Lake County Coronavirus Rate
LFHS Plans To Return To Classroom In September
Board Rejects Recommendation For Fully Remote Learning

Simeck also said the district has begun testing staff for the coronavirus every month during the school year, upon their initial return to the building and following breaks from being on campus. Students taking part in on-campus instruction have also been tested upon their return. Simeck said administrators have yet to determine what kind of testing might be available next semester, although Abbott Labs rapid portable antigen test, BinaxNOW, is the leading candidate.

This month, District 115 has begun forming a COVID-19 metrics advisory group with third-party experts and representatives of parents, staff, students and administrators. The committee is set to recommend an updated set of measurements to be used to determine shifts between remote, hybrid and fully in-person instruction.

Board member Dr. Tom Nemickas, a surgeon who has worked at several local hospitals during the COVID-19 pandemic, said the district must be able to continue to adapt to new data on a daily basis. He said it was inevitable that the virus would come to the district at some point.

"I just think people need to be thankful that, so far, we've been successful, that we're working hard to follow the guidelines, that we're working very hard to maintain compliance with everybody. But there's far from any guarantees. We've understood that. We've tried to make that clear to everyone," Nemickas said. "And there's far from any guarantees what the rest of this school year and the remaining school year in the spring looks like at this point, and that we're doing our best to try to have data-driven decisions with collaboration with community members, with the government, with the stakeholders."