D218 Goes Remote As South Suburban COVID-19 Cases Spike

PALOS HEIGHTS, IL — CHSD 218 high schools will be going back to full remote learning starting Monday, Nov. 2, for a minimum of two weeks due to a rise in COVID-19 cases. The district was careful to distinguish between the rising cases in the area, not because of an outbreak in Dist. 218.

The district’s high schools, including Richards (Oak Lawn), Shepard (Palos Heights) and Eisenhower (Blue Island) had just returned to blended learning four weeks ago, where some students stay at home certain days and learn online, while others report to the classroom.

Neighboring Oak Lawn Community High School in Dist. 229 is still going ahead with its blended learning plan for all classes this Monday. Freshmen returned to OLCHS last week.

On Oct. 28. Gov. J.B. Pritzker announced that suburban Cook County, Region 10, placing a ban in indoor service at bars and restaurants, and other mitigations. As of Oct. 30, the positivity rate for COVID-19 cases had spiked to 9.6 percent, above Illinois’s 8-percent threshold, which the Illinois Department of Public Health considers an acceptable level.

D218 students are off for election day on Tuesday, when buildings will be used as polling places. Students will attend classes on Zoom four days a week in the district’s Phase 1 learning plan. Wednesdays will be reserved for independent study and for students who may need extra help with a subject. Faculty will be teaching remote classes from their respective buildings.

D218 Supt. Dr. Ty Harting stated in a letter to parents that while some students and staff have contracted COVID, the district’s positively rates are below 2 percent. He also claimed that there has been “little to no transmissions of the virus in our schools.”

“I want to stress that this pivot back to Phase 1 is a byproduct of the rising rates in the area and not because CHSD 218 has had a COVID outbreak,” Harting said. “In fact, both our staff and students are to be commended for following safety protocols in our schools.”

Harting stressed that almost all the reported cases of COVID-19 within the district have occurred outside the school buildings.

“Out of an overabundance of caution we have sent a large number of staff home to quarantine who either had symptoms or were close to someone who tested positive,” he added. “We believe these efforts have made our schools safe environments for learning.”

Despite the disappointing news, Harting stated that district high schools took significant steps forward, and learned what worked and did not work with blended learning in a pandemic.

“Many students have had an opportunity to attend class in their buildings and receive some much-needed in-person instruction and social emotional support from their teachers and other