WASHINGTON, Ill. — According to a letter sent out to families on Tuesday, Washington Grade School students will start the school year learning from home, like many students in the Peoria area.
Washington’s Board of Education said it didn’t want to stall the learning process for students with mandated quarantines for students and staff that test positive for COVID-19.
Current plans are for Washington Grade School students to have remote learning through the first five weeks of the school year.
Dist. 52’s first full day of remote learning is set for Wednesday, Aug. 26. Students are expected to return to in-person instruction on Oct. 1.
The full letter from Dist. 52 Superintendent Pat Minasian is attached below:
Dear 52 Families,
As we continued to finalize our plans of holding in-person instruction, we were faced with challenges and obstacles created by new IDPH (Illinois Department of Public Health) guidelines.
With the release of the most recent FAQ document from IDPH , it was made clear to us that the strict and restrictive rules in place would create continuous interruptions within the educational process.
Following the guidelines would inevitably cause numerous pauses to the learning process with mandated quarantine periods for staff and students. These periods would cause us to go back and forth from in-person to remote on a regular basis.
In the interest of providing the most stable and consistent educational environment possible in the current climate, the WGSD 52 Board of Education took action last night to start the 20-21 school year in all remote learning for approximately five weeks with a targeted return date of October 1st.
This was an extremely difficult decision and we realize it will impact our families. We are taking steps to help in any way we can to make it a better transition. Here are some highlights to keep in mind and also some changes to the calendar for the beginning of the year.
There will be continued information in the coming days to share more details regarding our “All Remote” plan. We are excited to meet all of you during Meet the Teacher. We hope to see all of our students back in our buildings by October 1. Thank you!
Sincerely,
PAT MINASIAN, SUPERINTENDENT
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