PEORIA, Ill. — For the first time in almost exactly a year, Peoria Public Schools students will be going to school, in person, five days a week.
The District 150 Board of Education voted in a consensus Monday night to make the move with a March 1 start date.
“I think it is a step towards normalization,” said District Three Board Member Dan Walther.
“We’ve got less than 1% [COVID-19] positivity rate within the school district, we’ve got less than 5% positivity rate for the county, we’ve got our testing plans — the peace of mind testing, the rapid testing, the standard testing on a routine basis — we’ve got mitigations for staff and students with Acellus and Edgenuity, we’ve got vaccinations offered to the staff, and we have contact tracing,” said President Doug Shaw.
“So, I support this to provide the richest environment we can provide for the remainder of the school year.”
The school days will not be as full as in normal times, however, but rather 5.5-hour days.
“[With] our buses, we suffered greatly as a result of COVID,” Superintendent Dr. Sharon Desmoulin-Kherat explained.
“We were not able to hire, some individuals retired, some individuals went on unemployment so they were able to get a lot more benefits, and we were not able to train because the DMVs were closed. So, we lost maybe about 26 drivers.
“So, to make a long story short, we’re short on drivers, and we have to figure out a way to still transport the children with the manpower we have, so the 5.5 hours will allow us to do that with the staffing we have.”
Kherat outlined the working version of the plan. She said schools would operate on the “three bell” schedule, with staggered start times of 7:30, 8:30, and 9:30 A.M.
Virtual learning tools would still be available for students unable to return, or who were forced to miss time, because they or family members contracted COVID.
“Schools will continue to honor the unique circumstances that have been worked out with families at each building,” Kherat said.
Kherat said the six-foot distancing policy inside classrooms could be reduced to three or four feet, depending on classroom size and class capacity.
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