New State Guidance Calls for Schools to Re-Open Slowly
An empty auditorium at Rich South High School in south suburban Olympia Fields.
The state has provided new guidance for school re-opening, but it doesn’t yet provide a timeline for when students should be learning in the classroom full time.
In the new document, released this week by the Illinois Department of Health and the Illinois State Board of Education, says students should be in the classroom, but not in normal situations yet.
“In-person instruction is strongly encouraged in Phase 4 and beyond. It is, however, critical to note that this does not signify a return to pre-pandemic operations,” the state guidance states. “Appropriate social distancing, face masks, enhanced sanitation measures, and other mitigations will be necessary to ensure the safety of students, staff, and their families.”
Schools are required to enforce universal masking and encouraged to provide penalties for students and staff who fail to wear a mask.
The plan also calls for continued cleaning of surfaces, including door handles, desks, counters, light switches, and computer keyboards. Schools are also encouraged to increase ventilation in classrooms, even through opening windows.
Though, the state says, cafeterias and meal times present the most significant challenges.
“Cafeterias represent one of the highest-risk settings within the school. Masks are removed and the act of eating and talking, usually with increased projection, can increase transmission risk,” the guidance reads. “Schools must consider the number of students and adults in the cafeteria during each breakfast and lunch period and ensure that all individuals maintain social distancing of at least 6 feet when eating, and 3 to 6 feet and masked during the process of serving food, disposal, and leaving the cafeteria.”
Asked about the new guidance while in Champaign Wednesday, Governor JB Pritzker says he’s going to continue to defer decisions on re-opening schools to local districts.
“What we’ve done is let the school districts themselves look at what they have available in terms of safety within the school buildings so that they can determine how to safely bring more kids back into school,” he said. “We made some adjustments to the guidance that we’ve given to schools to take the guidance from the CDC and make sure that we’re implementing in schools across the state of Illinois.”
The full report can be read here.
