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The Illinois State Board of Education will require all public schools throughout the state to resume full in-person learning for all student attendance days this fall, with some exceptions for remote learning, the board unanimously decided Wednesday.
Remote instruction will be made available for students not eligible for a COVID-19 vaccine and are under a quarantine order by a local public health department or the Illinois Department of Public Health. A formal declaration of full in-person fall learning will come from the state superintendent.
Illinois schools are receiving over $7 billion in federal funding to support students as they return to in-person learning. Evanston/Skokie School District 65 and Evanston Township High School/School District 202 are expected to receive nearly $10.6 million and $3.7 million in funding, respectively. The money comes through the American Rescue Plan and will be disbursed over the next three years.
Community leaders discussed the movement to open a community school in Evanston’s 5th Ward during a virtual panel hosted by Evanston Public Library Thursday.
The ward has gone without a neighborhood school since the Foster School officially closed in 1979 when Evanston/Skokie School District 65 sold the building due to its desegregation plan. Currently, the ward’s nearly 700 students are assigned to five District 65 schools.
Six Evanston Township High School students from Emerge, a leadership and community development program, moderated the event the second in a two part series about the legacy of school segregation in Evanston.
Henry Wilkins started STEM School Evanston, a group advocating for the construction of a public school in the 5th Ward where children excel in STEM principles and work with the community. He said he hopes to see high family involvement with the school.
Evanston will no longer require fully vaccinated individuals to wear face coverings or practice social distancing in most indoor and outdoor settings, following guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Illinois Department of Public Health, according to a Wednesday news release.
“Vaccines have been proven to be safe and highly effective at preventing severe illness and complications from COVID-19,” Ike Ogbo, director of health and human services, said in the release. “Relaxing face covering requirements for fully vaccinated individuals brings us one step closer to normal, but it’s important to remember that we are still in a pandemic.”
The Special Education Parent Advisory Council, a new group that will collaborate with Evanston/Skokie School District 65 to advocate for disabled students, elected its first officers last week. Marquise Weatherspoon and Kelly Baldrate are the group’s co-chairs, Cara Hunwick is secretary, Silvia Rodriguez is membership chair and Jacquelyn Lowe is a member at large. These.