EAST CHICAGO â The School City of East Chicago will join other Lake County school districts in Gary and Merrillville delaying its anticipated return to in-person learning as the coronavirus pandemic continues. School city Superintendent Dee-Etta Wright recommended Monday night that the district not return to in-person learning until at least mid-February. "I'm recommending that we postpone traditional school until Feb. 16, which is four weeks," Wright said in a Monday school board meeting. "In the first board meeting in February, we will reevaluate the data, again, and we'll make a determination." The school board voted unanimously in support of the superintendent's recommendations, which proved unpopular among staff who attended the Monday night meeting virtually.