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The Daily Northwestern Thursday, March 4, 2021
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Sargent, Elder faced modified quarantine Two residential halls undergo indorm quarantine By ANUSHUYA THAPA
daily senior staffer @anushyathapa
As District 65 rolls out hybrid learning, community members remain conflicted about implications of a return to in-person instruction By JACOB FULTON
daily senior staffer @jacobnfulton
Tracy Fulce-Gentle had a decision to make. The 2nd Ward resident faced the same choice as thousands of families across Evanston/Skokie School District 65: Would she send her children back to school when the district resumed inperson learning? On Feb. 18, nearly half the students attending
schools across the district, which serves students in pre-K through eighth grade, returned to partial face-to-face instruction after months of uncertainty throughout the community as officials attempted to devise a safe plan to reopen schools. District 65 initially aimed to return to some in-person instruction on Sept. 29, a month after the school year began. But shifting COVID-19 case numbers in the region repeatedly postponed the launch of the district’s hybrid learning program until the reopening a few weeks ago.
Community tensions grew as the district pushed back the return. Some parents’ calls for in-person instruction became more urgent, and others’ requests to keep children home for safety remained consistent. Meanwhile, district officials struggled to find a path forward as they looked to satisfy the needs of as many residents as possible. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, while many cases of COVID-19
» See IN FOCUS, page 6
Residents of two residential halls have undergone an indorm quarantine period following local outbreaks in each building. Communication freshman Amy Reyes-Gomez said she received an email from residential services declaring a five-day quarantine effective immediately for the entire second floor of Sargent Residential Hall. First floor residents of Elder Hall were sent a similar email. The emails said no student should leave their room outside of essential activities such as using the restroom, picking up dining hall meals, and getting tested for COVID-19. It also instructed students to get rapid antigen tests three-to-four times over the course of the modified quarantine period. “It definitely wasn’t surprising to me,” Reyes-Gomez said. “There’s definitely a large group of people on the floor that were being irresponsible.” Reyes-Gomez said around ten students from her floor out of a total of 30-40 went into quarantine housing as part of University contact tracing procedures. To her, this number “made sense” given the close proximity the students shared with others living on their floor. The restrictions for Sargent were lifted Saturday while the restrictions for Elder were lifted on Wednesday. The University’s Chief Risk and Compliance Officer Luke Figora told the Daily that modified in-dorm quarantines were not a result of community transmission, but rather because of
» See QUARANTINE, page 10
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