1 • Thursday, Nov. 26, 2020 - The Elmhurst Independent
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VOL. 18 • NO. 49
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THURSDAY, NOV. 26, 2020
COVID discussions dominate School Board’s virtual meeting Some special needs students to move back to district buildings
By Chris Fox FOR THE ELMHURST INDEPENDENT
The Elmhurst Community Unit School District 205 Board held a regular meeting on Tuesday, Nov. 17. All seven board members joined members of the district administration to participate in the virtual meeting, which took place remotely. Board president Kara Caforio stated that current health concerns made it neither practical nor prudent to hold an in-person meeting. The board recognized the district’s six winners of the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) 2020 Those Who Excel Awards. The District 205 winners this year include community volunteer Kristi Amendola (Award of Excellence), Bryan Middle School educational assistant Susan Mooshool (Award of Excellence), Hawthorne/Jackson Elementary School kindergarten teacher Abby Udel-
hofen (Award of Excellence), The District 205 Technology Department (Award of Merit), Sandburg Middle School teacher Susan Stephenson (Award of Merit) and Jackson Elementary School principal Christine Trendel (Award of Merit). The board also noted it was presenting its Shining Star Award to Lincoln Elementary School second-grade teacher Katie McDonough. Board member Courtenae Trautmann read nearly 30 comments submitted from members of the public for the board meeting’s public-participation segment. Some of the comments commended the district for recently moving from a hybrid model of instruction to fully remote learning. Other comments stated that remote learning was not effective for their children, and that the district’s schools should open for in-person instruction.
Governor extends mitigation measures District 205 Superintendent David Moyer noted that Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker had just announced that the entire state would be placed into Tier 3 COVID-19 mitigations as of Friday, Nov. 20. Moyer added that the IHSA had placed a pause on all winter sports until at least early January. Moyer said there has been a pronounced spike in COVID-19 cases in the area since Oct. 1. He said that half of the 124 positive student and staff cases in the district this year
have come in the previous month. Those 62 positive COVID-19 cases in the past month included 38 cases in students and 24 in staff members. Moyer said that the DuPage County Health Department gives the district some flexibility for including more localized metrics of COVID-19 positivity. If the district included those local metrics along with statistics from all of DuPage County, it could allow for an earlier return to some in-person instruction. The district transitioned from a hybrid model of instruction to fully remote
instruction as of Oct. 21.
Staffing remains an issue Moyer also referred to the extreme challenges the district faced in terms of its staffing during the current pandemic. He said the district has more than 700 certified staff members. Board member Christopher Kocinski stated that the district has hundreds of thousands of square feet of space, and he said he hoped the district could find a way to at least
See COVID, Page 4
School Board president’s speech in full that this worldwide pandemic has delivered. And we share the health concerns and challenges our current reality has created. “As a community, no matter what we have personally lost, we have collectively lost many of the longheld traditions, normalcy, camaraderie and experiences that our public schools have been providing for decades. It is a loss we all share deeply, and it is a loss worthy of grieving. These past eight months have challenged us as a community, and
See SPEECH, Page 4
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Following is the full text of the speech delivered by Board president Kara Caforio: “It is November—eight months since the shutdown, and while each of us has had our unique experiences during this time, there is one commonality. We have all lost something or someone. We, as fellow community members and parents, understand the demands of working, parenting and trying to support the education of our children during this pandemic. Just like you, we too, are holding our children when they cry from the disappointments and frustrations
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