District 225 to begin chats with parent focus groups on return to school

As the Glenbrook District 225 school board reviewed reopening options for its two schools at a meeting earlier this week, there was one clear goal: Safety for students, teachers and staff members.

"We're a district of well-meaning, caring people," Board President Bruce Doughty said. "We all want what's best."

And what a return to school could look like is evolving, Glenbrook North's new principal Jason Markey said, and the district is carefully evaluating what it will do in a year that the Illinois State Board of Education has already said "Will not be business as usual."

That includes surveying parents and students and seeking guidance from the ISBE and Illinois Department of Public Health. This week, the district also started holding parent focus groups as well.

Back in early June, the school board had initially proposed starting the school year with e-learning structured like a regular school day, and gradually moving toward a return to in-person classes. It's still among the possibilities. And in that option, small groups of students would still receive in-person services based on need.

The other options administrators outlined include a full return to in-person classes at Glenbrook North and South, as well as two hybrid models that divides students into two groups: One would have half the students attend classes for two full days in a row while the other half attends through Zoom. The other would have half the students at school in the morning and half in the afternoon; while not at school, students would have Zoom classes. There would be a lunch break between the two sessions.

Attendance options were only part of the planning, though. Administrators also thoroughly outlined other concerns, including the monumental effort of serving lunch to roughly 5,000 students between the two buildings, plus contact tracing, face coverings, social distancing, gauging student health status, cleaning, transportation, student and employee wellness efforts, how to best help special-needs students when social distancing isn't possible, and more.

The board plans to vote on the matter when it meets Monday, July 27. But until then, the only thing that is certain is that nothing is really certain.

"School will look very different than it did before," Superintendent Charles Johns said. "We have a great deal of work on the horizon."