March 29, 2024
Local News | The Times


Local News

L-P approves back-to-school plan with mix of remote, in-person learning

At least 77 families intend to start the year with remote learning

La Salle-Peru Township High School is going forward with its plan for a mixture of remote and in-person learning, with some families choosing to start completely remote.

The board of education held a special board meeting on Tuesday night to approve the “reopening plan” for the fall semester.

The board discussed the draft of the reopening plan during the last full board meeting on July 15.

Superintendent Steve Wrobleski said the one thing that changed since the July 15 meeting was under the "schedule and curriculum" section (in the small print) the district had listed three of their self-contained special needs programs that will be meeting Monday-Thursday, but that prior sheet had left off the OASIS and Transitions programs.

Registration has begun.

As of Monday, 42% of families have registered. Of that number, 77 families have indicated they intend to start the year remotely.

Those 77 families are about 13% of the sample who has registered, which is very consistent with the survey L-P sent out to its families.

The district’s work over the past week and a half has been centered on digging into Illinois State Board of Education’s fall planning document that was released July 23.

The district’s plan does not contradict any recommendations that ISBE put forth at this point, Wrobleski said.

“They are still strongly encouraging as much as you can in-person learning but understanding that you have to meet all the specific safety protocols,” he said.

He said the district has everything worked out with the L-P feeder elementary schools when it comes to bus transportation — “We will still be able to maintain our shared routes.”

All the elementary schools and L-P made sure the end times allowed that to happen.

L-P will be released before the elementary schools, so the high school kids can be home before elementary kids get released — “We hope that will offer a benefit to the families,” he said.

“We know that La Salle County has become one of the hot spots in the state,” for COVID-19 cases, Wrobleski said.

The district has been in contact with the La Salle County Health Department and the Regional Office of Education for La Salle, Marshall and Putnam counties.

The ROE told L-P’s district the local health department will receive guidance from the Illinois Department of Public Health.

The district will also be following guidance from the Illinois State Board of Education.

Board President Tony Sparks asked if there are schools regionally who have decided to start just with remote learning instead of in-person learning.

Wrobleski said he’s not aware of any local school systems that have decided to start with only remote learning. But he is aware of schools within the suburbs that will start with just remote learning — Adlai E. Stevenson High School in Lincolnshire, Plainfield Community Consolidated School District in Plainfield, as well as two other districts.

Wrobleski said those schools are “larger school systems.”