Cary School District 26 considers return to hybrid learning Jan. 25

With no spike in COVID-19 cases over the holidays, Cary School District 26 plans on returning to hybrid learning Jan. 25, its superintendent said Friday in a letter to district families.

The recommendation by district administration will be considered by the school board at a virtual meeting called specifically for the matter, according to the agenda and the letter.

The board meeting will take place at 7 p.m. Monday via Zoom. The link for the meeting is https://cary26-org.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_AKQDhoGLQ02biAtwhcWJdQ.

The 2,500-student district began the school year remotely before switching in mid-October to a hybrid model in which students spend part of their time learning in person and part remote. The switch did not last long – not even two weeks – before rising COVID-19 cases in McHenry County led most school districts to either return to remote learning or delay their own planned moves to hybrid learning.

Superintendent Brian Coleman noted in his letter Friday that “most, if not all, districts in the county” will be making the switch to hybrid learning models over the next few weeks.

Several districts – as well as many private schools – announced Jan. 19 as the return date because it falls two weeks after many schools’ winter breaks ended.

Coleman said the recommendation to return to hybrid learning comes after “careful consideration and discussion” this week with the district’s administrative team, the task force set up to address school reopening plans and the McHenry County Department of Health.

He pointed to dropping COVID-19 metrics, which he said have been on a downward trend since the peak in November; the lack of a spike in COVID-19 cases that had been expected after the holidays; and the success of health and safety protocols followed by schools in limiting the transmission of the virus at school.

“Although there has yet to be an indication of a surge from winter break, we will continue to closely monitor the case counts between now and the 25th,” Coleman said in the letter. “Should a surge occur within this time frame, a decision may need to be made to remain in full remote until it subsides.”

The McHenry County health department also supports a return to hybrid model as long as cases continue to drop and districts implement the five strategies recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to limit the spread of the virus, Coleman said.

The local health department provided metrics to guide school districts in making decisions about whether to switch to a hybrid or fully in-person model in September.

The department advised that metrics should “neither be used in isolation nor should they be viewed as hard cut-offs” but instead are designed to be another piece of information school districts can use in their decision-making process.

Under those metrics, McHenry County does not meet the criteria for a return to hybrid learning, as the county’s positivity rate and its incidence rate remain above the recommended threshold. Hospital admissions tied to COVID-19 and the weekly count of new cases, however, both are categorized as stable or decreasing.

Coleman said in an email to the Northwest Herald on Friday that the district continues to evaluate and use these metrics in its decision-making process, but between the downward trend in cases and the new safety protocols, district officials think schools “can safely return students to the classroom in a hybrid model.”

“The health and safety protocols schools must follow have shown to greatly limit the transmission of the virus at school,” he said in the email, noting that families also can choose to remain fully remote.

The strategies recommended by the CDC include the consistent and correct use of masks, social distancing to the largest extent possible, hand hygiene and respiratory etiquette, cleaning and disinfection, and contact tracing in collaboration with the local health department, all of which have been implemented at District 26 schools.

District 26 administration also is considering a “slight adjustment” in the hybrid model for first through eighth graders, Coleman said in the letter. Under the revised model, all students would be remote on Wednesdays, guaranteeing three full days of direct teacher instruction for each group and aligning the district’s model with the schedule adopted at Cary-Grove High School.

Kindergartners at Oak Knoll Early Childhood Center will keep the hybrid model it followed in October, Coleman said in the letter. Other specialized programs also will return to following their previous hybrid model schedules.

The district will provide families an opportunity to submit a request to change learning models, Coleman said. Information about that process will be sent after Monday’s board meeting.