At the Board meeting on August 17, 2020, the Board approved a change to the elementary alternating schedule for the 2020-2021 school year. Instead of attending school in person two full days a week with the other three days remote, students will instead attend school for half days five days each week. Students with last names beginning with A-K will attend school from 9:00 to 11:30 a.m. and students with last names beginning with L-Z will attend school from 1:00 – 3:30 p.m. When not participating in face-to-face instruction, students will participate in remote learning at home. With this change, lunches will not be served. All specials (art, physical education, music, health) will be completed during remote learning, in addition to students working on homework to reinforce skills taught during the day, activities to reinforce their learning or projects to show mastery of understanding.

The District is moving forward with the hybrid plan for middle school and high school schedules. Students with last names beginning with A-K will attend school full day on Mondays and Thursdays, and will be remote learning on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Students with last names beginning with L-Z will attend school full day on Tuesdays and Fridays, and will be remote learning on Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays.

More detailed descriptions by grade band can be found below.

The health and safety of our students and staff is paramount. Central 301 has worked diligently to prepare our schools for a safe return this fall.

● Every staff member and student will be required daily, before entering a bus or a school building, to pre-certify that they are fever and symptom free – parents will soon be receiving pre-certification materials in the mail.

● Masks will be required for students and staff.

• Additional descriptions and explanations regarding face coverings can be found in the Reopen School Plan update from August 11, 2020.

● Signage addressing social distancing, hand-washing, symptoms and traffic flow are being placed in each building, classroom and hallway.

● Students and staff will be directed to use hand sanitizer or to wash their hands (in classrooms with sinks) when entering and exiting the classroom.

Additional Staff and Equipment

● We will be adding seven additional custodial staff members to assist with additional cleaning and sanitizing. All our custodial staff have been (or, in the case of the new custodians, will be) trained in proper sanitation and disinfection.

● We have purchased the appropriate personal protective equipment for staff, as well as 34 electrostatic disinfectant sprayers for use throughout our buildings and on school buses.

● A full-time nurse will be available in every building, every day and we will contract with a private agency to provide substitute nurses, if needed.

Although we believe it is important to offer in-person instruction to our students, new guidance issued by IDPH on the evening of August 13 addressing when and to what extent mandatory quarantines must occur in school buildings could make sustained in-person instruction very difficult should Central 301 experience an outbreak of COVID-19. We will continue to adhere to the IDPH guidelines and work closely with our local health agencies to adjust our plans as needed to maintain the safety of students and staff, including taking steps to ensure a smooth transition from in-person to fully remote-only instruction, if needed or required.

Please note that Central 301 is included in Region 8, which includes both Kane and DuPage County. On Friday, August 14, IDPH added Kane County to its “watch list” due to rising numbers of new cases of and deaths due to COVID-19. However, at this time, the KCHD is not recommending the closure of Kane County schools.