Salem Grade School Superintendent Dr. Leslie Foppe told the school board Tuesday night of positive feelings and smiling faces when the face masks were finally able to come off last month.
Foppe noted after a weekend of research the masking requirement came off February 7th after a Sangamon County Circuit Court Judge found Governor Pritzker had overstepped his authority in keeping several COVID-19 mandates in place on the schools. She said the district kept its commitment to the community to lift the mask requirement as soon as they found a safe and legal way to do it.
“It’s just been a very stressful 2 years and it takes a toll on all of us. And to see how alive everyone felt and how the kids were smiling and I can’t explain how it felt. I felt great all week. I thank our teachers, students, parents and admin for enduring this very difficult 2 years.”
Foppe says they will keep one COVID-19 program in place.
“I do want to say that I still will have our nurses to still test kids who have Covid symptoms. Right now we only have 1 positive and that’s the first one since the middle of February, so that’s encouraging.”
Foppe says they will also be working on a plan to deal with any future increases in COVID-19 cases in the district.
The board set eighth grade promotion for Tuesday, May 17th, and the last day of school for May 20th. Foppe warned they have now used all five e-learning days allowed by the state before days have to be made up, but hopes no more have to be taken.
The board also acted on a number of personnel issues. Laura Phillips was hired to teach second grade next school year, Allison Harper third grade, and Rachel Williams fifth grade.
A search is continuing for a kindergarten special education teacher. Part-time custodian Kody Hays was promoted to the full-time evening position.
Letters of intent to retire at the conclusion of the 2025/2026 school year were received from Joni Dorff and Connie Chapman.
