The South Central School Board joined the administration in praising the extra effort that is taking place to keep the schools open during the current pandemic.
The district has been particularly hard hit this month by support staff being absent resulting in principals climbing on roofs to correct heating system problems to working in the cafeterias and administrators and teachers cleaning. The board was told teachers are also stepping up to teach classes in their planning period to keep the schools open since substitute teachers are not readily available.
Superintendent Kerry Herdes updated the board that court hearings are underway in a lawsuit brought by parents in more than 140 districts in the state wanting to stop the Illinois Board of Education from mandating the wearing of masks. He feels a decision could come soon that could result in a temporary restraining order against the state which could then immediately be appealed to a higher court.
Herdes says with the current high number of cases he doesn't feel this would be the best time to lift the masking requirement. He is happy to see the quarantine period for positive cases being reduced from ten to five days.
“Our job is to keep kids in school period. That five days coming back wearing a mask the next five days, helps our kids being in-person learning. E-learning is the 2nd best thing we have but we didn’t do really well with it. We lost a lot of kids and we are trying to get them back. So the five days has helped us, families and kids not being gone so long.”
Herdes says he will stand with the teachers in another court fight to stop mandated vaccination for those in education. He feels the staff should have the right to choose and fears enforcement of the mandate could result in some leaving the profession leading to even more staff shortages.
Middle School Principal Greg Grinestaff feels the work done by the staff to constantly clean desks every time students change classrooms and constantly
washing down doorknobs and other items used by multiple students is helping to keep COVID and flu cases down. He thinks the practice will stay in place anytime there is an uptick in illness.
There are currently five positive cases and 15 close contacts at South Central Elementary. There are currently three positives and three in quarantine at South Central Middle School. At South Central, there are three positive cases and nine on quarantine.
