ST. ANNE – “It is becoming increasingly more difficult to fully staff our buildings due to quarantines and some positive cases,” Superintendent Charles Stegall told parents and guardians in a letter Wednesday.
As a result, the Grade School and High School in St. Anne will move to remote learning beginning tomorrow through the Thanksgiving holiday.
“Please know, this was an extremely difficult decision,” Stegall said. “We understand that many members of our community will be disappointed. However, the health and safety of our students and staff is our number one priority.”
The St. Anne schools join an increasingly long list of Region 7 schools making the migration to remote learning. The list now includes Kankakee District 111, Bradley District 61, New Lenox District 122, Bradley-Bourbonnais Community High School, Lincoln-Way D210, and two of six schools inside of BESD53, among others.
In Herscher, Superintendent Richard Decman announced Thursday 70% of students participated in daily in-person learning this week, with 20% of students isolated per IDPH guidelines. Only 10% of students in the district have chosen to learn remotely in Herscher Schools.
Over 1,160 students are learning in person this week in grades Pre-K to 12 with 2% of all students learning remote due to a lack of faculty in Herscher schools.
Decman noted at least 15 faculty members had tested positive for COVID-19 in the district since the beginning of the year, including 44 students. No number was associated with students currently in quarantine or isolation within the district.
The District added the Kankakee County Health Department is no longer accepting information from districts and are now requiring the districts themselves to participate in their contact tracing measures.
It was the same Health Department that notified Herscher High School of an outbreak just two weeks ago after the District sent out multiple letters to parents reporting multiple cases with ‘no connection’ according to their accounts.
As a result, Herscher students had to learn remote up until this past Tuesday, November 10th.
“The school district can only do so much and has no control over what happens once our students walk out the doors each day,” Decman said Thursday, urging parents to abide by IDPH guidelines and participate in only essential activities so schools can remain open.
