CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- Pre-kindergarten through 6th graders at the second largest school district in Illinois return to in-person learning Tuesday.
Elgin District 46’s plan is to have younger students start back in-person Tuesday, with middle and high schoolers returning next week.
The students will be apart of a hybrid learning plan: part in-person, part remote learning. Other students and their parents have opted to continue remote learning-only.
But teachers in Elgin’s District U-46 don’t feel safe going back to school amid the COVID-19 pandemic, and they took to the streets Monday night to voice their concerns.
“We won’t stop until we have safe schools for everyone,” Barbara Bettis, president of Elgin Teachers Association, told CBS 2.
“We are not against in-person learning, but we are strongly against unsafe learning."
In a virtual meeting Monday night, the school board laid out its Return to Learn plan – a comprehensive presentation of what in-person learning with coronavirus mitigations will look like as students return to the classroom.
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The plan includes rapid tests for students and faculty if they show symptoms or have been exposed to the virus; and a mask mandate.
“To be back in school, all guardians should know that we have to wear masks, we want your children to maintain six feet at all times, and be ready to wash your hands often – those are the expectations to return to school,” District U-46 Board of Education Vice President John Devereux said at the virtual meeting.
But Bettis said the board’s safety plan doesn’t cut it.
“Our teachers are starting to go back into the buildings and they’re very anxious,” Bettis said, “because our safety plan isn’t strong enough, and it hasn’t been communicated, and all pieces are not in place.”
The U-46 Return to Learn plan also includes requiring students to fill out a form every day certifying they are not sick.