Community High School District 117 Superintendent Jim McKay announced on October 20 that schools within the district will transition back to full remote learning, starting October 26. This comes after Lake County public health records showed cases for COVID-19 exceeded 14 cases per 100,000 residents for seven consecutive days.
All District 117 schools will start full remote learning on October 26 and will last for at least two weeks. Students will still have Election Day off from school. Senior Jack Morgret believes the switch will have little to no effect on student learning.
“Other students who enjoyed going to school may be bummed out, but ultimately this right now doesn’t have much of an impact due to students going in for two days every three weeks, as it is currently planned out,” Morgret said. “Removing those two days doesn’t change the fact that the majority of the time students, who are not always remote, will still be at home.”
According to D117, the projected return date for blended learning is November 9. This date may change depending on how long it takes for Lake County to go seven consecutive days with less than 14 cases per 100,000 residents. Senior Nicholas Summerfelt believes that the switch back to remote learning is not drastic, given how the school year started off fully remote.
“I personally think it is the right thing to do,” Summerfelt said. “If we are to truly overcome this pandemic, we need a full response on everyone’s part.”
This shift to remote learning has impacted the rest of Lake County, as the Chicago Tribune reported other districts in Lake County, such as North Shore School District 112, will also go to full remote learning. Antioch Community Consolidated School District 34 also announced late on October 20 that they would also be switching to full remote on October 26.
