July 31, 2020
Subject: Updated 2020-2021 Learning Plan
Good morning HBR Parents and Students,
As is stated in our 2020-2021 Learning Plan, this document is viewed as a living and breathing document. It will be updated based on new guidance, mandates, and lessons learned after implementing the protocols included in this document. Whenever this document is updated, communication about the new version will be released to all stakeholders.
After the initial release of our plan two weeks ago, we have received updated guidance from the Illinois Department of Public Health and recommendations from the Illinois State Board of Education. As a result of these two communications, we have updated our 2020-2021 Learning Plan and are sharing that information with you.
There are three changes in our updated plan that we would like to highlight:
- After over 2 months of seeking guidance on how the regions in the Restore Illinois Plan affect our school district since we are in three different regions, we finally received an answer. The buildings in our district are in two different regions (North and West Suburban) and building location dictates what phase that building is in. In short, there may be a situation in which our schools are placed into different phases of our learning plan. This information is updated in the “Summary” section of our 2020-2021 Learning Plan.
- Full-time Royal Remote Learning is now being offered by caregiver request. Yesterday, 7.30.2020, we distributed a new survey. If you are requesting for your student(s) to be engaged in full time remote learning, please respond to the survey no later than Sunday, 8.2.2020, by visiting https://forms.gle/FEcfkGgR8A6sij346. Please note that you are committing to full-time remote learning for at least the first quarter of the 2020-2021 school year. If you would like more information about our updated Royal Remote Learning Plan, you can visit https://5il.co/ivfr. Information is updated throughout the 2020-2021 Learning Plan pertaining to this option with the bulk of the information in the “Royal Remote Learning” section.
- The Illinois Department of Public Health released new COVID-19 exclusion criteria. Included in that update is a change from 72 hours with no fever (without taking fever-reducing medications) to 24 hours. That new information has been updated in our 2020-2021 Learning Plan in the “Health Screenings” section of the document.
The updated 2020-2021 Learning Plan can be found by visiting https://5il.co/idyq while a condensed version containing major overarching information can be found by visiting https://5il.co/idyr. If you have already read the version released on July 17th, we ask that you read and review the updated sections as noted earlier in this email. If you have not read our plan yet, we encourage you to do so. We also ask that you read and review the Illinois State Board of Education’s Starting the 2020-21 School Year: Part 3 - Transition Joint Guidance as our 2020-2021 Learning Plan adheres to ISBE’s joint guidance with the Illinois Department of Public Health contained in that document.
After reading and reviewing our updated plan, if you have any questions about our plan, you are encouraged to start by contacting the appropriate personnel as described below:
Questions related to schools
Hinckley-Big Rock Elementary School - Julie Melnyk - jmelnyk@hbr429.org or (815) 286-3400
Hinckley-Big Rock Middle School - Jeff Strouss - jstrouss@hbr429.org or (630) 556-4190
Hinckley-Big Rock High School - Jay Brickman - jbrickman@hbr429.org or (815) 286-7501
Questions related to student services district-wide
Student Services Department - Jessica Sonntag - jsonntag@hbr429.org or (815) 286-7578
Questions related to our overall plan and requirements as set forth by the Illinois State Board of Education and the Illinois Department of Public Health
Superintendent - Travis McGuire - tmcguire@hbr429.org or (815) 286-7578
We are all busy in preparation for our first day of school with our students on August 19th and can’t wait to get the 2020-2021 school year underway!
#TogetherWeGotThis
Sincerely,
Travis L. McGuire
Superintendent