September 2, 2020
Subject: Updated 2020-2021 Learning Plan, Version 4.902
Good afternoon HBR Parents and Students,
The fourth version of our 2020-2021 Learning Plan is being released after receiving additional guidance from the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) and experiencing our schedule for a full 10 days of school.
As we did with previous version releases, we are providing the highlights of the changes in our document:
- After living our schedule for 10 school days and looking at all of the logistical operations that must occur for our schedule to work, we have uncovered a need to move back our second session schedule by 10 minutes. Second session will run from 12:40 - 3:10 starting on Tuesday, 9.8.2020. This change is necessitated by a tight turnaround schedule for our buses when you factor in taking the AM session students home, disinfecting the buses, and then transporting the PM session students to school. We also had some additional bus riders added to our routes in the past couple of days. This additional 10 minutes will allow our drivers to not feel hurried and rushed every day and will help our students to start their learning on the right foot as they walk into the buildings in a non-rushed state. While it still may be tight when the road conditions are not ideal in the winter, we think this will be a one-time change while we utilize the AM/PM session schedule.
- On August 18th, the day we released version 3.818 of our 2020-2021 Learning Plan, we received a decision tree from IDPH titled COVID-19 Exclusion Guidance. We then received an updated version of the decision tree on August 19th followed by another updated version on August 20th. We reviewed the decision tree with the DeKalb County Health Department to ensure that we were reading and following the information correctly. After participating in a meeting with the DeKalb County school district superintendents and the DeKalb County Health Department, it was decided that we would modify the exclusion guidance as noted in the modified COVID-19 Exclusion Guidance. Following the DeKalb County Health Department’s recommendation, we will adhere to a 14 day exclusion period for all scenarios in the decision tree as noted in the modified COVID-19 Exclusion Guidance.
- The final alterations to our 2020-2021 Learning Plan include updating the “Creation of and updating of document” section (pp. 25-26) and the “Resources” section (p. 28).
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 any of the previous versions, we ask that you read and review the updated sections as noted earlier. 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
It is hard to believe that we have been in session for a full 10 days. We continue to adjust, on a daily basis for some things, and improve in many facets as we strive to thrive. If you missed last week’s Every Royal’s Voice blog, I’d encourage you to take a look to read about some additional updates and communication opportunities. Thanks for taking the time to read this information.
#TogetherWeGotThis
Sincerely,
Travis L. McGuire Superintendent