Illinois School To Students: “No Outside Gathering” Over Holidays

"It's been a tough couple of years for students and their parents" is one of the great understatements of our current times.

From having school to having no school, from in-person learning to remote learning then back again, from all day masking to approved-for-kids vaccinations and so much more, school age kids and their parents have had a rough go of it.

And the rough times are not over. Especially here in Illinois.

School Officials In Glenview, Illinois Have Ordered All 8th Graders To "Go Remote" Until January 3rd

The Village of Glenview, just a bit northwest of Evanston, is home to the 840 students at Springman Middle School. Last week, on December 7th, school administrators there announced a "Move To Adaptive Pause."

What that means is students have been told to "go remote" until after the 3rd of January. Not all students, though. Just the 8th graders. Administrators say that an outbreak among 8th graders has prompted the move.

However, there's another part of the message to parents that has some of them very upset.

The School District Is Being Accused Of Overreach Because Of This Requirement

According to a piece at WirePoints.org, not only are the 8th graders at Springman Middle School supposed to go remote until after January 3rd, they're supposed to stay home. Period.

WirePoints:

But there’s another part of the protocol that equally outrages many parents. From the district’s letter to eighth-grade parents:

Students should not attend activities beginning this afternoon [Dec. 8] or otherwise gather outside of the home; these gatherings could lead to additional spread, which could impact our ability to return to an in-person environment on January 3.

District admins are effectively forbidding any interactions between students not just during the period of remote learning, but into the winter break. The last day of school is December 17, but administrators want all Springman eighth graders in their homes through December 21.

As you might imagine, some parents are pretty ticked off by the school's stance. Several parents were quoted in the WirePoints piece, but one comment by an annoyed mom got my attention. "I have a hard time imagining these same school board members not going on vacation or gathering.”