One woman was nearly in tears last week as she asked the Board of Education to allow in-school instruction this fall in Woodstock School District 200.

For her, eLearning from home won’t work with a senior in high school and a special needs child.

“I’ll have to quit my job,” she said. “I can’t afford day care for two children full time.”

Another woman said she didn’t want her son to fall behind in his dual language classes, which she didn’t feel qualified to help him with.

“In-person [instruction] is so important for him,” she said. “Remote learning … just doesn’t work.”

But theirs was the minority opinion heard in a one hour, 45-minute in-person special meeting of the school board when four citizens spoke and the emails of about 18 others, who chose not to attend, were read aloud by administrators.

In a 5-2 vote, the Board of Education decided Aug. 4 that students in District 200 would start the 2020-21 school year from home when classes resume Aug. 17.

“There’s no right answer,” board President Carl Gilmore said during discussion before the vote. “Nobody’s right, and nobody’s wrong.”

Three days later, during their second special session of the week, board members voted 7-0 to have a fall sports season under coronavirus-inspired guidelines of the Illinois High School Association.

About 20 people showed up for that in-person meeting Friday which the board called on Wednesday to deal with fall sports.

Six people spoke at the board’s second special meeting, and Superintendent Mike Moan read emails from 27 others. All urged the board to allow the no-contact, low-risk sports permitted by the IHSA – golf and cross-country and girls tennis and swimming.

Reversal of course

Two weeks earlier, Moan and his administrative team had presented the board with a hybrid plan that gave parents the option of sending their children back into schools for the first time since March or keeping them home with eLearning, which was how all students finished the past academic year after the coronavirus pandemic led the state to close schools.

Many of the comments the board received about resuming classes came from teachers, all of whom opposed returning to schools to start the year. But board member Jerry Miceli noted 70 percent of parents had indicated in a survey they would send their children to schools for in-person instruction.

“It seems like it’s parents versus the teacher,” said Miceli, himself a teacher. “It’s a double-edged sword.”

Miceli and Homuth voted against the remote learning start to the school year.

“I think it’s safe,” Miceli said of the administrative plan to open schools. “Maybe I’m crazy.”

One parent, who said eLearning would cause students to “fall behind,” minimized the exposure of the coronavirus to young children. “I don’t see the risks,” she said.

Another suggested the risk of exposure in schools was “no more than in retail [stores].”

‘Matter of when, not if’

But several D-200 teachers who submitted emails to be read were not so confident that it was safe to return to the classroom.

“I’m scared,” one woman wrote. “I’m not convinced we can keep the virus from spreading in schools.”

The administrative plan would have opened schools under safety precautions required by the state, which includes face masks, social distancing, and a daily temperature check for students and staff.

Although many of the teachers said they would miss the interaction with students, the classroom wouldn’t be the same without the occasional reassuring hug for students or the smile hidden by a mask.

Some teachers said even if the academic year started with in-school instruction, student or staff exposure to COVID-19 during the pandemic would lead to quarantines and the eventual return to remote learning.

“One way or another, we will be back to it,” one teacher wrote.

Another email said, “It’s not a matter of if; it’s a matter of when.”

Wrote another, “I don’t want myself or my students to be part of an experiment.”

The teachers acknowledged remote learning was not ideal, but they saw it as necessary in the present environment.

“Is it difficult and messy? Absolutely,” a teacher told the board. “Will it save lives? Absolutely.” 

‘Choice to participate’

Thirty-three people offered comments in person or via email at the Friday meeting on sports.

“It’s not a sports versus non-sports narrative” said Jeff Schroeder, dean and football coach at Woodstock North High School. “I believe it should be a structure versus non-structure narrative.

“… I think it’s paramount that we at least try,” he added. “to give the kids some sense of normalcy.”

Spring sports were abruptly ended in March when in-school instruction was banned by the state as COVID-19 spread throughout the state and nation

Among students who commented, Evan Neuhart of Woodstock High School told the board that athletics is a “great character builder that translates to academics.”

Although some board members had said in Tuesday’s meeting that it didn’t make sense to have sports when it wasn’t deemed safe to have in-school classes, no such argument was heard on Friday night.

Board President Carl Gilmore said that while that seeming contradiction was “unequal, it’s not inequitable.”

“With athletics, it’s a choice to participate or not participate,” Gilmore said. “That’s [a decision] best left to the athletes and their family.”

IHSA moved some traditional fall sports – football, boys soccer, and volleyball – to spring competition because of the contact involved among players.

The non-contact sports allowed will, to the extent possible, follow restrictions on social distancing during practice and meets, which are limited to conference schools only.

Superintendent Moan acknowledged the sports protocols recommended by the administration “can’t eliminate all concerns … but you can mitigate it as much as possible.”

Whether fall sports will have fewer athletes than normal (because of COVID-19 concerns) or more (because fewer sports are offered) remains to be seen, Moan said.