Sent to all D99 Staff, Students and Families on July 20, 2020 at 3:15 p.m.
Dear District 99 Community,
Tonight we will present our proposed 2020-21 plan to the District 99 Board of Education. To support teacher and student interaction, at this time during Phase 4 we are proposing that we follow a Hybrid Schedule (a combination of In-Person Learning and Remote Learning) to open the 2020-21 school year. Please see www.csd99.org/2020-21 for information about the plan, as well as to read frequently asked questions.
As I previously shared, the meeting will be held at 6:30 p.m. virtually on Zoom and livestreamed on the district’s YouTube channel at www.youtube.com/csd99media. Board members will be attending the meeting remotely; I will attend the meeting in person at the Administrative Service Center at 6301 Springside Avenue, Downers Grove. NOTE: The reason we are meeting remotely is because legally, the bond hearing must be held at the district office. In addition, due to the temporary facility limitations due to construction, we cannot hold the meeting at a larger space. We will attempt to resume holding our meetings in person on August 3.
- The meeting agenda can be found here; the meeting will begin with a bond hearing. In the first reception of visitors, we will read the comments we received in response to the 2020-21 school year before we released the plan. This will be followed by the presentation of the plan.
- Due to social distancing restrictions, we can only accommodate eight visitors in the meeting room at one time. If you would like to submit a public comment now or during the meeting, please click here. Following the presentation, we will have another reception of visitors session and will read comments received for up to 30 minutes in total, with a maximum of 3 minutes per response per Board Policy. All comments submitted will be provided to the Board of Education after the meeting. NOTE: Due to social distancing restrictions, we may not be able to accommodate all visitors to our Administrative Service Center at one time. We encourage people to submit their comments in the form above. All submissions will be provided to the Board of Education and will be shared in the Board minutes.
Throughout the day today, our plan was modified based on feedback from the more than 300 people who helped review the plan for 2020-21. The plan reflects our initial planning and may change based on Board feedback or changing health guidelines.
Again, we believe our plan maximizes learning while ensuring the safety of our students and staff members. Final decisions about how we start the 2020-21 school year will be made closer to August 17, the new first day of school. If we move forward with the Hybrid Plan, we will invite all 9th grade students to join an Orientation Day on August 17, where they can meet their teachers and be introduced to their school; all other students will participate in virtual learning activities. If we start the year under the Hybrid Schedule, the first day we will follow the new schedule will be Tuesday, August 18.
I will send you an update about the Board meeting tomorrow.
Thank you,
Dr. Hank Thiele
District 99 Superintendent