As frustration mounts for some parents of public school students who have had minimal in-person instruction this year, local private schools have had success with their in-person plans.
“I would say it’s been overwhelmingly successful,” said Sts. Peter and Paul Principal Tricia Weis. “Absolutely beyond what I really even could have imagined when we got started.”
Full-Time In-Person Instruction
Schools like Sts. Peter and Paul and All Saints Catholic Academy have had in-person instruction five days a week since the start of the school year, and little to no community spread of COVID-19.
Both schools fall under the Diocese of Joliet, which let each school to create its own plan. That’s allowed them to be adaptable.
“I think what you have to do is you have to think outside the box,” said All Saints’ Director of Student Services Patty Bajek. “Our students are eating lunch in their classrooms. So what we did to our lunchroom is we turned it into a junior high science classroom. Just taking some of those areas that we’re not using to try and spread the kids out a little bit more and to keep them safe and allow us to have more students here in the school.”
Sts. Peter and Paul and All Saints also use more conventional methods to mitigate spread, like hand sanitizer, masks, and spaced out desks.
Could It Work in Public School?
Both administrators said based on the success of their schools, they think in-person learning could work in public schools as well. Though it would likely present different challenges with so many more students.
School District 203 is on track to begin hybrid learning on January 25 and District 204 hopes to have all students in a hybrid model by February 1.
Naperville News 17’s Casey Krajewski reports.
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