Bourbonnais 53 District

Parents and Guardians, Earlier this afternoon we had an issue with our internal account management software that caused several student passwords to be changed. We have corrected the issue and reset all student passwords to what they were this morning. Thank you!

The Northern Illinois Food Bank is offering a Pop Up Market for students, parents and the community. The event will take place at Kankakee High School, Saturday, Sept. 26 from 9 a.m. to noon. There will be enough to feed more than 800-900 families.

Please read the linked letter regarding a positive COVID-19 case within BESD #53: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1QWlsY6XfKxDpdtp45fgtHViWQfi5YvzhuT2gIOy2hsA/edit?usp=sharing

Please read the attached District Communication Letter regarding Covid-19. While positive Covid-19 cases have been experienced by the District, we have also experienced a downward trend in the total number of individuals isolated from in-person instruction. Even with this situation today, our total number of individuals isolated from in-person instruction has reached its fourth lowest number to date. We believe that our mitigation strategies and constant communication during this crisis has assisted in allowing us to manage this crisis to the best of our ability. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1oGxXAFKERFDjJDDotJxGU8nMoY_eU6MSaUj5b_nX0VA/edit?usp=sharing

Hi, please view this link regarding remote learning expectations. Thanks! https://tinyurl.com/yyteuv6p

Please read the linked letter regarding a positive COVID-19 case within BESD #53. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1VIfr31wyZX4S9Ol3vUSp9OedbGDiju8Ge4BaSjRX_qw/edit?usp=sharing

Please read the linked letter regarding another positive COVID-19 case within BESD #53. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1IEKZIUgFDZ2C2lC_ewkYDuAsLKAprB4AW1_wMk7s9x0/edit?usp=sharing

Dear BESD #53 Families and Community, I want to thank you for your trust and flexibility as we worked to return to in-person instruction this school year. Our ability to open and stay open has only been made possible by everyone coming together as a team. While I can not predict the future, I can provide our current data trends that we assess daily to help make our decisions. The good news is that we have been open since August 19th for students. This means that we have made it past 14 total days since the 1st day of in-person instruction. Therefore, we now are afforded the opportunity to truly begin the assessment of sustainability for our in-person instructional model. Over this past week, the data indicates that we have experienced a good decline in the number of individuals required to be isolated from in-person instruction in the District. I understand that our trend data could change tomorrow as we are not immune to Covid-19. However, I want to focus on the fact that we are currently trending well for a continuation of in-person instruction. Have a Happy and Safe Labor Day Weekend! Sincerely, Dr. Adam Ehrman, Superintendent

Dear BESD #53 Families, BESD #53 is excited to share the news that USDA is extending waivers for Summer Meals programs through the end of this calendar year. This will now allow BESD #53 to offer free meals to all BESD #53 students until Dec. 31, 2020. BESD #53 understands it is a very challenging time with the COVID-19 pandemic and that it is essential children have access to nutritious food. Sincerely, Dr. Adam Ehrman, Superintendent

Please read the linked letter regarding the 3rd reported positive COVID-19 case within BESD #53. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1vSUVbSwPbx3Yo3IassQC2hT5dFrgzFG1OvIBXGgRIo8/edit?usp=sharing

Dear BESD #53 Families and Community, We are aware that an article was written about BESD #53 stating “Nearly 90 in quarantine in Bourbonnais Elementary district”. It is important to remember that we only isolate students from in-person instruction as we are following the IDPH guidelines. The District has only experienced 2 positive cases thus far. Therefore the vast majority of individuals being “isolated” (not “quarantined” as that is a function of the Health Department) are due to single symptom isolation precautionary measures that the District is following. The nearly 90 individuals referred to in the article is evidence of the District taking these guidelines serious and implementing the guidelines as they are written. I hope this provides some clarity and context to the figures presented in the article. Again, we appreciate your continued understanding and cooperation during these uncertain times. We will also continue to provide timely communication with our school community as information becomes available. Sincerely, Dr. Adam Ehrman, Superintendent

The Illinois State Board of Education has provided a white washable cotton face mask for every student and staff member in the school district. These are being passed out this week. Per the label, this mask can be washed up to fifteen times before being discarded. #besd53

Please read the linked letter regarding the 2nd reported positive COVID-19 case within BESD53. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1NxEuj9WU3AtgUlWbradRjucyKXbXmXpraSK1qG0JkSo/edit?usp=sharing

Dear BESD #53 Families and Community, Today marks day 5 of in-person instruction. I am so proud that we have been able to offer our students in-person instruction even if it looks a little different than normal years. It was not easy to get to this point, but I am truly appreciative of each one these days as they have allowed for critical connections to be made for everyone in the organization. As I mentioned at the Board Meeting last night, I can not predict the future. However, I can predict that we will continue to use a calm approach and analyze all of the health data that impact BESD #53. We will continue to follow the ever-changing IDPH guidelines. These guidelines are strict and the “close contact” definition does unfortunately require many students to be isolated from in-person instruction when we have a positive case. A strategy that has helped some parents is not utilizing our busing system this year if that is an option for those students. This strategy definitely reduces the “close contact” for each student and thereby reduces the probability of that child being required to isolate from a positive case experienced in the District. We are always looking for ways to improve the likelihood of being able to continue with the in-person instructional model. So, this is just a suggestion for those parents that have that ability and choice to make that decision. Our goal is to simply prevent a two week isolation period for a student if possible. Again, I want to thank everyone for helping us make this year possible and I could not be anymore proud of BESD #53’s hardwork and effort right now. Educationally Yours, Dr. Adam Ehrman Superintendent, Bourbonnais Elementary School District #53

Parents and Guardians, Zoom has fixed the issue for the majority of users. Information regarding remote classes for today will be coming from the buildings. Thank you for your patience!

Please read the linked letter for information about a reported positive COVID-19 case within BESD53. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1YRc5BOD1Sjv6vCiZH7Qg99f64dR0pG8tGsSt6446OJM/edit?usp=sharing

BESD53 Parents and Guardians, Our remote meeting vendor, Zoom, is currently having operational issues that they are working to resolve. We are monitoring the situation and will send an updated notification when Zoom has resolved their issues. At that point, the Zoom meetings that remote students utilize will begin. Thank you for your patience!

Good morning! We are currently have some technical issues with ZOOM for remote learning. Please be on the lookout for a message from your teacher for alternate ways to connect. Thanks and have a great day!

Dear BESD #53 Families and Community, Like other School Districts in the area, we experienced our first positive Covid-19 case today. While we all may recognize that positive cases are unavoidable in this day and age, today was still a jolt to the system for some people. Please know that we put procedural systems in place to handle this situation in a calm and collective manner. So today, we rapidly worked with the Health Department to provide all of the information we could to everyone that needs to know and we will continue to work with the Health Department. We understand that not everyone wanted to be notified of a singular positive case in the District, but I find it critical that we are communicating as much as possible right now. I am not sure that we will always be sending out a District-wide letter as we get more cases, but for the time being we will likely be over-communicating as a means to keep everyone informed. For situations like today, the process for communicating is a four-step process. First we find out that we have a positive case (typically from parents and caregivers). Next, we internally trace everyone that is defined as a "close contact" (that we are aware of). Then we call the “close contacts” ASAP. Lastly, we will communicate out from either the District or the School (this first communication came from the District). So this morning, we found out about a case and then identified who were “close contacts”. We then quickly made calls to close contacts and sent out a District letter to everyone as follow-up. Thank you to everyone for your patience, grace, and a willingness to work together. The only way we can all get through this crisis is if we do so together. Educationally Yours, Dr. Adam Ehrman Superintendent, Bourbonnais Elementary School District #53

Tuesday August 25th will be a Regular Meeting of the Board of Education for BESD53 at 7 pm. To attend this meeting virtually, please sign up using the link below: https://besd53-org.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_6WzzrClCSciDIMhB3Pv1IA