District 80 Covid Superintendent Letters

Wednesday, February 9, 2022

Dear Norridge District 80 Parents and Families,

At a Special Meeting of the N80 Board of Education, the Board, by consensus, directed the administrative team to move forward as quickly as possible to implement a mask optional mitigation strategy. The Board will take a formal vote on this option at their regularly scheduled meeting on Tuesday, February 15, 2022. I fully anticipate the vote on implementing that strategy to pass. The meeting will be held in the Leigh School Gymnasium and will begin at 7:00 pm. 

I want to make you aware that this morning we took steps to begin to implement the directive from the Board. If students were not wearing a mask to school this morning, they were offered a mask. Many took the mask; several did not. That is perfectly fine. We will continue with this approach for the foreseeable future.

In addition, we spoke with the staff of both buildings today and stressed to them that we were moving toward the mask optional protocol and that if a student came into their classroom beginning today without a mask, they were to allow the student to stay in the room and not require them to wear a mask. That will be part of our protocol going forward. 

There are several other parts of the mask optional protocol that we will be working on implementing in the coming days. We appreciate your patience as we work through these difficult times.

Please note that if a student and/or staff is Covid-19 positive, our current Covid-19 mitigations as it relates to positive cases will be enforced. We will also attempt to notify individuals if we believe a close contact has occurred in order to monitor for symptoms.

Lastly, please discuss kindness, empathy and compassion with your child in relation to respecting everyone’s needs and choices. While we cannot always change the situation we find ourselves in, we can control our actions and reactions. Let me be clear, we will strictly enforce our anti-harassment/bullying policies and protocols if needed. 

We thank those who have responded with kindness and grace. We will communicate further developments as they arise. Thank you for your continued support and patience. 

Respectfully,

Ralph Grimm

Interim Superintendent

Sunday, February 6, 2022

Dear Norridge District 80 Parents and Guardians:

On Friday, February 4, 2022, at 4:45 pm, Judge Raylene Grischow, a Sangamon County Circuit Court Judge, issued a ruling relating to certain Covid 19 mitigation strategies currently in place in all Illinois school districts. The ruling came as a result of a lawsuit filed that named approximately 140 school districts from across Illinois as defendants in the lawsuit. Norridge District 80 was not a named defendant in the lawsuit. 

In her ruling, Judge Grischow issued a Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) to the 140 school districts named as defendants in the lawsuit. I have spent most of today listening to several webinars conducted by several attorneys from around the state discussing the implication of the TRO on school districts that were not named as defendants in the lawsuit. Needless to say, there are multiple opinions as to what the Judges ruling says or doesn’t say and what it means for those districts not named as defendants in the lawsuit. 

The Judges ruling has been appealed to the Illinois Appellate Court. A decision from the Appellate Court could come as quickly as 2 days from now or as many as 11 days from now. 

At this time, Norridge District 80 will continue to keep in place ALL mitigation strategies for students and staff that are currently in place. That means that ALL students should continue wearing their mask when they return to school on Monday, February 7, 2022. 

The Norridge District 80 Board of Education will be meeting in a Special Meeting on Tuesday, February 8, 2022 at 8:00 pm in the Leigh Gymnasium to be updated on this situation. The public is invited to attend. 

I have said all along that my goal is to have our students and staff return home at the end of each day safe and healthy. I will continue to pursue those goals as we continue to move forward during this pandemic. 

Respectfully,

Ralph Grimm

Interim Superintendent

January 13, 2022

Dear Norridge District 80 Parents and Families,

As I am sure many of you are aware, late Tuesday afternoon, the Illinois State Board of Education finally gave school districts permission to follow the recently changed CDC guidelines pertaining to quarantine and isolation of positive and suspected cases of Covid and close contacts of those individuals who may have had a close contact with someone who either was Covid positive or showing symptoms of Covid. 

I understand the frustration that many of you feel as a result of the decisions we have made regarding making the switch in our protocols to reflect the new CDC guidance. I am also aware that some districts have chosen to move forward with those changes in regards to their protocols. I want to let you know that we are ready in District 80 to move forward with those new protocols based on the new CDC guidelines beginning on Tuesday, January 18, 2022. Please remember that potential future changes to guidance for the general public do not necessarily translate to public schools. We will continue to monitor the ever changing guidance from the CDC, IDPH, CCDPH and ISBE and make changes to the protocols being used in District 80 as best we can going forward. 

The revised guidelines are somewhat more detailed than what we have had previously. Our administrative team will be finalizing our protocols on Friday, January 14, 2022. You can expect additional information regarding our protocols from them in their weekly update. Please be sure to review that guidance and please contact your building principal or me should you have additional questions. 

Thank you for your continued patience with us as we work each day to keep our students and staff safe and to provide daily, in-person learning. I will remind you once again that the health and safety of our staff and students remains my top priority. I want each staff member and student to return home each day to their family and loved ones safe and healthy. We can accomplish that goal if we continue to work together. Please feel free to contact me with any additional questions you may have. 

Ralph Grimm

Interim Superintendent

rgrimm@norridge80.net 

December 31, 2021

Dear Norridge District 80 Parents and Families,

I hope this letter finds you all well and enjoying the Holidays. I want to provide you with another brief update on our Covid-19 protocols and our continued handling of the Covid-19 pandemic. As always please feel free to contact me at rgrimm@norridge80.net with any questions or concerns you may have. 

As you are no doubt aware, we are experiencing a significant spike in Covid Omicron Variant cases. The overall rolling seven day average positivity rate for the 60706 zip code as of Wednesday of this week was 11.5% and has been increasing steadily over the last couple of weeks. We will continue to monitor these numbers as we prepare to bring our students and staff back to school next week. 

Our plan remains to have our teachers return to school on Monday, January 3, 2022, for a Teacher Institute Day. Students will return to school on Tuesday, january 4, 2022. Our plan currently is to continue to have full day in-person learning as long as it remains possible to do so. One area that I am concerned about in that regard is our ability to staff our classrooms appropriately each day. We are aware of several staff members who have tested positive for Covid over the course of the past several days. We will monitor this situation and keep you updated if we need to make a change in our plan to provide full day, in-person learning. 

On Thursday, December 30, 2022, we received guidance from the Illinois Department of Public Health regarding changes to quarantine requirements. Please review this guidance here. We are still reviewing this guidance and will be adjusting our protocols accordingly. In some cases, the guidance appears to be very straightforward but upon closer inspection, there are now several scenarios we must explore before determining how much time a close contact must spend in quarantine if at all. As of this writing, we are still waiting for guidance from the Illinois State Board of Education. We anticipate that guidance is coming very soon. We will review that information when we receive it and incorporate it to our protocols as necessary. Thank you in advance for your patience as we work through these changes. 

We will continue with our masking and social distancing policies when we return to school next week. We will also encourage our students and staff to wash their hands frequently and will remain vigilant in our daily cleaning protocols. I would also be remiss if I didn’t remind everyone that there is now a vaccine for students aged 5-12 available. Covid boosters are also available for those who have taken the original vaccine. 

Thank you for your continued patience with us as we work each day to keep our students and staff safe and to provide daily, in-person learning. I believe the day will come when we no longer have to worry about these issues and protocols. Until then, please know that the health and safety of our staff and students remains my top priority. I want each staff member and student to return home each day to their family and loved ones safe and healthy. I hope you all enjoy a Happy New Year and best wishes for a successful, prosperous and healthy 2022.

Ralph Grimm

Interim Superintendent

rgrimm@norridge80.net 

December 7, 2021

Dear Norridge District 80 Parents and Families,

I hope this letter finds you all well and enjoying the Holidays. I want to provide you with a brief update on our Covid-19 protocols and our continued handling of the Covid-19 pandemic. As always please feel free to contact me at rgrimm@norridge80.net with any questions or concerns you may have. 

First, I want to compliment our district staff for their handling of the pandemic again this trimester. Our continued primary goal is to protect the health and safety of our students and staff so they can go home to their loved ones each day. Even though the guidelines from the CDC, IDPH and the CCDPH continue to change, we have been able to maintain in-person learning every day this school year so far. I believe this happens because our staff continues to emphasize our safety protocols and our nurses are diligent in detecting Covid-like symptoms and dealing with them quickly.  I also have to thank our parents and families for the steps you are taking in dealing with Covid symptoms in your children. Without your help and cooperation, we would not be able to maintain our in-person learning. 

As you are all no doubt aware, we are still in the middle of the Covid pandemic. Our guidance from the entities mentioned above continues to change frequently, but one common theme continues to be mentioned consistently, and that is that we all want to continue in-person learning as long as it is safe to do so.

You are also aware that we are dealing with a new variant, the Omicron Variant. There is much to be learned about this variant and the effects it will have on people. Of particular interest to me is what, if any, adverse effect it will have on unvaccinated children. As more data is gathered in the coming weeks on the Omicron Variant, I anticipate continued changes to recommendations from the organizations that are monitoring the virus. We will work to implement any changes that come from those organizations if/when they come to us. 

I also want to address the vaccine that is now available for students aged 5 - 12. I shared with the District 80 Board of Education at the November Board meeting that although the vaccine is now readily available, it remains a parents choice to have their children vaccinated with the new vaccine. I don’t see a time where the District 80 Board of Education would require this vaccine as a condition to attend school in our district. Additionally, we will not be organizing any vaccination clinics to be conducted at school, however; if a provider asked us to facilitate a clinic using school facilities during non-school time, we would assist with that request. I would encourage everyone to learn more about the new vaccine, study it and then make the best decision regarding the vaccine for your family members that you can. 

In the meantime, we will continue to press forward with in-person learning for as long as we can. We will continue to be vigilant in our emphasis on good Covid protocols:  frequent hand washing, wearing masks at all times while indoors, practicing appropriate social distancing to the extent we can, monitoring students and staff with symptoms, testing students and staff when required and quarantining when called for by the guidance. 

I realize that many people wish us to return to “normal” where these things are no longer part of our regular day. I, too, wish we could return to those days. But, at least for the time being, it doesn’t look like we can eliminate or reduce our attempts to monitor the virus and the variants that are coming our way. In order to achieve our goal of sending our students and staff home at the end of the day safe and healthy we need to do these things. And we need your continued help and support to do this. Thank you in advance for your continued trust and support. We appreciate you and your children more than you know. Please feel free to reach out to me if you wish to discuss this letter. Stay safe everyone.

Ralph Grimm

Interim Superintendent

rgrimm@norridge80.net 

September 24, 2021

Dear Norridge 80 Parents and Families,

It has been awhile since I have updated you on our Covid-19 protocols and our handling of the Covid issues that the district is facing. 

The Board has entrusted the admin team, under my direction, to handle all things relative to Covid-19 since last April. We are being deluged with guidance and changing guidance literally on a weekly basis. We review that guidance; we talk amongst ourselves; we reach out to other Superintendents and we listen to a host of zoom meetings put on by a variety of people, most notably law firms, before making changes to our protocols. This requires a tremendous amount of work and time. We are doing the best we can interpreting the guidance and then determining what we believe is the best way to go forward and stay in compliance with the guidance. Our goal has always been and will always be to send our students and staff home at the end of the day healthy and safe. 

The challenge in all of this is to choose a path that allows us to follow the guidance and stay consistent in our practices and procedures. We strive to do that in everything that we do regarding our Covid-19 protocols and procedures. 

 I want to announce one significant change in our protocols going forward beginning on Monday, October 4, 2021. It is the recommendation of the Cook County Department of Public Health that all Cook County Schools enact a quarantine requirement for all non-vaccinated students and staff who travel to a high risk state. This is only a recommendation and not a requirement. However; after consultation with my staff in District 80, I have decided to implement this recommendation for all District 80 students and staff. The specific guidance and list of states can be found here: https://cookcountypublichealth.org/communicable-diseases/covid-19/covid-19-travel-guidance/ 

I also want to let you know that we will begin posting our Covid-19 statistics on our district website as was done last year beginning this week. While we are seeing a slight increase in the number of positive individuals we have in the district and in the number of close contacts, our COVID-19 numbers are relatively low compared to other districts around us. I believe this is due in part to the support that we are receiving from each of you in helping us keep our students masked while they are at school and safe in terms of close contacts while they are away from school. Thank you for your support with this. There are many, many wonderful things happening in District 80 because our students and staff are interacting in-person each day. Our goal is to keep it that way.

 Thank you for the trust you have placed in us to lead the district through these unchartered waters. I have been very clear about what my priority is with regard to establishing protocols. I will continue to lead with those thoughts in mind. Please feel free to reach out to me if you wish to discuss. 

Respectfully,

Ralph Grimm

Interim Superintendent

August 20, 2021

Dear Parents and Families,

As promised in my letter to you yesterday, here is the IDPH Covid-19 Decision Making Tree we will use to determine if a student or staff member must quarantine after a close contact with someone who either has Covid-19 or is demonstrating Covid-19 like symptoms. Please review this document and let us know if you have any questions or concerns. 

I also want to remind everyone to practice frequent and proper handwashing daily. We will provide supplies to accomplish this for our students, staff and visitors while they are at school. We will also provide ample supplies of hand sanitizer. 

We can all help minimize the spread of Covid-19 and thus keep our students and staff in school if we all adopt the philosophy that we will keep our children home if they are sick or demonstrate Covid-19 symptoms. These symptoms include:

• Fever or cough. All should remain at home if a fever of 100.4 degrees or more is present.

• Shortness of breath or difficulty breathing.

• Chills

• Fatigue

• Headache

• Muscle and body aches

• Sore Throat

• New loss of taste or smell

• Vomiting or diarrhea

If all of us do our part with regard to this guidance, we will be able to keep our students and staff in school. We will be able to do more with our students to ensure that they receive the quality education that you expect from Norridge School District 80. 

Thank you in advance for all the help you will give us this year. I will end this letter as I have my other Covid-19 letters to you. Our goal is to have all of our students and staff return home to their families each day safe and healthy.

Respectfully,

Ralph Grimm

Interim Superintendent 

August 19, 2021

Dear Norridge Parents and Families,

I write this afternoon to let you know that the Norridge District 80 Board of Education approved a Return to Learn Plan at their August 17, 2021, Regular Meeting.  Please see the attached plan.   Please also know that this plan will most likely be updated in the future as our guidance from the Center for Disease Control (CDC), Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH, Cook County Department of Public Health (CCDPH) and the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) changes often.

I want to draw your attention to a few key points in our plan:

• Masks will be required to be worn by all students, teachers, staff and visitors beginning immediately while in any of the D80 buildings. There are some approved exceptions for not wearing a mask in the plan. Please review these if you feel your student might qualify for one of the exceptions. Also, the required form to be filled out by your medical provider is now on our website. Please contact us with any questions you may have. 
• ​As per the ISBE guidance we have received, we will not be providing a remote learning option this year. Students are expected to be in school every day, all day.
• We will follow the required guidance on physical distancing. We will require a minimum of three feet social distance at all times. 
• We will follow the required guidance on contract tracing if there are instances of “close contact”.
• We are in the process of finalizing our guidance on quarantining our students and staff as a result of a close contact. If everyone is wearing a mask as required, it is our hope that the number of students or staff that must be quarantined will be reduced this year. We will provide our guidance to you on quarantine on Friday of this week. 

I also want to let you know that we are studying an “opt in” or voluntary testing protocol for our students and staff. Once we have decided on this option, we will provide more details. This type of testing would be offered as a way to determine if students have the COVID virus but who aren’t demonstrating symptoms yet. 

Students who are suspected to have COVID symptoms, who are demonstrating COVID symptoms or who have had a “close contact’ with someone who has the COVID virus will follow the required testing protocol. In the event that happens, you will receive notification from us with the required steps to be followed. 

We will be working to stay in compliance with all of the guidelines and requirements from the various oversight agencies as we go forward. We believe that when our students and staff wear masks as prescribed, we will be able to offer more of a “normal” learning environment than if masks were not required or optional. You will see this by the types of activities teachers can now engage the students in; by the way many of the rooms will be set up; and by the movement about the building that will take place this year. 

Finally, I want to say thank you to all of you for the trust you have put in us to take care of your children each day. We value that trust and will do absolutely everything we can do to make sure that each one of our students, faculty and staff members return home to their families and loved ones each day safe and healthy.

Please do not hesitate to contact me with your questions or your concerns. My email address is rgrimm@norridge80.net. 

Respectfully,

Ralph Grimm

Interim Superintendent

August 18, 2021

Dear Norridge Parents and Families,

I write this afternoon to let you know that the Norridge District 80 Board of Education approved a Return to Learn Plan at their August 17, 2021, Regular Meeting.  Please see the attached plan.   Please also know that this plan will most likely be updated in the future as our guidance from the Center for Disease Control (CDC), Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH, Cook County Department of Public Health (CCDPH) and the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) changes often.

I want to draw your attention to a few key points in our plan:

• Masks will be required to be worn by all students, teachers, staff and visitors beginning immediately while in any of the D80 buildings. There are some approved exceptions for not wearing a mask in the plan. Please review these if you feel your student might qualify for one of the exceptions. Also, the required form to be filled out by your medical provider is now on our website. Please contact us with any questions you may have. 

• As per the ISBE guidance we have received, we will not be providing a remote learning option this year. Students are expected to be in school every day, all day.

• We will follow the required guidance on physical distancing. We will require a minimum of three feet social distance at all times. 

• We will follow the required guidance on contract tracing if there are instances of “close contact”.

• We are in the process of finalizing our guidance on quarantining our students and staff as a result of a close contact. If everyone is wearing a mask as required, it is our hope that the number of students or staff that must be quarantined will be reduced this year. We will provide our guidance to you on quarantine on Friday of this week. 

I also want to let you know that we are studying an “opt in” or voluntary testing protocol for our students and staff. Once we have decided on this option, we will provide more details. This type of testing would be offered as a way to determine if students have the COVID virus but who aren’t demonstrating symptoms yet. 

Students who are suspected to have COVID symptoms, who are demonstrating COVID symptoms or who have had a “close contact’ with someone who has the COVID virus will follow the required testing protocol. In the event that happens, you will receive notification from us with the required steps to be followed. 

We will be working to stay in compliance with all of the guidelines and requirements from the various oversight agencies as we go forward. We believe that when our students and staff wear masks as prescribed, we will be able to offer more of a “normal” learning environment than if masks were not required or optional. You will see this by the types of activities teachers can now engage the students in; by the way many of the rooms will be set up; and by the movement about the building that will take place this year. 

Finally, I want to say thank you to all of you for the trust you have put in us to take care of your children each day. We value that trust and will do absolutely everything we can do to make sure that each one of our students, faculty and staff members return home to their families and loved ones each day safe and healthy.

Please do not hesitate to contact me with your questions or your concerns. My email address is rgrimm@norridge80.net. 

Respectfully,

Ralph Grimm

Interim Superintendent