Coronavirus Updates

Dear Parents, Guardians and Students,

We hope this message finds you safe and healthy! As we near the end of our second week of remote learning, we cannot thank you enough for the flexibility, patience and grace you have provided us as we have moved Stevenson into a virtual high school.

Yesterday, Governor Pritzker extended the mandatory school closure and the use of remote learning days for Illinois schools until April 30. While we will be prepared to have our faculty, staff and students back on campus May 1, we are also planning for the realistic possibility that we will finish the year teaching and learning remotely.

Our first and foremost priority for the past few weeks has been to refine and implement our remote learning teaching and learning plan for students. We are doing everything that we can to ensure that students continue to receive outstanding teaching and learning experiences from our amazing faculty and staff.

At the same time, we also recognize that a school is much more than the building,  classrooms, homework, quizzes and tests. What makes Stevenson High School so special are the amazing co-curricular opportunities that we offer to our students. As the parent of a high school senior, I know very well how important these events are for our students and our families. While it is obvious that we will be unable to facilitate many of our usual spring co-curricular events, we have been working hard this week to plan for three particularly important spring events: Prom, Spring Fling and Graduation. 

While we wish we could say for certain when the exact dates will be, we hope that you understand the very uncertain nature of schools and planning these days. What is most important for us is to follow the advice and guidance from the State of Illinois, our local health authorities and the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) guidelines (social distancing, group size, etc.). With that said, we are pleased to share that we are moving forward with two sets of possible dates for Prom, this summer’s “Patriot Palooza” and Graduation.

As you might imagine, the venue that was to host our Prom has cancelled all events for April and May. We know that Prom is an important event (and if your families are like mine, the dress is already bought and paid for!), so we are tentatively rescheduling Prom for either Saturday, June 20 or Saturday, July 18. 

We also know that many of our students look forward to Spring Fling. In the event that we cannot be on campus in May, we are tentatively planning a “Patriot Palooza” for all Stevenson students from noon to 5 p.m. on Friday, June 26 or Friday, July 24. Similar to our usual Spring Fling event, we will have food trucks, inflatables, a softball tournament, a cricket tournament, ultimate frisbee, and more! This will be a great opportunity to get out of the house, reconnect with your classmates and have some fun!

The most important event in any school year is graduation. It is very important for us to be able to recognize and celebrate the hard work of our senior students, and to share in that experience with their families and friends. While we continue to hold out hope that we will be able to have our Graduation ceremony on Friday, May 22, we are also tentatively planning to hold Graduation on either Sunday, June 28 or Sunday, July 26 at 11 a.m. at the Sears Centre Arena (our usual location for graduation) in Hoffman Estates. We cannot imagine missing the opportunity to celebrate the amazing accomplishments of our seniors with their parents, grandparents, other family members, and friends. 

Please note again that all of these dates are tentative and the ultimate decision will be driven by consultation with our state and local health departments and informed by the CDC guidelines. As our goal has been to avoid cancelling these important milestone events, we hope that you are willing to live with some uncertainty on the exact dates until the week of May 4, when we expect to be able to make a more informed decision on how we may be able to move forward. 

So, in summary, assuming that we are able to do so safely, we are looking forward to celebrating with our students and families at these important events! To keep things simple, we have two plans for moving forward with Prom, Patriot Palooza and Graduation:

Plan Green assumes that we are unable to hold our May events, and the State of Illinois and CDC guidelines suggest it will be safe to to do in June:

Prom: Saturday, June 20, location TBA.
Patriot Palooza: Friday, June 26 on campus!
Graduation: Sunday, June 28 at 11 a.m. at the Sears Centre Arena

Plan Gold assumes that the State of Illinois and CDC guidelines suggest that we need to wait until July to celebrate:

Prom: Saturday, July 18, location TBA.
Patriot Palooza: Friday, July 24 on campus!
Graduation: Sunday, July 26 at 11 a.m. at the Sears Centre Arena

Obviously, more details will be coming in the weeks ahead. In the meantime, please be sure to visit our social media sites (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc.) for current news and updates. You can access all of our social media pages from our website at www.d125.org.

While much has changed in the past few weeks, one thing has not. We remain fully committed to our mission of Success for Every Student. 

Sincerely,

Dr. Eric Twadell         Mr. Troy Gobble        Dr. Ted Goergen
Superintendent          Principal                    Director of Student Activities

To our Stevenson Parents, Guardians, and Students, 

First of all, we miss seeing all of you in the building!  We hope you and your families are safe and healthy. We know that this has been a sudden and unexpected shift in the way we do school, but we want you to remember that your teachers and our staff are here for you! Let’s stay connected. 

This weekend, the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) released information on how schools should operate during the newly defined “Remote Learning Days,” which begin tomorrow, March 31. We wanted to provide you with an update for how this will impact our work at Stevenson and your work as a student. Our goal is to continue to provide you with meaningful instruction, feedback, and engaging learning experiences to support your academic growth. This goal requires your commitment, too. 

Most importantly: Let’s keep learning! Our teachers are considering what essential skills are necessary for a student to understand before the end of the year. We will be focused on ensuring all students improve in these essential skills during our Remote Learning Days. Your classes will be focused on developing the skills that fulfill course requirements and prepare you to confidently move forward into the next course in the sequence. Over the remaining weeks of school, we will continue to prepare you for next year and beyond. 

Stay engaged: Our teachers and staff are working diligently to keep you interested and engaged in each of your courses. Some of your class work will be done synchronously — where you meet face to face with your teachers and classmates in an online meeting. Some of your learning will be done asynchronously — where your teachers will ask you to complete key assignments that are designed to help you learn material at your own pace. We know at this difficult time how important it is for all of us to stay engaged with our Stevenson community; your participation in class and your own learning are going to require your focus and collaboration with your classmates. Our teachers and staff are here to support you! Also, reach out to your classmates and stay connected with them as well.  

You might be wondering: Will my teachers be taking attendance and how? Will my assessments be graded and how? In short, the answer to both of those questions is: Yes!

1. Will my teachers be taking attendance and how: Yes, your teachers will be taking attendance. If you are meeting as a class “synchronously,” your teachers will take attendance based on your appearance and participation in an online meeting. If your teachers ask you to complete an assignment or assessment “asynchronously,” your attendance will be determined upon the completion of the activity.  
    
2. Will my assessments be graded and how? Yes, your teachers will continue to give assignments and assessments (essays, quizzes, tests, etc.) over the next few weeks as always. Here’s some good news: Your current grade can only improve during our Remote Learning Days. What does that mean? At the beginning of next week, your current grade status will be posted for each of your courses. This current grade will be used as a baseline. Throughout the upcoming weeks, the work you submit will receive scores and feedback from your teachers.  Only scores that will increase your baseline grade will be used to calculate your semester final grade. We understand that remote learning can be difficult for some, and we want to assure students and parents that no student’s overall grade will be harmed in this process, only improved. Again, our goal is to support student learning over the next few weeks.

As we move forward together, we want to continue to provide you with the best possible educational opportunities. We are so proud of everyone in our community as they have worked to make the best of a challenging situation. Please stay engaged with the learning and our Patriot family!  

If you have any questions, please send them our way. We are looking forward to seeing you online tomorrow!

Sincerely, 

Troy Gobble      Mark Onuscheck
Principal            Director of Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment

Dear Parents, Guardians and Students:

We sincerely hope that you are doing well and staying safe and healthy during this Spring Break week. For many of us, life has been turned completely upside down from where we thought it would be just a few weeks ago. Most of us are suddenly working from home, although sadly, some are not able to work at all. Some of us have had college students return home earlier than expected, and trying to keep them and our other children safe, healthy, and productive is proving to be a tall order. The definition of a “normal” day has taken on a completely new meaning. Please know that we fully understand the challenges that our Stevenson families and students are facing and we are working hard to get to a “new normal” as quickly as possible.

As we noted on Thursday, we wanted to hold off on sending out any further information on how teaching and learning will continue for us until we had factual information that we could forward to you. We received the new guidelines last night from the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) on how we can move forward with newly defined “Remote Learning Days” and it is clear that due to the hard work and preparation of our faculty and staff we are in a very good position to move forward beginning on Tuesday, March 31.

While the governor has targeted April 7 as the end of mandatory school closures, we are moving forward with our planning assuming that the closure will last longer. If we are lucky enough to be able to come back to our campus sooner, we can easily adjust our plans from that point forward. Given the likelihood of the current situation continuing longer than expected, and taking into account feedback from students, parents and teachers, and the ISBE guidelines we are making some adjustments to our Remote Learning plan beginning next week.

• As noted in our email on Thursday, Monday, March 30 will be a Non-School Day for students. Given the new guidelines from the Illinois State Board of Education, our academic divisions and curriculum teacher teams will need this time to collaboratively plan how they are going to adjust our curriculum and move forward with the newly designated Remote Learning Days.
   
• We have revised our Remote Learning Days schedule after receiving feedback from students and teachers in order to better support instruction and student learning in both synchronous (virtual, in real-time) and asynchronous (independent work for students) methods. We hope this new schedule will also allow us to reduce the volume of student screen time, allow for more manageable breaks between synchronous experiences, and provide a more balanced workload experience for students.
   
  • Our new daily schedule for Remote Learning will be as follows (click here to download a PDF):

Period	Time
1	9:00-9:30
2	9:45-10:15
3	10:30-11:00
4	11:15-11:45
5	12:00-12:30
6	12:45-1:15
7	1:30-2:00
8	2:15-2:45

 

• Our teachers, working closely with their divisional curriculum teams, will continue to provide both synchronous and asynchronous teaching and learning opportunities for students. It will be important for students to log in each day at 8:30 a.m. to determine their teachers’ expectations for the day's work.
   
• There was a lack of clarity from ISBE regarding attendance and grading during the “Act of God” Days. Mr. Gobble (Principal) and Mr. Onuscheck (Director of Curriculum, Instruction and Assessment) will provide further details on our attendance and grading procedures moving forward in a subsequent email to parents and students on Monday, March 30. In general:
   
  • Teachers will continue to track and record attendance, and our deans, counselors and social workers will check in on students and families as needed.
     
  • We will follow the new ISBE recommendations on grading that are based upon the principle of “no educational harm to any child.” Which simply means that students’ grades should not be negatively impacted during our Remote Learning Days. Students will continue to have the opportunity to demonstrate evidence of proficiency and improve their grades as the semester progresses. We will continue to provide various types of learning opportunities and assessments, such as: essays, discussions, quizzes and tests during our Remote Learning Days.

We also know that there are many lingering questions that parents and students have such as: How will Advanced Placement Exams be administered? Has prom been cancelled? What about graduation? Will we still have Summer School? Etc. Please know that we are working very hard to maintain and / or postpone as many events as possible rather than simply cancelling events that are weeks and months away.

While our primary goal the past week has been to get school “up and running” again on Tuesday, March 31 we are also trying to look and plan ahead for all the end of the year events. We know that the mandatory school closure is hard for all students, but especially for our senior students. We know how hard they have worked and we want to be able to celebrate and recognize their achievements. We are committed to providing you with accurate and up to date information as it becomes clear to us.

Thank you all for your patience, flexibility and grace as we do our best to support our families, parents, and students during this unprecedented time.

Sincerely,

Dr. Eric Twadell    Troy Gobble
Superintendent     Principal

Dear Parents, Guardians and Students:

We sincerely hope that you are doing well and staying safe and healthy during this Spring Break week. Last Friday, we said that we would let you know by today what, if any changes, would be coming from the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) that would affect our e-Learning plans moving forward.

As of this afternoon, the ISBE has not provided any updates to their mandatory guidelines on how we will be allowed to move forward with e-Learning after March 30. What we can tell you is that Monday, March 30 will be a non-attendance day for students, and a work day for teachers to make curriculum and instructional adjustments given the changes that we anticipate from the ISBE. We fully expect to resume our e-Learning days on Tuesday, March 31. Although we have a fully developed e-Learning/remote learning plan for moving forward, we are holding off on sharing information as we want to ensure that our plan meets ISBE mandatory guidelines. We will email an update as soon as we hear the requirements from the ISBE and finalize our e-Learning/remote learning plans accordingly.

During this challenging time, we have received a tremendous amount of support, and a willingness to volunteer time and resources, among our students and parents. As you may know, many parents of Stevenson students have lost their jobs as a result of this outbreak. To support families in need, our Stevenson High School Foundation has developed a new initiative, Stevenson: One Family. The Stevenson: One Family initiative will serve as a complimentary program to our Kids in Need (KIN) program and will provide financial assistance (i.e. gift cards to grocery stores, restaurants, etc.) to Stevenson families that find themselves in need during this time. If your family is in need — or if you are willing to donate your talents or resources to our Stevenson: One Family initiative — please click here.

Thank you all for your patience, flexibility and grace as we do our best to support our families, parents, and students during this unprecedented time.

Sincerely,

Dr. Eric Twadell        
Superintendent

Dear Parents, Guardians and Students:

As we head into our Spring Break week, we would like to offer our heartfelt gratitude for your support during this unprecedented time. Our first week of e-Learning has been a mammoth undertaking by our teachers, who in many cases have children of their own at home who they are trying to lead through their own continuing education opportunities. Thank you for supporting their work, and for rallying around the importance of the continual learning of our students. We appreciate your patience, flexibility and understanding.

As I am sure you are well aware by now, the governor has instituted an emergency stay at home order for the state of Illinois, effective at 5 p.m. tomorrow, Saturday, March 21. For more information on the governor’s executive order, click here.

In addition to the stay at home order, the statewide school closure is being extended to at least April 8. While we are hopeful, and fully expect, that we will be able to continue with our local e-Learning efforts, we have not yet received information or official guidance from the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE).

In an effort to communicate clear and accurate information, here is what we know as of today:

• As you might imagine, our current e-Learning plan was not designed for an extended school closure and crisis like we are experiencing now. As such, we have been working hard to modify our plan for an extended school closure. We are using the feedback that we collected through a survey of students and teachers this week to help guide our decision-making moving forward. We will communicate on or before Thursday, March 26 our plan for supporting students as we move into April.
• Please know that we are continuing to offer meal service for the families of our students in need. Should you find yourself in this situation, please contact Deanna Dreyer at ddreyer@d125.org for more information.
• The College Board has informed us they will be moving Advanced Placement exams to “streamlined online exams.” (Click here for the announcement.) We fully understand and appreciate the extraordinary amount of work that students and teachers have put into preparing for AP exams, and our e-Learning plan for April will address how we will continue to support students in their preparation.

We are working closely with local emergency management agencies and collaborating with other governmental agencies to address the identified health and safety needs of the members of our community.

We know that this is a stressful and anxious time for everyone. Please know that we are working hard to ensure that we prioritize what is in the best interests of the health and safety of our community, students, parents and guardians, and our faculty and staff.

We will provide more information as it becomes available, or no later than Thursday, March 26.

In the meantime, please stay safe and healthy.

Sincerely,

Dr. Eric Twadell           Troy Gobble
Superintendent            Principal

Dear Parents, Guardians and Students,

First and foremost, thank you for your patience and flexibility as we finalize the move of Stevenson High School into an e-Learning environment. We have been working around the clock for the past 96 hours since the governor's announcement of school closures to revise our e-Learning plan to serve our students to the best of our ability and do so within the new ISBE mandatory guidelines.

Here is what this means for families:

• We will have e-Learning weeks:
  • March 17 through March 20
  • March 30 through April 3
  • On e-Learning Days, we will continue to follow the regular daily bell schedule as if classes were meeting in the school. Click here to see the regular daily schedule. 
    • Exceptions: There are no study halls, no freshman advisories, and no loss of privilege times.
• Spring Break will be observed March 23 through March 27 (no classes).
• More information will be forthcoming regarding the weeks of April 6 and April 13.

During our e-Learning Days, we will use a combination of synchronous and asynchronous learning. What does that mean?

• Synchronous Learning happens in real time, much like an online distance learning class. Synchronous learning will take place during your regular daily class period. 
• Asynchronous Learning is independent work that is assigned online, but which students may complete offline. Asynchronous lessons and assignments may be completed at any time before their due date. 

Teachers may use one or both types of lessons during the time that Stevenson High School is operating in our e-Learning environment.

On e-Learning Days, students are asked to do the following:

• Check Canvas and their Stevenson email daily by 8 a.m. to:
  • Be informed by their teachers of the plans and expectations their teachers have for class, needed materials and assignments.
  • Be informed by their teachers if they will need to join a synchronous class session (during regular daily class times).
• Students will need to complete the assigned lessons and assignments by the day and time listed by the teacher.
• Teachers will be available to answer questions throughout the day through email.

Our Principal, Mr. Gobble, will provide a follow-up email later today for students with additional information and details for the start of our first e-Learning school day tomorrow. While we are navigating truly uncharted waters, we are confident that our e-Learning plan is the most effective way to continue your student’s education in the coming days and weeks. 

We know that there is a fair amount of worry, stress, and anxiety among parents and students regarding what the next few weeks will look like in terms of school. We understand. Many of us here at Stevenson are feeling it as well as we are trying to support our own families through this difficult time. Please know that our faculty, support staff and administrative team are continuing to work tirelessly on behalf of our Stevenson students.

While we’ve been focused on getting our academic classes up and running for the past 96 hours, please know that our Student Services Division has also been working around the clock to prepare for this transition. We continue to be committed in our efforts to help students develop and support their Social and Emotional Learning. Our exceptional Student Support Teams — counselors, deans, social workers, and psychologists — will be available for any student who needs help. We continue to be here for you. If parents or students need to speak with one of our professionals, please send them an email to arrange an online meeting. 

While we are facing unprecedented challenges, you have our promise, our commitment, that we have never been more committed to realizing our mission of Success for Every Student. 

Finally, I wanted to share with you just one example of the many ways that our faculty and staff are embracing this unprecedented challenge with resilience and creativity. Yesterday, our Student Activities Division announced to all students via email that we will be having a “Virtual Spirit Week” starting today as a way to keep them engaged and connected with one another. Here is what the Virtual Spirit Week looks like:

Please encourage your student to participate with peers in this fun event. Students, check out Mr. Gobble’s green and gold PJ’s on Instagram!
 
Students, we are looking forward to seeing you online tomorrow at 8:00 a.m.!

Sincerely,
 
Dr. Eric Twadell
Superintendent

Dear Parents, Guardians and Students,

Shortly before 7 p.m. Saturday night, the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) released new and updated state-wide mandatory guidelines for schools that prohibits us from moving forward with our planned synchronous e-Learning Days announced this past Thursday. 

However, we are currently in communication with the ISBE and it is clear the situation at the state level is evolving rapidly, and will likely change again significantly within the next 12-24 hours. As such, we are unable to determine with any degree of certainty how Stevenson High School will operate during the March 17-March 30 school closure. Our intention remains to begin using our synchronous e-Learning days as soon as we are allowed to do so by the ISBE.

Given the uncertain nature of information at this time, we are changing our expectations for tomorrow. 

• Monday, March 16, will be a Student Non-Attendance Day.
• There will be no e-Learning classes Monday, March 16.
• The school building will be open from 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Monday, March 16.
  • Please only come to the school if it is absolutely necessary.
  • All students should enter the school through the circle drive entrance by the Principal’s Office.
    • Students may come to the school if they need to pick up a musical instrument or other necessary items.
    • The SMARTdesk in the Link Lab also will be open from 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Monday, March 16.

Please know that our faculty and staff have been working tirelessly for the past 72 hours to get ready for moving Stevenson High School into a fully synchronous e-Learning environment. Watching the hard work, resilience, and dedication of our faculty and staff for the past three days as they prepare their e-Learning curriculum and lessons has been awe inspiring. Again, our intention remains to begin using our synchronous e-Learning days as soon as we are allowed to do so by the ISBE.

While I am sure that most of you have been inundated with the following, we thought it would be a good reminder that the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) has recommended the following:

• Wash your hands often with soap and water for at least 20 seconds especially after you have been in a public place, or after blowing your nose, coughing, or sneezing.
• If soap and water are not readily available, use a hand sanitizer that contains at least 60% alcohol. Cover all surfaces of your hands and rub them together until they feel dry.
• Avoid touching your eyes, nose, and mouth with unwashed hands.
• Avoid close contact with people who are sick.
• Put distance between yourself and other people if COVID-19 is spreading in your community.

Thank you in advance for your patience and flexibility as we navigate these challenging times. 

We will provide more information tomorrow as it becomes available to us.

Thank you, 

Dr. Eric Twadell
Superintendent

To The District 125 Community:

To safeguard the health and wellness of all students and staff, and after consultation with village officials and considering the recommendations of the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) regarding limiting the gathering of large groups, we have decided to close Stevenson High School to students beginning tomorrow, Friday, March 13, in an abundance of caution and as a precautionary measure to limit the spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19) illness in our community. 

To prepare for what we expect to be a prolonged closure:

• On Friday, March 13 teachers will be working collaboratively in their academic divisions preparing for our e-Learning days. Students will have a Non-School Day on Friday, March 13. 
• E-Learning Days will begin on Monday, March 16. 
• Spring Break will still be observed March 23-27. 
• Our tentative plan is to return to on-campus classes on Monday, April 6.

Here are important details all families should know:

1. As you know, we have the finest faculty of any high school in America. We are confident that they will deliver outstanding instruction to our students online using our e-Learning strategies. Please visit our e-Learning Days web page at https://www.d125.org/academics/elearning-days to familiarize yourself with our procedures.
2. Teachers will be using our learning management systems Canvas & Google Classroom to support our e-Learning days. If you are unfamiliar with Canvas, please watch the short video about it on our Parents web page at https://www.d125.org/parents. The page also contains information on signing up for a Canvas account if you have not already done so.
3. We will continue to follow our regular class schedule during e-Learning days. Teachers and students will be expected to be online and available to one another during the times when they would normally be accessible.  (e.g. Early Bird, 1st - 8:30-9:21, 2nd - 9:26-10:13, etc)  Teachers will invite students into online classes through the Conference function in Canvas, Zoom, or Google Chat.
4. A tutorial on how to use the Conference function in Canvas can be found here. A tutorial on how to use Zoom can be found here.
5. On Monday morning, March 16, students should look for an email from their teachers with specific directions for the day, and be ready to log-in to Canvas or Google Classroom at the start of each regularly scheduled class period.
6. Attendance will be taken each day, and daily instructions, directions, and activities will be sequenced by each teacher and their curriculum teams.
7. If your student has a medical appointment or some other circumstance that will interfere with participation in their classes, please send an email to your teacher. 
8. Starting Saturday, March 14, all co-curricular activities, including athletics, will be postponed or cancelled until further notice. For further information please contact your coach or club sponsor.

Students may come to the school on Friday, March 13 between 8 a.m. and 2 p.m. to collect items they may have left in their lockers. Beginning Saturday, March 14, we will be closing the school building.

While we know this is an unprecedented decision, these are unprecedented times. We are committed to following CDC recommendations and to do our part in taking preventative measures to mitigate the impact of this pandemic. While we have not been notified of any staff or students being diagnosed with COVID-19, we believe the evidence that makes it increasingly clear that it is better for schools to close sooner rather than later to slow the spread of the disease. Although it seems that the coronavirus has primarily impacted people 60 and older, the reality is that even if our students are less likely to be adversely affected, they still could be carriers of the disease. Closing the school reduces the incubation effect that occurs when 4,300 students, and more than 600 adults gather in the school on a daily basis. 

The decision to close school is not one we are making lightly. We are fully aware of the complications that this will cause in the lives of our students and their families — and for our faculty and staff as well. Whatever the downsides of closing school may be, we believe that as a public school we have a shared responsibility to ensure the safety and well-being of our students, faculty and staff and the larger Stevenson community.

We will continue to share information and update families throughout the days and weeks ahead. We appreciate your patience and understanding as we navigate these challenging times.

Dr. Eric Twadell
Superintendent

To All Parents and Guardians:

The coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak is pushing schools in many parts of the country, including Stevenson, into unchartered waters. In our more than 25 years of education, we have dealt with pertussis and flu outbreaks, including this year, as well as the SARS epidemic of 2002-03. However, the speed with which COVID-19 has spread, and the uncertainty that still surrounds it, have made for an unprecedented situation.

While there are no confirmed cases among our students or adults as of now, the rapid spread of the disease makes it likely that we will be impacted before the end of the school year. In light of this reality, we wanted to share with you some of the issues our leadership team has been discussing.

Who Informs Our Decision Making? While our nursing staff does extraordinary work in helping to maintain the health of our students — and has been invaluable in dealing with the pertussis situation this school year — we will continue to look primarily to local, state and federal health departments for guidance in addressing the coronavirus outbreak. They are experts in this area, and we are not.

What If Someone Has COVID-19? If we become aware that a student or staff member has been diagnosed with COVID-19, we will notify the Lake County Health Department and then notify our Stevenson community. We also will share if and/or how the academic and co-curricular schedule may be impacted. Notifications for students, parents and staff will occur in the same way that we would announce other emergency closures, using a combination of phone calls, emails and website/social media announcements.

Canceling Classes or Events: Our first and most important responsibility is to safeguard the health and well-being of our students, staff and community. To that end, we will follow the Lake County Health Department and the Center for Disease Control’s guidance and direct recommendations when considering any cancellations.  At this time, our public health officials have not recommended nor directed us to cancel or reschedule classes or other school events.

Will We Use e-Learning Days? Yes. We are confident the use of e-Learnings days and Canvas (our Learning Management System) is our best opportunity to support student learning during what may be a challenging time.

The COVID-19 outbreak has led to much uncertainty. Our team has had numerous planning sessions on how we will react if, or when, the virus touches our community. While we have tried our best to be proactive — including an even greater intensity to daily and nightly cleaning of our school building — there may be situations and circumstances that make for difficult decisions. Once again, in those cases our primary concern is the safety and well-being of students, supported by the latest recommendations and directives from public health officials.

In the meantime, we would like to remind you of these basic steps that everyone should be taking to minimize the spread of this and any respiratory illness:

• Stay home when you are sick.
• Wash your hands with soap and water for at least 20 seconds. 
• Avoid touching your eyes, nose and mouth with unwashed hands.
• Avoid close contact with people who are sick.
• Cover your cough or sneeze with a tissue, then throw the tissue in the trash.
• Clean and disinfect frequently touched objects and surfaces.

We will continue to monitor this situation and keep our Stevenson community informed of any new information as it develops. If you have specific questions please do not hesitate to reach out to one or both of us.  Thank you for your cooperation.

Sincerely,

Dr. Eric Twadell            Mr. Troy Gobble
Superintendent            Principal
 

Coronavirus (COVID-19) update from the weekly e-Minuteman newsletter:

No school groups are scheduled to travel abroad during Spring Break, but some trips are planned within the United States. As of Thursday, March 5, no Spring Break trips had been canceled. Meanwhile, the school echoes the following recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control for any students traveling internationally during Spring Break:

• Non-essential travel to the following countries should be avoided: China, Iran, Italy and South Korea. If you were in a country with a COVID-19 outbreak and feel sick with fever, cough, or difficulty breathing, within 14 days after you left, follow these CDC guidelines.
• Travelers should reconsider cruise ship voyages into or within Asia.
• Anyone traveling to Japan should practice enhanced precautions.
• Hong Kong visitors should practice usual precautions.

Since flu and respiratory disease season is still underway, CDC recommends getting a flu vaccine, taking everyday preventive actions to help stop the spread of germs, and taking flu antivirals if prescribed. Our nurses also have some important health reminders. 

Summer Travel: School officials have been in discussions with the chaperones and agencies coordinating summer travel programs. Families will be notified if any changes are planned.

This message was sent to all parents and guardians via email on Thursday, Feb. 27:

Tuesday’s announcement by the Centers for Disease Control about the likely spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19) throughout the United States has understandably caused concern in the Stevenson community.

Although the number of diagnosed cases in the United States was 53 as of Tuesday, Feb. 25 (including two cases in Illinois), we are making preparations for the virus’ expected spread throughout the country. Here are steps we are taking to prepare:

• Earlier this month, we advised families that any student who had returned recently from mainland China should not attend school for 14 days after the return date. We also encouraged family members of these students to not attend work if they also traveled to mainland China. This precaution will remain in effect for the foreseeable future.
• We are reminding our faculty and staff about our eLearning Days procedures in the event that a COVID-19 outbreak should force us to close school. At this time, neither federal nor state health authorities are recommending that schools cancel classes. Should the situation worsen and warrant the closing of school, the District 125 Board of Education has authorized the use of up to five eLearning Days per school year, which count as official attendance days. This would be our preferred course of action rather than canceling classes and making days up after Memorial Day.
• Our nurses will remain vigilant in monitoring the student body, especially in cases where students exhibit symptoms associated with the virus. The nurses are in frequent contact with the Lake County Health Department to receive the latest guidance. Currently, public health officials are not recommending the use of masks or gloves in public settings.
• Sodexo, which provides our custodial and culinary services, continues to follow the recommended processes for cleaning and disinfecting with products registered with the Environmental Protection Agency. As a worldwide organization, Sodexo is at the forefront of employing preventive sanitizing measures in hundreds of secondary schools and universities.

While the coronavirus news is concerning, we believe it is important to point out that, according to the Illinois Department of Public Health, there are other respiratory viruses like influenza currently circulating in Illinois. Fever, coughing and difficulty breathing are symptoms associated with all of them. Therefore, anyone exhibiting these symptoms should not be assumed to have COVID-19. If your student, or anyone in your family, develops such symptoms, we urge you to contact your medical provider immediately. In the meantime, we reiterate the following common sense actions that you and your family can take for protection:

• Wash your hands often with soap and water for at least 20 seconds. If soap and water are not available, use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer with at least 60% alcohol.
• Avoid touching your eyes, nose and mouth with unwashed hands.
• Avoid close contact with people who are sick.
• Stay home when you are sick.
• Cover your cough or sneeze with a tissue, then throw the tissue in the trash.
• Clean and disinfect frequently touched objects and surfaces.

Also, if you or anyone in your family has traveled to or from mainland China within the past month, we ask that you contact our nurses at nurses@d125.org or 847-415-4039.

Here are links for more information on the coronavirus outbreak:

Centers for Disease Control:
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/index.html

Illinois Department of Public Health:
http://dph.illinois.gov/topics-services/diseases-and-conditions/diseases-a-z-list/coronavirus

Lake County Health Department:
https://www.lakecountyil.gov/4377/Coronavirus-Disease-2019-COVID-19

The Illinois Department of Public Health has requested schools to share the following information with its families:

Any student returning from mainland China on Feb. 3, 2020, and onward should not attend school for 14 days after returning to the United States. Family members should not work if they also traveled. Students who returned from mainland China prior to Feb. 3, 2020 can remain in school.

The Lake County Health Department should be notified of individuals who have returned recently from mainland China. Use one of these numbers:

• Between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. Monday through Friday: 847-377-8130
• After 5 p.m. and on weekends: 224-355-5675

Memos for parents/guardians (PDFs):

• English
• Spanish

For more information, visit the Illinois Department of Public Health website.