To the Members of the District 97 Board of Education-

Thank you for hearing our feedback and adjusting the timeline for in-person hybrid learning instruction. The announcement that you will be working towards a hybrid learning start date of February 1st is encouraging, however, we have the following concerns:

• D97 has made similar commitments in the past that were eventually delayed or rescinded
• D97 leadership still hasn’t committed to a final hybrid plan
• During the BOE meeting Dr. Kelley said several times that there was a plan, however, no firm plan has been communicated since the 10/14 announcement that D97 needed to “strengthen the plan” and subsequent 10/23 announcement that they would “work with stakeholders to develop a safe and equitable plan”
• Parents need to know when we’ll know the plan and be assured that there won’t be further changes or delays

We understand that Covid 19 positivity and infection rates will determine whether it's safe to return to in-person instruction on February 1st. There shouldn't be a delay due to the absence of an actionable plan. D97 leadership and the OPTA must act quickly to commit to and announce a final hybrid plan in order to implement that plan by February 1st; any further delay would be unacceptable and would make the proposed start date impossible.

We urge you to hold D97 leadership accountable to not only provide a timeline for the finalized hybrid plan announcement by Friday, December 11th, but to also hold D97 leadership accountable to meeting the commitments of this timeline. 

Here is our suggested timeline to meet this goal:

12/4/20 - commit to new hybrid implementation date of February 1st - done
12/11/20 - present timeline for announcement of finalized hybrid plan
12/15/20 - present draft hybrid plan at BOE meeting
12/22/20 - additional BOE meeting to present final hybrid plan
12/23/20 - D97 announcement of hybrid plan to stakeholders

This schedule will allow several weeks for teachers and families to prepare for the transition from remote to hybrid. With the winter break only a few weeks away there is no time to waste.

It is also imperative that D97 incorporates common-sense elements to the plan in order to actually get students in schools and provide the best educational experience for our children. A robust hybrid plan is meaningless if unattainable metrics are in place. As parents we hope that the final plan you present will focus on the following items:

• Utilize reasonable metrics that are measured against Oak Park cases and infection rates and adhere to the recommendations of medical experts
• Utilize measures that take into account school-based data 
• Maximize in-person and synchronous instruction time
• Leverage technology, specifically live-stream teaching, to minimize asynchronous time/days and keep students with their current teachers.

Thanks again for your recent hard work towards adjusting the timeline for getting back in school. Now we urge you to hold D97 accountable to providing a timeline for announcing the final hybrid plan and sticking with that timeline.

Signed - Concerned Parents of D97 Students