The community of Highlands District 106 is petitioning the Board of Education to have both the Elementary and Middle Schools open 5 days a week for full days of in person learning beginning February 1st.
 
The fears of potential threats to safety that have been brought forward for months, fears that have been used to stall the progress towards a fully in person model, have never been proven or backed up by evidence. As a learning institution, an essential part of this community we expect Highlands leadership to make decisions grounded in evidence, science and data. The subjectivity and opinions of various stakeholders should never supersede fact.
 
Our request comes based on the following facts: 

1. The three weeks of 5 day in person learning that occurred in the Fall did not result in any outbreaks.

2. Of the 19 staff members who have contracted COVID since the start of the school year, not a single case was contracted by the staff member while on school grounds.

3. Multiple schools in the same zip codes shared by Highlands have brought their children in for 5 full days of learning without incidence of major outbreak, without having to revert the entire campus back to remote learning because of any spreading of disease.

4. The 6 feet of space between children is a guideline, not a requirement. Many of the schools noted in item 3, do not maintain 6 feet between children and have not shown any negative outcomes because of that.

5. Highlands has adequate PPE, plexiglass barriers and a contact tracing system that has the ability to ensure our campus is safe and that any incidence of exposure can be quickly identified and risks minimized.

6. Leaders from the medical community, including Dr. Anthony Fauci, have stated that the schools should be kept open.  In November, Fauci noted “If you look at the data, the spread among children and from children is not really very big at all, not like one would have suspected.”

7. Our children are falling behind. This is not opinion, it is data driven. This statement is supported by the trending of our districts MAP scores, by the fact that our 10 ratings have been downgraded for both our Middle School and Elementary School. The downgrading of that score indicates that the current platform of learning does not provide the educational experience, the levels of rigor and support, that Highlands is capable of providing.

8. The learning gap grows daily. Not only does the gap grow, but the school leaders have yet to present a plan to tackle that gap. Immediately opening for full time in person learning will lessen the amount of ground that will need to be made up. This learning gap has been studied and reported in countless publications.  While the gap varies among children from different socioeconomic categories, there is a substantial gap for every single student, regardless of background. 

Multiple studies and sources of info on the gap are covered in the following article:  https://time.com/5918769/coronavirus-schools-learning-loss/ 

For these reasons, and for many more, our community sees 5 day in person learning as the only acceptable format for our students going forward.