Gov. J.B. Pritzker on Friday ordered schools to remain closed through the end of the academic year as his administration reported the largest single-day number of known cases of the new coronavirus and said the pandemic has yet to peak in Illinois.
“Folks, I’ve said time and time again my decisions are hard ones, but they will follow the science and the science says our students can’t go back to their normal routine,” Pritzker said Friday during his daily news conference.
“We know that there are many school districts with unique challenges, and we will work with them on any issues that may arise. I know that many have felt that this was inevitable,” Pritzker said. “But trust me when I say this was not a decision I made lightly.”
Schools statewide, both public and private, have been closed since March 17 and students will now finish out the remainder of the school year with remote learning.
Pritzker expressed empathy for students, especially high school seniors, having end of year rituals such as prom and even student pranks taken away from them.
Students gathering in large groups at schools and for extracurricular activities and events “is a source of joy for so many, but also opens up a nearly limitless opportunity for potential COVID-19 infection in a time when our health care workers, our researchers, our scientists and our first responders need us to bend the curve downward,” Pritzker said.
Pritzker’s office and the Illinois State Board of Education are recommending that any grades given to students during the pandemic “reflect the unprecedented circumstances in which students are attempting to continue their studies.” Students should not be given a poor grade because they have a spotty internet connection at home that interferes with remote learning, for instance, he said.
“Grades should deliver feedback and not be used as a tool for compliance,” Pritzker said. “COVID-19 is forcing far too many of our students to deal firsthand with concepts that even adults find nerve-wracking, let’s recognize that and be supportive of all of our students.”
The school shutdown came as Pritzker’s administration reported 1,842 new known COVID-19 cases statewide, including 62 additional deaths. That’s the highest number of additional cases reported in a 24-hour period since the pandemic began.
Friday’s tally brings the statewide number of known cases to 27,575, including 1,134 deaths, affecting 92 of the state’s 102 counties. On Thursday, Pritzker’s administration announced the largest number of coronavirus-related deaths in a 24-hour period, 125.
While the numbers of new cases and deaths have been consistently high, Pritzker and other officials have maintained the state is “bending the curve,” meaning the numbers are no longer on a steep upward trajectory.
“It’s flattening, the curve is bending, but it isn’t flat yet,” Pritzker said Friday. “I would like it to be flat, and then we know at least or we can have some confidence that it may start falling.”
Illinois Department of Public Health Director Dr. Ngozi Ezike said that more widely available testing is likely a factor in the rise in high case counts, also noting that different numbers of tests are being done on different days.
“We did not think we were at our peak yet, so given that, we do expect cases to rise, Ezike said.
The administration is also considering the slowing rate of hospitalizations and people infected with the new coronavirus needing intensive care and ventilators, as well as the state’s “doubling times,” the amount of time it takes to double the number of cases and the number of fatalities in the state.
“We have seen the length of time that it takes to double increase significantly, even more than I reported the other day, it’s actually increasing, that doubling time, and that’s a very good thing,” Pritzker said.
Fatalities are often a “lagging indicator,” Pritzker said, while hospitalizations are “the most definite indicator of where you are in the curve.”
Pritzker’s initial school closure order was first set to end March 30, then extended into April.
The governor said he will waive the student teaching requirement for future educators who have finished all other requirements needed to become licensed, so that districts are able to hire qualified teachers. He also has amended graduation requirements for high school seniors, allowing them to graduate without the normally required participation in consumer education and physical fitness assessments.
Illinois is slated to receive $569 million in federal funding for schools, which will be used in part to address the “digital divide,” the gaps in technology resources and internet access across districts. Public school districts in the state will receive federal dollars in proportion to the number of low-income students they have, Pritzker’s office said.
“This pandemic has altered the fabric of how we teach, learn, and connect, but it has not shaken the core of what our schools do, which is take care of Illinois’ children and prepare them for what’s next,” Illinois schools Superintendent Carmen Ayala said.
Teachers unions — including the Chicago Teachers Union and the Illinois Federation of Teachers, praised the decision to close for the year though CTU also said the city must find ways to make remote learning equitable for all students, including those who don’t have internet access at home.
“Every epidemiologist worth his or her salt has identified Cook County, the city of Chicago, as a hot spot,” CTU Vice President Stacy Davis Gates said. “We can make up learning, we can figure out curriculum. We cannot figure out how to make up lost lives.”
Pritzker said Friday “no decision has been made” about extending the stay-at-home order, but he’s hinted this week that it will be extended, with possible modifications.
The statewide stay-at-home order is in effect until the end of this month, The order took effect March 21, and has been extended once so far.
Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot, speaking at an unrelated news conference earlier Friday, said Chicago Public Schools had been “working on contingency plans really since the very beginning of this pandemic.”
The mayor said the city “will come out with some communications to help students and parents, obviously faculty and staff, adapt to the latest phase of this very long and complicated process.”
Illinois schools will not have to make up the academic days lost to the coronavirus shutdown, but are required to have remote e-learning available for pupils.
West Side Ald. Michael Scott Jr., 24th, who chairs the City Council Education Committee, said he was disappointed by Pritzker’s announcement, “but obviously the governor has more information about the curve and the health of the state of Illinois.”
Students do better on several fronts if their teachers can see them, Scott said. “I’m not saying the e-learning isn’t sufficient, but you get a better educational experience in person,” Scott said.
“And then, for students in Chicago Public Schools in particular, it’s easier to fall through the cracks with some of the issues they face if the teachers aren’t seeing them,” Scott said. “If a teacher can’t see a student and say ‘You look malnourished,’ that makes it tougher, obviously, to be certain those students are getting what they need.”
