Lemont High School, Bradley-Bourbonnais Community High School District To Return To In-Person Learning
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Lemont High School in southwest suburban Lemont has made the decision to switch from all remote learning to some in-person learning.
Tyler Yates is a football player at Lemont High School. It has been pretty tough for him and his teammates not being able to play because of the coronavirus. He started his senior year two weeks ago doing remote learning from home.
"It's a little bit of a difference than going in person," he said. "It's more of a challenge, of course. You have a lot more distractions at home."
But Thursday Yates and his family received an email from the superintendent saying his district and Lemont Bromberek School District 113A plan to begin in-person learning.
"I do miss being in the classroom, especially because it's my senior year," he said. "I really want to make the most of it."
Starting the week of Sept. 28 Yates and his classmates who opted for the hybrid model will be back in the classroom. There will be 25% of students in the building and 75% doing remote learning. Yates' father supports the decision.
"He misses the interaction with his classmates, and that connection with teachers is just very important in a teenager's life in my opinion," Jay Yates said.
In an email to families the superintendent for Lemont's high school said both districts feel it's safe to go back to the classroom.
Some 50 miles south students at Bradley-Bourbonnais High School returned to campus Monday.
"We want to get kids back in school," said Bradley-Bourbonnais Community High School District Supt. Scott Wakeley. "It's certainly not our intent to be out forevers. We can't sustain this for years."
The Bradley-Bourbonnais Community High School Districts started the school with hybrid learning on Aug. 19, then switched to remote learning after four students tested positive for COVID-19. Eighty students were quarantined for 14 days.
Earlier this week they decided to switch back to hybrid learning based on ever-changing data.
"The numbers, that's all we have to go on, so we have to work with IDPHand the information we're provided and make the best decisions we can for our community and our students," Wakeley said.