Dear Berkeley School District 87 Families and Staff:
Thank you for all you have done and continue to do to get and keep our scholars in school!
We have received communication from the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) that has advised school districts to consult with their individual legal counsel about continuing to enforce Governor Pritzker’s Executive Orders related to COVID-19 mitigations. These mitigations include universal masking in public schools, the exclusion of close contacts from school, and the weekly COVID-19 testing of staff who are not fully vaccinated.
After consulting with our legal counsel, as of Tuesday, February 22, 2022, Berkeley School District 87 will be “recommending” the wearing of face masks in each of our six schools and the District office. The wearing of a face mask will not be required in school, but will be strongly recommended, consistent with current CDC guidance. Masks will still be required on school buses, this is a federal requirement.
Students who are asymptomatic close contacts will no longer be excluded from school. We will continue to encourage students and staff who are not feeling well to stay home from school. Additionally, unvaccinated staff will no longer need to submit to weekly testing.
We will continue to do the following:
- Monitor our local health conditions and COVID-19 health metrics
- Update our Berkeley Blueprint (this will be completed again soon)
- Encourage our parents, students, and staff to get fully vaccinated and boosted
- Host vaccination clinics at our schools for the benefit of our community
We may need to adjust our future mitigation efforts, again, based on health conditions or future legal rulings. Let us continue to respect each other as a community, especially as people make individual choices on wearing or not wearing a mask in school.
Thank you again for helping us continue in-person learning for our students and community!
Sincerely,
Dan Sullivan
Superintendent