Bourbonnais 53 District

We are thankful for our students! We salute 4th grade remote STAR Student Ryder Guimond!

We are thankful for our students! We salute 4th grade remote STAR Student Jason Nguyen!

We are thankful for our students! We salute 4th grade remote STAR Student Alex Lyle!

Dear BESD #53 Families and Community, As previously communicated, we have been closely monitoring Liberty Intermediate School and BUGC to make sure we can return as scheduled. Unfortunately, we can not properly staff those schools at this time as a result of our strict Covid-19 safety protocols which require isolating individuals for periods of time. We will need to push back the date to return to in-person learning to December 7th. We will conduct another review on December 3rd to determine if we can return safely for our students and staff. We are aware that key health organizations have put an emphasis on schools remaining open as we relied upon guidance from the AAP, IDPH, and CDC to create our Return to Learn Plans. We realize that the CDC Director just recently stated “there's extensive data to confirm that K-12 schools can operate with face-to-face learning and they can do it safely and they can do it responsibly”. We understand that every time a school closes to in-person learning it only exacerbates the inequities that exist for students and creates tremendous hardships on families. While we concur with the emphasis on trying to remain open, staffing will continue to be a challenge. I am aware this decision is frustrating for many people. I truly empathize with those reactions. I can not thank our Teachers, Support Staff, Administrators, and Parents enough as we have only been able to rise to this Covid-19 challenge due to a wonderful collaborative effort of all involved. Sincerely,  Dr. Adam Ehrman Superintendent, Bourbonnais Elementary School District #53

Dear BESD #53 Families and Community, I want to wish everyone a safe and socially distanced Happy Thanksgiving. While Covid-19 has tremendously impacted our community and our school district, I am so proud of our successes this school year. I want to remind everyone to please be safe and keep your child’s school informed of any Covid-19 related information as that open line of communication has been a key part of our ability to operate safely. While all schools are scheduled at this time to continue with in-person instruction on November 30th, we are closely monitoring Liberty Intermediate School and BUGC to make sure we can return as scheduled. Our need to switch to remote learning for BUGC and Liberty Intermediate is a good reminder that everyone should be prepared for a scenario in which their school must quickly switch to remote learning. Sincerely, Dr. Adam Ehrman Superintendent, Bourbonnais Elementary School District #53

Dear BESD 53 Families, please take a minute to complete the free/reduced lunch application in Skyward Family Access. While the state is currently waiving the lunch charges for all families, this application is critical for several federal funding resources. This application also determines your eligibility for registration fee waivers. Thanks and stay safe! #maskup!

Tuesday November 24th will be a Regular Meeting of the Board of Education for BESD53 at 7 pm. To attend this meeting virtually, please sign up using the link below: https://besd53-org.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_Rw3v1ybYQQWr0uyd8nLCMg

IMPORTANT UPDATE Dear BESD #53 Families and Community, As you know, we have successfully managed COVID-19 for a good portion of this school year. It has been an extremely difficult time for everyone involved. We are truly thankful for the combined partnership between the District, the Teachers, the Support Staff, and our parents which has been a foundational part of our success. Clearly, the rising Covid-19 rates have severely tested our Return to Learn plans across the District. Ultimately, Liberty Intermediate and BUGC had to utilize an Adaptive Pause for different reasons. While we are hopeful (not a guarantee) that all three of our Elementary buildings can make it three more student attendance days to get to Thanksgiving Break, those schools are each being tested with the issues that arise from this level of an increase of Covid-19 numbers. As we have already communicated, Liberty Intermediate and BUGC are scheduled to return on November 30th. We are very concerned about our ability to adequately operate (specifically staffing levels) if we are seeing these levels of Covid-19 numbers. We will be assessing our ability to keep in-person learning between Thanksgiving and Christmas Break for ALL of our schools. This communication is intended to merely provide an early notification that we are particularly concerned about the period between Thanksgiving and Christmas Break. Please know that it is with a heavy heart that I write this communication, but I believe that it is only right to forewarn parents so they may start to arrange for back-up childcare if we are forced to utilize an Adaptive Pause. Sincerely, Dr. Adam Ehrman, Superintendent

In partnership with Riverside Behavioral Medicine we are offering a remote Behavioral Medicine Family Wellness Night. Join us remotely on Wednesday, December 2nd at 6:30 pm to learn how to recognize the signs that someone might be struggling and learn important proactive wellness strategies. Here is the link to register: https://forms.gle/uCu4jheL5nmNbEbz8

Dear BESD #53 Families and Community, In order to provide the District with the best chances of maintaining in-person instructional opportunities, we are reluctantly moving all parent teacher conferences to a virtual format. Our ability to properly staff schools is at the center of this decision. This strategy definitely reduces the “close contact” probability for teachers and thereby increases the probability in-person learning for the District. Thank you for your flexibility with this change. Sincerely, Dr. Adam Ehrman, Superintendent

IMPORTANT UPDATE- BUGC Switching to Remote Learning Dear BESD #53 Families and Community, As you know we have successfully managed COVID-19 for over 55 school days for all of BESD #53. Like our community, BESD #53 is not immune to COVID-19. COVID-19 has made the District’s ability to adequately staff a daily stressor for us. There comes a point in time that it is impossible to properly staff with the quarantine restrictions that we operate under regarding COVID-19. Therefore, Bourbonnais Upper Grade Center will be utilizing an Adaptive Pause from in-person learning, by switching to full remote learning on November 12th (student instructional times/schedules/attendance expectations will remain the same during this remote period). Bourbonnais Upper Grade Center will return on Monday November 30th for in-person learning. I truly had hoped to avoid having to utilize an Adaptive Pause to switch our in-person students to full remote learning, but our staffing limitations due to COVID-19 became insurmountable. We absolutely realize this decision will negatively impact many people’s lives. I do not make these decisions lightly and thank you for your support during this difficult time. Sincerely, Dr. Adam Ehrman, Superintendent

Please read the linked letter regarding Liberty Intermediate School. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Ge74vwwKhDACPMlSgisH3FBt7BrSexQxD3CHN49wxqs/edit?usp=sharing

Please join Mr. Shannon Swilley (BUGC Principal) for an opportunity to engage in a conversation examining the patterns of our racial divide and our role in the healing process. Click on this link to sign up for all three sessions. https://tinyurl.com/y3kud3ap You can also view the attached flyer for details. Thanks

Upcoming Opportunities

Dear BESD #53 Families and Community, Today marks day 50 of in-person instruction. I am so proud that we have been able to offer our students in-person instruction even if it looks a little different than normal years. Clearly, it was not easy to get to this bench mark in the school, but I am truly appreciative of each one these days as they have allowed for critical connections to be made for everyone in the organization. We have focused on trying to use a calm approach, analyze all of the data, and keep open lines of communication. In order to streamline the communication process and provide additional information for everyone, we are moving to communicating out regarding our positive cases (as well as other information) to our website. The weekly updated data is on our website under our Covid-19 Information link. We will absolutely still be utilizing our contract tracing procedures so anyone that we have identified as a close contact will be directly contacted in those situations. I am super proud of our Teachers, Bus Drivers, Parents, Students, Nurses, Support Staff, Administrators, and the rest of the BESD #53 family. Again, I want to thank everyone for helping us make this year possible. Educationally Yours, Dr. Adam Ehrman Superintendent, Bourbonnais Elementary School District #53

Please read the linked letter regarding positive COVID-19 cases within the BESD#53 community: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1cmOvMttU6dCA1m-jD_swYX4ZdjWbm9l_H5TAC9oY2lc/edit?usp=sharing

Student lunches on November 3rd? All district schools will be closed on November 3rd per school code. Remote students should pick up lunch on Monday (11/2) instead of the usual Tuesday pickup. In person students will be given two lunches as they leave on Monday. BUGC students attending in person on Friday will get two lunches on Friday. Thanks!

BESD 53 is supporting Red Ribbon Week with activities to support good choices. #besd53

The Northern Illinois Food Bank is hosting another Pop-Up Market in Kankakee! Please see the attached flyer to share with your networks, teams and the community for the opportunity of the Pop-Up Market, which will include Fresh Produce, Dairy, and Protein Boxes. There is also information below for volunteer sign-ups because they need volunteers, too! Pop-Up Market at The Kankakee County Health Department 2390 W. Station St. Kankakee, IL 60901 Saturday, October 31st at 9am -12pm (or until supplies last).

BESD#53 Making the impossible... POSSIBLE. https://vimeo.com/471130122/05ccff07ed