As of April 1, 2025, My Huntley News is no longer publishing new content but remains active for archival use. For those of you with active subscriptions, a prorated reimbursement will be sent to you no later than May 1, 2025. Refunds will be issued to the name and address listed on your subscription. My Huntley News thanks you for your support and readership, and we welcome you to visit White Silo Media's primary publication, My Sun Day News.
Subscribe Subscriber Login Staff/Contact Advertise Submissions Jobs

 

MY HUNTLEY NEWS

THE DOORWAY TO OUR COMMUNITY
 
News Features Sports A&E Columns Hang Your Hat Obituaries Sun City

November 13, 2020

In a photograph that could be a sign of the COVID-19 age, District 158 school board members, all wearing masks, stand social distance apart for a photograph with certificates of appreciation signifying School Board Appreciation Week.
In a photograph that could be a sign of the COVID-19 age, District 158 school board members, all wearing masks, stand social distance apart for a photograph with certificates of appreciation signifying School Board Appreciation Week.

News • November 13, 2020

COVID-19 still the topic of discussion despite empty classrooms

By

HUNTLEY – With all district schools currently on remote learning because of increases in COVID-19 cases, positivity rates, and hospitalizations in both McHenry and Kane counties, discussion of the coronavirus and its impact was still top of mind Thursday for the District 158 School Board.

The meeting drew no public comments, either in-person or via email, which is unusual over the past months as the district has been reacting to changes in health metrics. Outspoken parents on all sides of the issue, along with staff members concerned about the impact on their own health, have occupied hours at the beginning of previous meetings, urging the board to either reopen all schools and school activities or maintain remote learning.

Superintendent Scott Rowe told the board the district will stop updating its “COVID-19 Metrics Dashboard” on the district’s website in light of the return to remote learning at all schools. The page listed schools in the district and the number of staff and students who were away from school in isolation while awaiting test results or in quarantine after testing positive.

With few if any students in the schools, the information on virus infections was self-reported by students, he said, bringing the accuracy of the figures into question. All information had been removed from the dashboard by Friday morning.

“We’re going to suspend that until we have students back into the building, when we’ll pick that practice back up,” Rowe said. “While students are remote, there’s no need for that communication to go communitywide.”

A week ago, the board agreed to follow guidelines from the Illinois Department of Public Health and delay Huntley High School’s basketball season until the spring, when the IDPH would reassess infection figures across the state to determine whether it was safe to allow students to play contact sports. In August, high school football also was pushed to the spring.

The IDPH decision became more controversial after the Illinois High School Association, the sports body for public schools in the state, disagreed with the governor’s office and tried to recruit schools to reinstate a winter basketball season.

Rowe said that since the board met last week, the IHSA has invited representatives from the governor’s office and the IDPH to a meeting to attempt closer collaboration on such issues. He also said the IHSA had surveyed 800 public schools in the state, with 540 responding. Of those, only eight schools indicated that they would play basketball this winter, Rowe said.

The superintendent marked School Board Appreciation Week with remarks and certificates for board members, again noting the difficult decisions made because of the coronavirus’s impact on schools.

“I can guarantee that none of you signed up to be a board member realizing you’d be helping to lead the district through the most challenging time of our lives,” he said. “Thank you and know that you are appreciated, maybe this year more than ever before.”

Board President Anthony Quagliano echoed Rowe’s comments with some of his own, thanking board members for their “hard work and effort.”

“I wouldn’t replace you guys with anybody right now,” he said. “I just appreciate all the time and effort and the thoughtfulness that we tried to approach these circumstances. They’re not ideal for anybody. It’s not working for a lot of people. We get it, and obviously there are people in the community not too happy about the way things have been. But I’m proud of the way all of you have stood up and done what you felt was right and how we helped to guide the district.”