Only students with COVID-19 allowed to Zoom

A dean escorted junior Natalie Margulies out of her 3 Green class the week before finals. She was sent home to virtually attend her Block 4 marketing class, in which she gave a presentation. 

“I was kind of uncertain about [what] the [remote instruction] policy was going to look like,” Margulies said.

The Glenbrook High School District #225 Remote InstructionPolicy allows students who test positive for COVID-19 to attend classes remotely during their quarantine period. After students test positive, their teachers are notified and send a Zoom link to students.

When junior Shayna Andrews tested positive for COVID-19, both she and her teachers were quickly notified, she said.

Andrews found out she had COVID-19 when she received emails with Zoomlinks from her teachers, she said.

According to Ed Solis, associate principal for curriculum and instruction, the transition from hybrid to in-person learning prompted the policy’s creation. 

“The rationale behind the policy was that students who were quarantined, therefore absent from class during this pandemic, should have access to learning and the classroom,” Solis said.

“I think we’re still in the infancy [stage] of talking about possibilities for students who maybe have a long-termillness, or for a different reason, like maybe something brings them to a state or place where they don’t have access to everyday learning in person,” Solis said.

“Teachers would need much more training and much more development when it comes to hybrid teaching,” Solis said.

“Right now, I think we haven’t explored all the different possibilities, the way students could access [remote instruction] or what should be allowed and what shouldn’t be allowed,” said Solis. “On the other side, teaching in a hybrid environment is very difficult … [and] I would say in no way are teachers experts like they are in a classroom in in-person learning.”