BOURBONNAIS – The Bourbonnais Upper Grade Center (BUGC) has become the latest school in Kankakee County to migrate to remote learning.
Bourbonnais Elementary School District 53 (BESD53) Superintendent Dr. Adam Ehrman made the announcement Tuesday morning in a letter to parents.
“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.” Ehrman said in a statement Tuesday.
The school will utilize an ‘Adaptive Pause’ from in-person learning and go full remote beginning November 12th with hopes to return to in-person opportunities on Monday, November 30th.
“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.” Dr. Ehrman said Tuesday. “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.”
BUGC joins Liberty Intermediate among schools now participating in remote learning only in the BESD53 community. No word if BESD53 plans to move into remote learning among rising case numbers for the District as a whole. If they did, District 53 would join an increasing number of school districts in the community to do so. Bradley School District 61, Kankakee School District 111, Bradley-Bourbonnais Community High School, and others across Kankakee County have made the move into remote learning due to rising case numbers.
Bourbonnais Elementary School District 53 isn’t scheduled to meet again until November 24th. As of Nov. 6th, the Illinois Department of Public Health had traced 3,794 schools as potentially exposure sites to COVID-19. Potential exposure sites are interpreted as locations where COVID-19 exposure may have occurred, and are not a definitive positive exposure result.
Kankakee County has reported a shocking 1,396 cases locally since November 1st. As of Monday afternoon, Kankakee County Health reported 48 residents were hospitalized due to the pandemic, the most recorded since the pandemic began in March.
