PHS-RELATED CORONAVIRUS UPDATES

March 12, 2020

Coronavirus (officially known as COVID-19) is a flu-like pandemic that originated in Wuhan, China. Since it originated in December, the virus has spread around the globe and has now reached every continent execpt Antarctica. More official information from the CDC is available here.

This thread will continue to be updated with more Coronavirus information related to the Prospect High School Community. Have questions about the outbreak? Ask them here, and we will do our best to answers all questions we can: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdVFkL9UDLlPhzsDDOVGT-CvHMsQNyXK2dsjm4gcDiRHjg04A/viewform?usp=sf_link

NBC Chicago is reporting that Governor J.B. Pritzker is expected to close Illinois schools for the remainder of the year at his press conference today (April 17, 11:45 a.m.)

https://www.nbcchicago.com/news/local/pritzker-to-announce-illinois-schools-will-remain-closed-for-rest-of-school-year-sources/2257533/

Governor J.B. Pritzker extends Illinois school closures through April 30 (March 31, 6 p.m.)

Pritzker also extended the stay-at-home order through April 30.

Board announces changes to 2020 AP testing

AP tests have been shortened to 45 minutes and will be taken online this year. Full story here: https://prospectornow.com/22173/news/college-board-announces-shortened-ap-tests-for-this-year/#photo

Governor J.B. Pritzker has announced a “stay-at-home order” for the state of Illinois (March 20, 3:15 p.m.)

The order will go into effect at 5 p.m. on Saturday, March 21. Even with the order, all essential businesses will remain open.

“For the vast majority of you already taking precautions, your lives will not change very much,” Pritzker said.

The order extends through April 8, so Prospect will be e-learning for at least the first week after spring break.

This is a developing story. More details will be available soon.

President Trump declares a national emergency (March 13, 4 p.m.)

President Trump has declared a national emergency due to the coronavirus pandemic. This frees up about $50 billion that could be used in various ways to combat the outbreak in the United States.

The current tally for cases in the United States is 1,875, with the death toll at 41. (Information according to The New York Times)

School cancelled March 16 through March 20 (March 13, 10:30 a.m.)

Monday: Institute day

Tuesday-Friday: Emergency days

*E-learning will not be implemented Monday-Friday

An excerpt of the statement from Superintendent Dr. Schuler:

“As a result of the aforementioned, out of an abundance of caution and in consultation with medical professionals and area school district leaders, we have made the decision to cancel classes for students for the week of March 16. Monday, March 16 will be an Institute Day for all staff. That will be followed by the use of the District’s four emergency days, Tuesday – Friday, where all D214 schools will be closed. It would be our intent for schools to reopen to students after spring break on Monday, March 30.

Students should bring all materials home with them today that they may need to successfully complete e-learning coursework in the event we are unable to hold face-to-face class instruction immediately following spring break.”

The full statement can be found here: https://www.d214.org/covid-19-update/?utm_campaign=coschedule&utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=District214

Q and A with Principal Greg Minter regarding the current situation (March 12, 10:30 p.m.)

Minter discusses everything from the cancellation of after school activities to the threshold for cancelling school.

Link: https://prospectornow.com/22124/news/q-and-a-with-principal-greg-minter-regarding-the-coronavirus-situation/

All co-curricular activities cancelled from today through the end of spring break (March 12, 12:10 p.m.) Parents and guardians received an email informing them of the following:

“All co-curricular activities will be cancelled from today, March 12, through the end of spring break. No practices or competitions will be allowed in order for students and staff to prepare in the event that we need to close schools and enact our e-learning program.”

“We are working with our staff on e-learning plans that can be implemented if I need to make the decision, with input from state and local officials, to close any of our schools due to the COVID-19 outbreak. If all schools were to close, we would first exhaust the four emergency days built into our District calendar before enacting any e-learning days. Any school-related closings would be announced via subsequent communications.”

The rest of the email will be available shortly.

Coronavirus outbreak declared a pandemic by the WHO (March 11, 12 p.m.) The World Health Organization officially declared the COVID-19 outbreak a pandemic, which they describe as the “the worldwide spread of a new disease.” The number of cases globally is over 120,000 and the number of deaths over 4,000. There are also now more than 1,000 confirmed cases in the US.

District 214 cancels spring break foreign exchange trips (March 3 at 4 p.m.)

District 214 sent an email to all parents and guardians announcing:

“Out of an abundance of caution, High School District 214 is canceling all out-of-the-country student trips and tours that had been planned for the month of March. District administrators reached this decision after thorough deliberation and assessment of the evolving circumstances involving the spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19).”

They added that there is a possibilty for some trips to be rescheduled for a later date.

Other important information from the email:

“In addition, if you or your student has recently traveled overseas or plans to travel overseas, we ask that you report this information to your building administration.”

“We are reviewing plans for school closings should the need arise and what arrangements can be made for online learning. “

The full email can be found here.

Here is an original story on the potential for the spring trips being cancelled. More updates coming soon.

Two confirmed cases of Coronavirus in Arlington Heights (March 2)

Arlington Heights, where a number of Prospect High School students live, confirmed the third and fourth cases of COVID-19 in Illinois. There has been very little information released, including how they contracted the virus, but it was confirmed that the two are a couple in their 70s. They are being treated at Northwest Community Hospital.

Basic information at the time of original publishing (March 3)