The three St. Clair County school districts nearest to Monroe County are taking differing approaches to the start of the fall semester after the St. Clair County Health Department “strongly encourage(d) schools to consider starting the school year remotely.” 

The Dupo School Board voted at a special meeting last Wednesday to continue with its hybrid approach similar to what the Columbia School District initially decided to use before switching to a fully remote start to the school year. 

 “The motion was to go full remote, and it failed with a 3-4 vote so we are remaining blended,” said Dupo Superintendent Kelly Carpenter, who has the authority to decide what the district will do. 

Students in Dupo will attend school in-person twice a week and remotely three times a week to start the year. 

The Millstadt School District originally planned to take an approach similar to the Valmeyer School District, with students attending in-person for shortened school days and parents being able to choose a fully remote option. 

Now, Millstadt is starting the school year fully remote “based on the fact the number of cases are going up in our county, based on the fact that the positivity rate is going up a lot higher than our county health department would like and based on the fact that they’re seeing more students and parent-aged people contract the virus,” Millstadt Superintendent Brad Landgraf said. 

The New Athens School District also switched to a fully online start to its school year. 

“Our number one priority is and always will be health and safety,” the district posted on its website. “This was not an easy decision. This situation continues to be fluid and updated guidance or directives could alter our plan and timelines for returning to in-person instruction.” 

The St. Clair County Health Department made its recommendation to begin the school year online largely based on that county’s repeated presence on the list of counties at the Illinois Department of Public Health’s warning level for the coronavirus. 

“We have increased COVID-19 activity in our community,” the health department wrote in an Aug. 7 press release. “Our new cases per 100,000 are at 175. A large portion of these new cases are within the school-aged population. Our positivity rate is 8.6 percent, above the recommended target of 8 percent. Fortunately, our number of deaths for St. Clair County has decreased. One death is too many.” 

The health department also encouraged everyone in its communities to take the same steps that have been recommended for months to control the spread of the virus: wear a face covering when in public, maintain safe social distancing and frequently wash your hands.