PEORIA, Ill. – It’s official – Peoria Public Schools will return to class on Monday after an extra week off due to the high number of local COVID-19 cases.
Then again, if you’re a parent and got an automated, recorded phone call Friday afternoon, you already knew that.
“Our maintenance staff has cleaned and sanitized all hallways and classrooms this week,” said Kherat. “Next week, custodial staff will be addressing all high-traffic and high-touch areas throughout the day.”
Kherat says parents should make sure their kids are ready, too.
“Please talk with your students about the importance of proper mask-wearing, in order to keep our students and staff healthy,” said Kherat.
Those were parts of the recorded call district parents got, as well as the WMBD Newsroom.
Kherat says the district continues to work with local and state health partners — which will likely include the approval of the new CDC five-day quarantine guidelines, as soon as the district gets more information about them.
Representatives of Peoria’s teachers union met with PPS administrators on Friday to discuss the district’s COVID-19 plan.
Jeff Adkins-Dutro, president of the Peoria Federation of Teachers, told news partner 25 News that progress was made.
The union requested the meeting, claiming teachers did not have enough input into the district’s plans.
Adkins-Dutro did not say much about what was talked about during Friday’s meeting, but he said the session was productive.
“We have building reps in every building that are going over the buildings’ individual COVID plans with principals,” Adkins-Dutro said.
“I think we will know in a couple of days if it’s going to work or not,” the union leader also said.
PPS Superintendent Dr. Sharon Desmoulin-Kherat said there was “general agreement” between the administration and union.
