- Parents reach out to me
and say, "Hey, Mr. Webb,
"if our kids don't go back to school,
"I'm gonna lose my job
"because I've got to
stay home with my child."
- This is a never ending drumbeat
with really no end in sight.
- It's not the best.
It's not what we want it to be.
But it's where we are.
- We're still arguing about masks,
and science, and safety and,
whether or not that the virus is a hoax.
- [Doug] As students across the country
prepared to return to school
in the midst of a pandemic,
the big questions on the minds of parents,
students, and teachers are
whether it will be safe
to return to the classroom
in the fall of 2020.
And if it is safe,
what will learning look like?
One state that is struggling
to answer those questions
is Illinois.
In parts of the state
where the coronavirus
cases and deaths are spiking,
administrators are being cautious.
In August the Chicago Public School System
announced that its entire
first semester would be remote.
In other parts of
Illinois, outside Chicago,
residents disagree with a mandate
from governor J.B. Pritzker
requiring masks in schools.
- Since I've been active
here in the city of Quincy,
this has been the most
divisive issue that we've seen.
In Quincy we're very distrustful
of edicts coming down from Chicago.
You'll see signs here in Quincy, Illinois
that says Quincy is not Chicago.
And certainly our way of
life is a lot different.
- Hey, nice to meet you, I'm Doug.
- Roy.
We came up with that we're going to do
in person instruction,
bring kids into the school.
We're gonna have a remote option.
If parents don't feel
right for any reason,
they can choose to do
that remote learning plan.
- [Doug] Across the country,
schools are assessing
their own community's risk,
and in many cases, adopting
their own hybrid learning models
that include both remote
and in-person options.
- We're gonna require masks.
We're gonna social
distance as best we can.
As you come into the schools,
you're going to get
your temperature taken.
- [Doug] Recently, the mother
of a Quincy fourth grader
sued the city school district
over mask and temperature
checked requirements
that have been handed down by
the Illinois State Board of Education.
The mother claims that she
and her child would suffer
irreparable injuries,
and that the requirements
infringed on her child's right
to an in-person education
within the public school.
- There are parents that are
encouraging school boards
in some areas of the state
to open without masks.
That is against the rules
in the state of Illinois.
- [Doug] The case is still ongoing.
The mother's attorney
said that she hasn't yet
made up her mind about whether her child
will go to school remotely
or attend class with a mask.
- The lawsuit that took
place, did it upset the town?
I think there's both
sides of that argument.
There are different viewpoints
in town, on, on masks,
on the COVID-19 and all
the information coming out,
just like the rest of the country.
- [Doug] Webb knows something about
working in challenging conditions.
The former Brigadier general
with the US Army National Guard in Iowa
served tours in Iraq and Afghanistan.
- I've been in combat
and nothing compares to,
to what we'd done since March.
It's a, it's difficult.
It's stressful, for my teachers,
for my staff, and for our community.
- [Doug] In Quincy, that
division is on full display,
on residents' lawns.
But Webb told me that most
of the tension in the town
can be found online.
- I'm on social media, quite a bit.
It's part of my job as superintendent.
So I read the debates and I
read what they, they call you.
if you wear a mask.
I read what they call you
if you don't wear a mask.
And it's, that's, that's
a bit discouraging.
- [Doug] In July, Webb
became so frustrated
with the division in town that
he wrote a post on Facebook
about the lawsuit calling for
unity within the community.
- I Harbor no animosity toward the mother.
I believe she is trying to do
what is best for her child.
All our parents in the Blue
Devil Family are stressed,
tired, and a little upset.
They are just trying to
do the best they can.
- [Doug] At the elementary school,
I talked to principal, Chrissy Cox,
to understand how she is
preparing her teachers.
- Hi, I'm Chrissy.
- I'm Doug, nice to meet you.
- Nice to meet you too.
So I'm going to show you
something that we've done
with our nursing offices.
We've created a healthy office,
and then we've also created a sick office.
So if students are having
any symptoms of COVID,
they would come to the
sick nursing station.
You know, if they just have,
need an ice pack, or a bandaid,
they're gonna come to the healthy office.
This is our inexpensive way
of ensuring that students
can meet in small groups.
So we're going to provide
these for classroom teachers.
- [Doug] Schools in
Quincy have received funds
through the CARES Act
to supply students and teachers
with masks and sanitizer,
as well as modified classrooms.
But according to Webb,
those funds are limited.
- No longer do students
sit in desks in rows.
The classroom really looks different.
(knocking)
- Courtney Erfft is a fourth
grade teacher at Denman.
- Physically, my room is
pretty much how it's gonna be
when the first day of school comes.
So this year they're
facing the same direction,
and they're separated
this way, and this way
as much as they can be
to accommodate to physical distancing.
Last year, they were set up to
be collaboratively learning.
So they were put into groups.
This year, they're going to
be more in rows and separated.
- What are you, what's the book,
the quarantine books bin for?
- So this year to keep kids safe
with checking out books in our library,
we will have a bin that
they will put the book in
when they're done with it.
So typically in the past,
when they're done with the book,
they just put it back in
whatever bin they got it from.
- [Doug] With the town divided,
Principal Cox explained
how she was handling
the disagreements on her own team.
- One of the things that
is really important to me
is relationship, and ensuring that we can
maintain a positive relationship
even if we have a disagreement on
how things are going to be.
So quite honestly, masks are
a huge, you know this right?
Like masks are a huge
topic of conversation.
And so I've shared with my staff,
like we're gonna continue
to follow the guidelines
and the guidelines are that
we're wearing a mask to school.
It is not our job to come
to school and tell, and,
and tell people how we feel about masks,
whether we are pro mask or anti mask,
like that's not our job.
Our job is to, is to wear a mask.
- But some residents are skeptical
that a returned to in-person
classes can be successful,
even if masks are required.
- It's been disappointing
that our political leadership hasn't taken
more of a stance of enforcing,
simple measures to enforce,
to help with our safety.
- [Doug] Glenda McCarty
has been an educator
in the Quincy area for 25 years.
- Our daughter has chosen
the online Academy.
We, we looked at the science,
we looked at the data,
and made the decision that
was best for our family.
We feel that it's too
dangerous to send her back
into a large school setting.
- [Doug] As of August 13th Adams County,
which is home to Quincy,
had 580 positive cases and seven deaths.
- So when you look at that
data, it appears very safe,
but just within the last three weeks,
our numbers have spiked,
so we're starting to see the trend
that maybe the coastlines or
the larger cities saw in the beginning.
- [Doug] Schools
nationwide face uncertainty
due to the pandemic and many
have changed their plans.
Superintendent Roy Webb
says there's a 50 50 chance
whether Quincy schools will reopen.
As of today, students are set
to be back in the classroom
on August 20th.
- In combat, you get a deployment.
You also usually get an end
date when you're coming home.
And we don't know when our end date is.
