McHenry Times

State Representative Tom Weber (R-Springfield) recently admonished schools for using "adaptive pauses" to return students to remote learning.

Numerous schools throughout the state of Illinois are now utilizing these "adaptive pauses" to reintroduce remote learning, although the actual number is unknown, according to a report by The Center Square.

“There’s no justification for shutting down in-school education," Weber stated on Facebook, "Our kids have suffered enough over the last two years.”

Although the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) continues to maintain a list of schools that are mask-optional, they have stopped monitoring schools that have returned to remote learning.

“ISBE will continue to take swift action to ensure compliance with the public health requirements that are in place to protect the health and safety of students and educators and to ensure students can continue to learn safely in person,” a spokesperson for ISBE told The Center Square.

Tri-City, located northeast of Springfield, is one of the schools that has announced an "adaptive pause" until Jan. 10.

“School districts are not required to report adaptive pauses to ISBE,” a spokesperson for the agency stated in an email to The Center Square. “School districts may not enter into an adaptive pause without first consulting with their local health department. If in discussions with the local health department it is determined that an adaptive pause is needed, remote learning days must be offered for the duration of the adaptive pause.”

Springman Middle School in Glenview also enforced a "adaptive pause" on its eighth-grade pupils from Dec. 7 to Jan. 3, notifying parents in an email that their children were also not supposed to have "any contact" outside of their homes.

According to the New York Times, one-third of polled high school students reported feeling depressed as a result of remote learning, while a quarter stated they felt isolated from teachers, classmates, and their school communities.

As of September 2021, 25 children under the age of 20 have died in Illinois after testing positive with COVID-19; however, it is unclear whether the deaths were caused directly by the virus, according to an ABC News Channel 20 report.