McHenry Times

Republican state Rep. Dan Ugaste, who represents District 65, understood when schools were first closed initially in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic.

"I understood the idea behind a brief initial closing until we understood what we were dealing with and we could put in place necessary safety measures to protect the students and those who work in the schools," Ugaste told the McHenry Times. "However, the school closures in Illinois went on far too long."

As the shutdown became more prolonged, Ugaste started hearing about it from parents, community members and educators.

"The comments mainly concerned the fact that kids were falling behind with remote learning, their social development was suffering, the students' overall mental health was suffering and in general, it is not the right way for kids to attend school," the he said.

In the future, he hopes local school districts are given control over the decision of closing schools or not.

"We live in a very large state," he said. "What is happening in one part of the state is not necessarily occurring in other parts. There can even be a difference between neighboring counties or within a county itself.  This is why we have local health authorities and local elected officials."

An October 2021 Unicef report found that government-mandated lockdowns and school closures negatively impacted children, leading to more fear, stress, anxiety, depression, alcohol and drug abuse, loss of learning, and poor physical activity and sleeping habits.                 

Total enrollment in pre-K-12 schools in Illinois declined by 3.6%, or roughly 70,000 students, during the 2020-2021 school year, according to Capitol News Illinois. Chronic absenteeism increased during that school year, with 22.8% of all Illinois students missing 10% or more of all school days. 

“We know from national studies from the (U.S.  Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) that school districts serving primarily Black and Hispanic students provided the least access to in-person learning last year,” Brenda Dixon, a research and evaluation officer for the Illinois State Board of Education, said. “We suspect that less access to in-person learning contributed to lower engagement among Black and Hispanic students.” 

Students exhibiting grade-level competence in math and English language arts decreased, with 17.8% fewer students demonstrating proficiency in math and 16.6% fewer students demonstrating proficiency in English.                              

School districts that offered more in-person learning saw smaller declines in enrollment than schools that used mostly remote learning, Illinois Policy reported.   

In March, the ISBE announced a $17 million grant to establish a supplemental-learning program for students impacted by school closures, according to a release. The program will be geared specifically toward low-income students.