Students at Des Plaines school back in class for return to year-round schedule

DES PLAINES, Ill. (WLS) -- Students at one school in Des Plaines are back in class Wednesday.

After having to re-adjust the school season last year during the pandemic, kids at Iroquois Community School are finally back to their year-round school schedule.

And parents are ready for their kids to get back to class.

"Leading up to this point she's been excited about buying supplies, which we didn't necessarily do last year and just seeing her friends," said parent Charmaine Yee-Rowland. "For me, just to get her out of the house, very excited about that!"

Masks stay on for now for students, and staff have the option if they are vaccinated.

Starting the 2021-22 school year also means preparing for what could happen at any moment, especially with new CDC guidelines for students come August.

"We will have to examine that coming up in the next several weeks," said District 62 Superintendent Dr. Paul Hertel. "We will take two weeks to figure out a procedure, how to figure out who's been vaccinated as students and we really look forward to a vaccine coming out in September so we can get our students vaccinated that want to be."

Social distancing protocols are still in place for shared spaces, the gym is being used as a cafeteria to accommodate the hundreds of students in attendance- spacing can be reduced to three feet instead of six.

And while guidelines may change in the coming weeks and months, the staff is ready, and parents say they are confident in how the district is handling safety requirements.

"My daughter was home for the entire year so it's going to be an adjustment this year because she's going to be wearing a mask but we are crossing our fingers that she's going to be okay," said parent Marina Sallas.

Parents still have an option of keeping their kids remote but as of Wednesday, only a few kids have opted to choose that hybrid model.