Flu, COVID-19 outbreaks forcing Pleasant Hill schools to take ‘adaptive pause’ through Friday

PLEASANT HILL, Ill. — The Pleasant Hill Community Unit School District No. 3 has been taking an “adaptive pause” in classrooms throughout the district since Wednesday and will continue through the end of this week.

An adaptive pause, according to the Illinois State Board of Education, is a strategy allowing for movement into any level of remote learning to prevent disease transmission during a pandemic. 

Superintendent Ron Edwards said Monday night that outbreaks of Influenza A and B, as well as COVID-19, throughout the district led to the decision to pause in-person learning. Students will attend class remotely on their home computers for the last seven days of the semester. He consulted with the Regional Office of Education and the Pike County Health Department before making the call.

Edwards said about “a third” of the 95 students who attend Pleasant Hill High School did not attend classes last Wednesday when the decision was made to take the adaptive pause. He said most of the ill students had Influenza A.

Edwards said about 15 percent of the students at the junior high school and the elementary school were ill.

“We just needed to get away from each other,” he said. “(The illnesses) were starting to affect a lot of things.”

All extracurricular activities are postponed during the pause. No practices and no games will be allowed for any sport. Extracurricular activities may resume on Saturday.

The boys basketball team had to withdraw from the Spartan Classic at North Greene High School, forfeiting games against North Greene and Calhoun/Brussels. Home games against Payson Seymour on Monday and Jacksonville Routt on Thursday will be rescheduled. The Wolves are expected to return to action on Monday, Dec. 27 at the Mississippi Valley Invitational Tournament at Unity High School.

Pleasant Hill co-ops with Western in girls basketball. The team didn’t play last Thursday at home against Jacksonville Routt and last Saturday at West Hancock. Games on Monday at Barry against Unity and at Pleasant Hill against Carrollton will be rescheduled.

Pleasant Hill was the host of a junior high school basketball tournament. Remaining games were moved to alternate sites.

Edwards was complimentary of his staff, which learned last Wednesday of the move to remote learning starting the next day.

“I can’t say enough about them,” he said. “We gave the staff very little notice, and they went to work right away to make arrangements.”

Classes throughout the district are scheduled to resume Jan. 3.