Unit 5 Executive Cabinet member tests positive for COVID-19; District officials quarantined

Superintendent Dr. Kristen Weikle and members of her Executive Cabinet working remotely through Sept. 10

Charlotte Calmes, Editor-in-Chief • Sep 1, 2020

Inkspot file photo

The Unit 5 District Office was closed Monday, August 31 for a deep cleaning before reopening on Tuesday.

A member of the Unit 5 Superintendent’s Executive Cabinet tested positive for COVID-19 on Saturday, August 29, according to Director of Communications and Community Relations Dayna Brown.

In response to the positive test, multiple Unit 5 Cabinet members — including Superintendent Dr. Kristen Weikle — are quarantining; the next School Board meeting has been postponed; and the Unit Office was closed Monday.

The Unit Office reopened Tuesday after “deep cleaning,” with the quarantined staff members working remotely through September 10. All other District Office employees were expected to return to work Tuesday.

Although Board of Education members and other Unit 5 employees were “careful in the Unit Office and masked when together,” Brown shared this information in an email to Unit 5 staff Saturday, addressing the situation in hopes that it would not “alarm anyone but to be transparent.”

With the Superintendent and members of her Executive Cabinent in quarantine, the Regular School Board Meeting scheduled for September 9 has been postponed. The district has not yet rescheduled the meeting.

The district message concluded by listing practices that can prevent the spread of the virus, and stating that the situation reinforces “the communicable nature of the virus,” and “the District’s decision to start the year with remote learning.”

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About the Contributor

Charlotte Calmes, Editor-in-Chief

Charlotte Calmès is the Inkspot’s Editor-in-Chief. She is a senior at Normal Community High School and the president of the school’s Best Buddies chapter, as well as the vice president of the National Honor Society. In my free time I enjoy traveling, going to concerts, and spending time with friends and family. My all-time dream is to meet Taylor Swift. A slogan to live by is “leap and the net will appear.”