Alex Miranda and Jacqueline Barba

March 24, 2020

On Mar. 24, District 99 alerted via email the first confirmed case of COVID-19 within the District 99 and District 58 community. The affected individual is not a student or staff member. As of Mar. 23, The DuPage County Health Department (DCHD) reported 95 total cases within the county; this number is expected to rise in the upcoming weeks. “[The DCHD has] identified that there is no increased risk to our students and staff, beyond the existing community spread,” the email read. Apart from this initial case, District 99 Superintendent Dr. Hank Thiele stated that the school community will not be notified of additional COVID-19 related incidents. “We were recommended to inform the school community by [the DCHD]… It is unlikely that we will be aware of every case in our community,...

Jacqueline Barba, Managing Editor

March 23, 2020

On Mar. 20, the Trump Administration announced that they will not be enforcing standardized testing requirements for the 2019-2020 school year. With the closing of many schools across the country due to the COVID-19 pandemic, all SAT and ACT testing has been cancelled through May and an online version of AP exams has been announced for students across the country. According to Education Department Secretary Betsy DeVos, "Neither students nor teachers need to be focused on high-stakes tests during this difficult time. Students are simply too unlikely to be able to perform their best in this environment.” In light of this, the College Board announced the cancellation of the May 2, 2020 SAT, as well as makeup exams for the Mar. 14 test that were scheduled for Mar. 28. Refunds will be administered...