COVID

Joshua Nichols said he would be disappointed if Congress couldn’t compromise to continue the federal waivers.“That's going to add definitely another level of struggle to families. Now you're going to have to come up with a new solution on how to feed your kids.”

It's like 12, 13, or 14 hours of nonstop patient care, hardly sitting down and running from room to room,” she said. “It’s exhausting, mentally and physically -- and I'm only 24.”

“I said, ‘Hey, there might be a chance that we might not come back in person.’ I just wanted to let them know," said 3rd-grade teacher Jorge Alfaro.

WNIJ's Peter Medlin rode along on a school bus one morning in Rockford to hear about how the shortage is affecting drivers and students.

“It's hard to attribute which ones do I need to focus on. Which ones have that causal connection to chronic absenteeism or not,” he said. “Like if I am looking at my (Illinois) School Report Card that just came out and I'm seeing, ‘Oh, geez, our IAR literacy scores really dropped last year!’ Well, how much of that do I attribute to chronic absenteeism?”

Several Rockford elementary schools had zero students meet proficiency marks in math.

Wearing a cloth mask reduced the "contamination range" by almost 70%

The school staff shortage now includes nurses and health staff for many districts

Educator and author of books like "The Brown Teacher's Guide To Education" joins Teachers' Lounge to talk self-love, pandemic teaching and engaging with your creativity.

DeKalb says they're not going with a "one size fits all" approach, it'll depend on the student's needs and grade level.