Monticello Schools have solidified plans for the return of summer school.

Dr. Vic Zimmerman is the superintendent of Monticello Schools and indicates they will have two July sessions. He says each building level will have its focus for its students.

Dr. Zimmerman points to the discussion about lost instruction time, and while there was a lot of that, he also points out students came away with plenty of lessons about life and learning.

While the pandemic brought about some terrible things, Dr. Zimmerman is focusing his attention on the positives of the pandemic and that includes students and teachers are coming out of this with new skillsets.

Dr. Zimmerman indicates while the growth of students isn't what it should be if COVID had not happened, there would still be students behind anyways. He also notes kids in rural districts seem to be better off than many others in central Illinois and beyond because they've been in school all year.