Students in Elmwood Park School District 401 will be learning from home at least through the first semester, which ends at winter break, the board of education decided last week.
The schools don’t have enough space to distance students six feet apart, Superintendent Leah Gauthier told the board at its Committee of the Whole meeting. The Illinois State Board of Education requires the physical distancing until the rate of COVID-19 cases declines and the region moves into phase 5 of the state’s reopening plan.
Live online teaching, in real time
In the district’s plan for the fall semester, students will have live instruction every day from teachers, including homeroom at 8:30 a.m. There will be some “asynchronous” instruction time in which students will complete assignments on their own, as well, Gauthier said.
Gauthier said the schools are calling the live instruction “Remote Learning 2.0.”
“It’s not what it was … when we were thrown into it in 24 hours’ time,” she said. “We have time to plan for it.”
Students will begin the fall semester Aug. 31. The district will work on developing a hybrid model to prepare for an “eventual safe return to onsite learning,” Gauthier said in her letter to the school community on Aug. 6.
At the meeting, Gauthier said there are roadblocks to implementing a hybrid model, particularly that the district would have to offer both e-learning and in-person learning at the same time. In that case, students would have to stay together for classes as a “cohort,” to limit the possible spread of infection.
Getting families internet access
To address staff and families’ internet access needs, the district will be sending out a survey, and will use the resulting data to help with a “digital equity” grant administrators are applying for. The grant would make it possible to purchase more WiFi hotspots.
Support staff, including custodians, nurses and office staff will all be working onsite. Teachers may come into the building if they want to teach remote lessons from their classroom and access materials.
Some board members expressed concern that teachers would not be monitored if they were working from home, though administrators said they could visit a virtual classroom and track lessons. Board Member Peter Volpe asked that the schools “insist” that teachers come in if they don’t have reliable WiFi or have a home environment that makes it difficult to teach in.
Volpe and Board Secretary Sue Capraro said it’s an unfair “double standard” that office staff, custodians and nurses have to work onsite but teachers can work remotely.
“I think it should be an all or nothing policy,” Volpe said. “If we don’t think it’s safe for one person to come in, nobody should come in … So if we say it’s good for one person to come in, everybody should be in.”
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“But if some don’t feel safe to come in … ” board member Michael Scheidt said.
“In reality, look at your employer, look at my employer, I mean, we’re back. We’re working,” said Volpe, who works in the banking industry. “We’re in person, I’m out there, I’ve been out there since day one with everyone. I get it, nobody feels comfortable in this environment, trust me … but it is what it is today, our new reality.”
Capraro and Volpe argued that asking teachers to come in was no different than asking office staff to come in. Board Member Mary Bruscato suggested that teachers could stay in their classrooms all day to socially distance from other people in the building, but Gauthier said there are not enough rooms to have one teacher to a classroom, and that most share offices. The office staff will remain socially distant and use shields to protect their desk areas, Gauthier said.
Increasing the number of people in the building would mean that more people would be exposed if there was a COVID-19 outbreak, Gauthier explained.
Board President Frank Parisi said he was in favor of allowing teachers to come in if they need to, but if there was a COVID-19 outbreak, the district could restrict the building to teachers who have to be onsite to use science materials or other necessary supplies.
“Well, just because they’re coming in, doesn’t mean that coming in is what created a positive COVID test,” Capraro said, laughing.
Some of the board members said they were concerned with teachers’ access to technology and juggling their children, roommates or other distractions and that it would be better to require them to come in.
“I don’t understand why we’re pressing on something that doesn’t need to be done,” said Board Member Timothy Loughnane, who attended over the phone. “If they can’t do their job from home, they come in, and if they can, leave them be.”
The board and district decided that teachers would be required to come in “if they can’t teach from home,” a decision that would be made by administrators, Gauthier said in an email.
Athletics, special needs students
In other aspects of District 401’s reopening plan, students learning English will receive those language services remotely, but screenings have to be in-person, Assistant Superintendent Kari Smith said. Students with special needs will also learn remotely “to the extent possible,” but the district is working with the teachers’ union to figure out how to safely offer in-person learning.
Some athletics may be offered, as recommended by the Illinois High School Association, including cross country, girls’ tennis and golf. The district is waiting to see whether the Illinois Department of Public Health approves the Illinois High School Association’s recommendations, Gauthier said. If the district offers athletics, it would put safety protocols in place, including limits on the number of students gathering at one time. The district is unsure whether there will be enough teams in the region to offer a schedule of competitions.
Board members also debated how to set criteria for the time when conditions would be safe to reopen, without having to make families suddenly readjust to the changes in the school’s operations. They settled on committing to remote learning until at least winter break. The district could work with the teachers’ union to use COVID-19 positivity rates as a factor to determine the safety of reopening, Gauthier suggested.
The online version of this article was changed to correct a quote from board member Sue Capraro that was incorrectly attributed to another person.