As some school districts round out their first couple weeks of the new year, officials are reporting strong starts in terms of the curriculum. Issues that marred the remote transition in March due to the coronavirus pandemic have mostly disappeared, according to officials, and feedback has been uplifting.
Though, districts overall have not changed their goal of getting students back into the classroom as soon as possible. Officials across the area are reporting the possibility of students returning in some capacity could happen sooner rather than later.
Township School District 113, which serves the high schools in Deerfield and Highland Park, began with remote learning on Aug. 17. They were one of many districts that reported a “much smoother” run at things this time around. D113 spokesperson Karen Warner said the transition to remote learning in March due to the pandemic was a crisis mode transition, whereas the district had time to prepare for the new school year.
“We have been planning for remote learning since May and that preparation has made a world of difference to improve what we are doing this school year,” Warner said.
Deerfield School District 109 spokesperson Eric Steckling said his district has had a similar experience to this. And the issues being had can be boiled down to intermittent technology issues as opposed to more overarching concerns.
“In a pandemic year, what do you define as a hiccup?” Steckling said. “I wouldn’t say (the issues) are anything that has disrupted education. I would say it’s the more normal, everyday hiccups you get running a school district.”
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D109 went back on Aug. 20 with a remote learning approach as well. In comparing where the remote learning plans were in March to now, Steckling described the current plans and curriculum as “much more robust.”
One hiccup some officials noted, including, Mary Todoric, spokesperson for High School District 128, which serves Libertyville and Vernon Hills. She said a nationwide Zoom outage that occurred on the district’s first day back was unexpected. Prentiss Lea, the district’s superintendent Prentiss Lea released a statement in the days that followed, which praised those in the district for their patience.
With that, Todoric shared similar thoughts to other districts in describing their remote learning curriculum. She added that giving teacher’s an additional two weeks before the start of class provided an opportunity to participate in “professional learning sessions.” Those sessions included topics such as “Equity Quick Hits,””Black Lives Matter,” “Zoom Best Practices,” and other various student support lessons.
“The D128 eSchool is a much more robust plan compared to what we were able to offer last spring,” Todoric said.
While most districts took a remote learning approach for the new year, North Shore School District 112, which serves students from kindergarten to eighth grade, took a hybrid approach. Specifically, they divided their days up into a.m. and p.m. time slots, and serve in total about 87% of their 3,700 students across 10 schools this way. The other 13% are virtual.
D112 students went back Sept. 3. Superintendent Michael Lubelfeld said some protocols being taken by the schools include spaced desks, changing how the school entries work, which includes enhanced supervision for entry and dismissal.
“I’ve observed middle schools start twice in person. I personally observed Ravinia dismissal yesterday and we have made multiple visits to all schools,” Lubelfeld said. “It’s literally all hands on deck.”
Feedback from parents, teachers and students has also been emphasized in the approach to the new year, officials said. Mundelein High School District 120 released a statement from Superintendent Kevin Myers on Aug. 28 that praised staff, teachers and parents for how the first week went.
“I am incredibly proud of how everyone is working together to ensure our students have the best possible remote learning experience,” Myers said in the statement.
D120 Spokesperson Ron Girard described the district as off to a good start, and added that the summer preparation and workshops that teachers participated in helped. D120 district officials also provided a handful of comments from parents that were complimentary of the district’s work.
Warner said parent feedback has also been positive for D113, but said the district is trying to improve circumstances better for students and teachers. She added that even with all the planning, there is still room to learn.
“No one was trained to teach this way,” Warner said. “The teachers do not have extensive experience in teaching in a remote environment and students are not accustomed to remote learning.”
Officials from several districts have not yet gathered specific reports of how attendance rates compare to previous years. Though, Warner said D113 is seeing similar attendance rates when compared to the start of last year. Todoric with D128 also confirmed the district is taking attendance each class period, and added attendance has been similar to previous years.
In looking forward, districts such as 109, 128 and 113 have said they are currently working on getting students back in their schools in some capacity. Other districts did not respond to requests for that information at this time.
Warner said D113’s board will receive metrics and guidance at their Sept. 14 meeting to help determine when it will be safe to have students on site. This will be the first look at eventually transitioning to a hybrid system. To that end, Warner said the district will need a 30-day window to prepare the schools.
Todoric said D128 is committed to remote learning for now, but they are planning to begin “strategically” bringing smaller groups of students back into the school after Labor Day on Sept. 7. The board is also monitoring the availability of rapid testing, which they believe could be an essential component for bringing in larger groups of students.
Steckling said D109 is being aggressive in their approach to getting students back in school. In the coming days, a recommendation to the board that would see some students begin a hybrid system this month is expected to be made public, he said. But the board will vote on it in an upcoming meeting, so nothing has been made official yet, he said.
“There’s definitely demand in our community to get as many students back as quickly as possible,” Steckling said. “There’s still a lot of things behind the scenes being ironed out to make it happen. But the next few weeks, we should be welcoming a decent number of our elementary students.”
This story has been updated with information from High School District 128.