School Districts ramp up remote learning
School Districts ramp up remote learning
On Friday, April 17, Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker announced that schools in the state would remain closed for the remainder of the school year because of COVID-19. On Friday, March 13, Pritzker announced that schools would close to on-site learning beginning on Tuesday, March 17, through Sunday, March 29. This led to school districts implementing online learning for students.
On Tuesday, March 31, Pritzker announced the extension of the state’s stay-at-home order, as well as the closure of schools through Thursday, April 30.
Now that the schools have been closed for the remainder of the year, school districts are maneuvering to meet the needs of their students for the duration.
In Community Consolidated School District 168, in Sauk Village, Superintendent Dr. Donna Simpson-Leak and the staff have been meeting the students’ education, emotional and nutritional needs.
Part of that includes providing Chromebooks and devices for students who needed them to participate in online learning classes.
Leak said prior to the complete closure, students were already using remote capable learning programs, including Google hangouts and Google classroom. They also used Powered by Action, a platform that allowed for online meetings and for the collection documents. The remote learning day is still structured like a school day.
“Our teachers log on at 8:30 every morning, then they have meetings with their students starting at 9 o’clock. So, from 9 until 12, they have lessons and the lessons are set. So, for K through five, it’s 70 minutes of math, 30 minutes of reading, social studies, science,” she said. “It’s a 9 to 12 [o’clock] block, then 12 to 12:30 is the lunch break for staff. Then 12:30 until 2 is another block for students, and then 2 to 2:30 is planning for teachers.”
Leak said the academic set up has been working. Also, the teachers and students are doing socio-emotional components. The teachers are doing community circles in the morning, where students sign-on at 9 -9:30 a.m.
“It’s just a chance for the students to check in with their teachers,” she said. “We’ve been doing lunch bunches. Our nurses have been checking in on our students, our social workers have been doing well checks virtually. Our special education aides and teachers have been doing one-to-one with students.”
The district provides breakfast and a hot lunch Monday through Friday, to students younger than 18 at 13 different distribution sites. It is something the district has been doing since Tuesday, March 17. They also have partnered with churches who provide food for families and students in the district.
The schools in the district have been providing printed packets from students in kindergarten to second grade. Leak said parents found it easier for students in those grades to navigate.
The district also has given 500 devices to students in the district, which has 1400 students. Leak said there were families, with multiple children doing remote learning, so they needed additional devices.
Leak said while remote learning is great, nothing beats seeing the kids and interacting with them in person.
“I love our kids. People go into education because we love being around other people’s children. We love that sensation of the heartbeat of the kids getting off the bus at the beginning of the day,” she said. “People who are educators are people people, they’re kid people. We want to be around children, and impacting their lives in a meaningful way.”
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