Nearly one-third of District 135 families “not comfortable” with in-person school in fall
D135 Board of Education to gather additional feedback before likely voting on fall plans at a special meeting on July 23
Nearly 33% of respondents to a District 135 survey said they are “not comfortable with my child returning to school” in the fall under current conditions. The remaining 67.4% claimed they are “comfortable with my child returning to school wearing a mask or face shield at all times.”
Those were the results of a survey that drew 2,629 responses from district families. District 135 Superintendent John Bryk presented the survey during last night’s Orland School District 135 Board of Education Committee of the Whole (COTW) meeting, in which the board spent nearly two hours discussing re-opening in the fall.
Screenshot of the July 13 Orland School District 135 Board of Education meeting.
Following the COTW, the board agreed to table an approval of a reopening plan for the 2020-21 school year. The board appeared to be in agreement about scheduling a special session for July 23. In the meantime, the board will gather more input and the district will likely send out another, more detailed survey, Bryk said.
In the staff survey, which drew 552 responses, teachers showed more support for returning to work in-person in the fall, with almost 80% saying they would be comfortable with such a plan. Bryk highlighted that the survey went out a few weeks ago, so general sentiment could have changed by this point.
The board fielded multiple questions/statements that were submitted prior to the meeting. Most of the general concern was about plans for the fall and how the district would handle health and safety precautions. Are there enough substitute teachers? Would temperature checks be sufficient enough given the high level of asymptomatic cases?
“If we push for 100% in-person and a student contracts covid-19 and dies, it will never be able to make up that loss,” one person submitted to the board.
During the COTW, the board discussed the three current options for reopening: 100% remote/eLearning, a hybrid/blended learning model or 100% in-person.
A fully remote option would entail six hours of school each day with regular start/end times and teachers would provide daily live Zoom instruction, according to the district presentation. Assistant Superintendent for Teaching and Learning Dr. Lynn Zeder emphasized the district would be assigning grades, providing more rigorous instruction than the spring eLearning and monitoring attendance. Fall remote learning would be more advanced and planned out than the spring eLearning.
The blended option would include splitting students into A and B cohorts. Group A would be in-person Mondays and Wednesdays and every other Friday. Staff would be in-person five days a week. On off-site/remote days, students would independently complete assignments, although some students would receive live instruction for intervention and other support.
A 100% in-person option, deemed the highest risk, would include five days of instruction per week. There would be enhanced cleaning measures as well as symptom monitoring for staff and students. Students and staff would be required to wear face coverings in buildings and on buses, group size limits would be observed and physical distancing expected when possible. There would be scheduled movement breaks, time for hand washing, light to moderate PE activities and restricted sharing of materials and supplies. The district would increase the delivery of social emotional learning, as well.
Screenshot of safety measures for potential in-person learning for fall 2020 presented at last night’s board meeting.
“Offering all three models, I don’t know if we would be serving our community well with that process, but I think that offering two out of three with 100% remote being one of those and figuring out what the second one would be is fair,” Byrk said.
Following Bryk’s suggestion that the board consider presenting families with two options, members seemed to be in agreement that 100% remote and 100% in-person would be the two logical choices to pair together. The blended model would be inconsistent, is the most limiting and is more of a high school model, members said.
If the district is to give families two options, Bryk said it would be preferred if families stick to their chosen option for at least a trimester. However, if a family were to change their mind during the trimester, the district will listen to all requests, he added.
Multiple members of the board emphasized how many questions still linger in the air as to the specifics of each plan and how prepared the district is to handle certain situations. The school year is slated to start on Aug. 26.
“One of the comments today was just talking about [how] she had mentioned she was an opinionated person but she literally could not decide where she is at, and that is how I feel,” Board Member Tara Schreiber said. “I feel like everybody is asking questions and none of them are getting answered, and we can’t make a decision until these are answered.”
“We all know that if we choose one, there’s going to be half the parents that are upset, if we choose the other half is going to be upset,” Schreiber said. “There literally is a no-win situation right now.”
The superintendent emphasized there are potentially hundreds of scenarios that could arise because of the complexity of covid-19 and that each situation will be looked at independently. In the end, the district will always err on the side of safety, Bryk added.
Board Member Dave Shalabi said a common refrain he’s heard from district families is: “Why didn’t the Board of Education meet in person if it’s good enough for our children to be back in school in person?”
Board President Linda Peckham-Dodge said the board had the option to meet in-person under current state guidelines but chose to instead hold it over Zoom for the time being. The board’s Aug. 10 meeting will be held in-person at Century Junior High School with social distancing measures in effect, she added.
Also at last night’s regular board meeting, Ceddrick Hunter, Jr. was approved as assistant principal of Orland Junior High School.
Hunter has previously served as a science department head and instructor at KIPP Chicago, an assistant dean and teacher at Noble Network of Charter Schools and curriculum coordinator at Chicago International Charter School. He takes the place of Lauren Bushwaller as she transitioned to the role of principal at OJH after three years as assistant principal.
“I want to formally welcome Ceddrick to the Orland Junior High family and look forward to the leadership that he’s going to provide for our staff, students and parents,” Bushwaller said during the meeting.
“I’m both humbled and excited for the opportunity to serve the students and the community of Orland Junior High,” Hunter said.
“I know this is very unique times, and I look forward to the challenge, but I also look forward to connecting with each of you as we ensure that all of our students receive the high quality education that they deserve,” the new assistant principal added.