(The Center Square) – Many Illinois school districts are offering some form of remote learning this fall, a decision that has frustrated some working parents.
School administrators point to rising COVID-19 numbers as the main reason for keeping students out of the classroom for the beginning of the fall semester. Many districts – such as Peoria, Bloomington and Normal – had planned to offer both in-class and remote learning, but switched to all remote classes just before the semester started. The timing left working parents scrambling.
“The plan that you put out is all for you,” said Charlie Baugh at a Unit 5 school board meeting in Normal, referring to teachers and adminstrators. “Nothing in there suggests there is consideration for these [working] parents that can’t take off, that don’t have family members that can help.”
Stephen Wilder, superintendent of schools in Sycamore, said the decision to go entirely online was a difficult one.
“As a father myself, I recognize that it is going to have a detrimental effect on our students at home, but please know, there is nothing more that we want than to bring students back full time,” he said.
Dr. Chris DeAngelis, the school choice director for the Reason Foundation, said he has heard complaints from parents about remote learning in the early going.
“Families with high schoolers say that teachers are lecturing one hour a week and giving online worksheets, some teachers never showed up for ‘class,’ and elementary kids are expected to sit at the computer for 6-plus hours,” he said.
DeAngelis said he has noticed a spike in enrollment at private and charter schools. He has also seen an uptick in homeschooling that has caused some public school districts to worry about finances.
“They’re not providing families with meaningful options, and then they’re turning around and saying ‘don’t leave us either because we might lose some of our money,’” DeAngelis said. “That is pretty ridiculous.”
For some, the transition to all remote has been fairly smooth. Kevin Lyons, the communications director for Woodstock Community Unit School District 200, said there have been no major problems.
“Most of our students have been using Chromebooks for several years now, so it’s not an unusual education delivery system for them,” Lyons said in a statement. “We use primarily Google and Canvas platforms in District 200, which are working well. This is our second week of remote learning, so our tech department isn’t fielding nearly as many calls or emails about student or staff problems as they were during the first week.”
