D308 Might Increase In-Person Learning Hours As Students Return

OSWEGO, IL — As Oswego School District 308 students return to hybrid learning later this month, they may spend more hours in classrooms as had been originally planned, Superintendent John Sparlin said in a letter to parents on Saturday.

He also said that the district is looking at ways to bring older students into the hybrid learning plan sooner than scheduled.

The majority of the district’s more than 17,000 students have been participating in online instruction since the start of the school year last August. According to the district’s current reopening plan, general education and special education elementary and early childhood students are set to enter hybrid learning Jan. 19. General and special education junior high students, along with high school students in self-contained special education classes, will begin Jan. 25. General education high school students would begin hybrid learning Feb. 1.

"We are thrilled that the change of the calendar will also bring a change in how we are able to deliver instruction," Sparlin wrote. "We are reviewing current timelines and exploring ways to return our secondary students to in-person instruction sooner than initially planned, and to offer more in-person instructional hours as the semester continues."

Under the current hybrid plan, students would be divided into groups that would alternate in-person for half of the school day, and would finish their days in remote learning throughout the week. This change is possible due to a difference in the metrics the district used to inform the timing of in-person learning.

Sparlin said that metrics will shift from what was recommended by health experts in the fall, such as monitoring community spread, to a focus on consistent and correct use of the mitigation strategies in each school, cases connected to school transmission, staff availability, and PPE supply.

"This is in alignment with the suggested measurements published by the CDC (Centers for Disease Control) for schools and is also what is being used successfully by many schools offering in-person instruction," he said.

Sparlin also confirmed that the district will continue to pause all extracurricular indoor sports and activities pending additional guidance from state officials.

Additional information on the district’s plan will be shared the week of Jan. 11. The district’s reopening plan can be found online.