D308 Parent Says Hybrid Learning Is 'An Injustice' To Students

OSWEGO, IL — Even as coronavirus case numbers in Illinois move upward, some parents and community members are urging Oswego School District 308 to allow students back in classrooms.

The Board of Education voted 4-3 Tuesday to approve its hybrid plan, in which students will start returning to partially in-person learning in groups beginning Monday. While most elementary students will return to class Nov. 9 under the plan, junior high and high school students will return in January after the winter break. However, a number of people in the community said they are not satisfied with the decision.

Parent Teri Strickland told the board the hybrid plan is "an injustice to our children."

"The plan for reopening for junior high has me extremely concerned," she said. "With only two days a week for three hours, then returning home trying to slam a lunch and getting back to stare at a computer for another two or so hours does not seem like a very well-thought-out plan. We need to find a way to get our children back to school."

She said that the board's real concern is the budget and "that is not fair to the kids." The board needs to "dig deep" and realize the impact of this plan on the children.

Strickland suggested ways of saving money, including having parents sponsor personal protective equipment and having them assist in cleaning the schools so students feel safe going back.

"I guarantee you that moms would come help clean the schools if we could get our kids a proper education," she said. "There has to be ways to make this work. Way too many districts are already making it work for the board to justify this plan."

Another parent, Melanie McAllister, talked about her children's experience with remote learning. She told the board about her fourth grader who has been diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

"We are struggling ... and keeping him on track with his assignments, and he cries from stress from trying to keep up with all those Go Live! sessions ...," she said.

Her other child, a second grader, is also experiencing issues with assignments and the extended time spent in front of a computer, she said.

"This schedule of half days of school two days a week isn't enough. I think it would be better for them to go to school full days due to parents' full-time work schedules and kids with special needs often have therapy after school as well," McAllister said. "However if three hours is the only available time my child can go to school, sign me up as soon as possible — this has been a nightmare. Especially for my child with special needs."

Parents also said they are not on board with the shift in the schedule that the hybrid plan changes from the current remote-learning plan.

"While I wish more than anything for school to be able to resume in person, the plan that has been presented provides little structure, no consistent schedule, and less instruction time for elementary students," parent Karen Chorvat said.

She said that even though she supports special needs students returning to school, she would recommend that the mainstream classes remain fully remote for now, the way they are, with a consistent schedule that the children have now gotten used to over the last six weeks.

"They do not need their lives fully upended more than they already have been," Chorvat said.

The three board members who voted against this plan also voiced their many concerns.

Alison Swanson, a teacher at West Aurora High School, said students are struggling with remote learning. She also said she has concerns about pushing the transition date for junior high and high school students to January, a significant change from the initial date of Dec. 3.

"There's kind of this whole cross-section of kids who, I don't want to say are falling through the cracks, but are failing multiple classes because this type of learning is just not working," she said. "They're not special ed kids, and they're not high-need kids, but there is a whole group of kids who ... either you anticipated or didn't, who are not just failing one class but are failing multiple classes."

She suggested identifying small groups of students who need in-person instruction and bringing them back into schools sooner than their classmates.

"I don't think it's just freshmen. I think there's a whole group of juniors that are really struggling, there's a whole group of seniors because I have them, and I see them struggle .... equal isn't always fair, and fair isn't always equal. I think we also have to look at those kids and say, 'This isn't working for them, we need to bring these 300 kids in' ... we're only eight weeks in, we've got another 8-10 weeks to fix it. Some of these kids are still at the point where it may be fixable ... how can we help?"

Board Vice President Matt Bauman said he is worried about the added cost of bringing back students to school amid a health crisis.

"Even though I want students, I want my students in the buildings more than anybody, there's a cost to this program, there's a cost for the custodians, there's a cost for the sanitizers, there's a cost for the health aides," he said. "There's a lot of expense."

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