District 35 Superintendent Catherine Wang (left) and Amy Holaday, director of curriculum and instruction, listen to another speaker at the Feb. 7, 2019, school board meeting.
The brutally cold temperatures that engulfed the Chicago area late last month meant Glencoe School District 35 schools were closed for two days.
But instead of having the day off, students and teachers took part in remote learning days.
At the Feb. 7 school board meeting, Superintendent Catherine Wang detailed the educational initiative that had students working away from their classrooms. With the days classified as “remote learning”, the district will not have to make them up later in the year.
“The staff members rallied to consider what kind of tasks they could push out to children and parents so that we could actually say it was a remote learning day and some version of learning was occurring,” Wang told the board.
In kindergarten through second grade, students could take part in a series of activities including writing a thank you note to a postal carrier and counting the spoons and forks in their kitchen. Fourth grade students could read, learn the state capitals in the southwestern states or build a chain reaction machine.
The assignments became more complex for the district’s older students.
“For our fifth through eighth grade students, most of the assignments were posted on Google Classroom or the Schoology portal. Teachers were able to assign lessons connected to the current unit of study,” Wang explained in an email.
The students had to show proof that they completed their assignments when they returned to school.
Ryan Mollet, principal at Central School, said his staff had time to prepare for the remote learning days as the forecast proved to be accurate.
“Of the kids, some appreciated it more than others,” he said.
Wang said a survey would be sent to parents and staff members about the experience. She added tweaks could be made in the future.
Wang added staff members were also on call as they took part in tasks such as professional training and were available to parents and students via email.
Remote learning days became possible under a change in state law in August 2017 that no longer said a school day was defined as five hours of direct supervision by a teacher. However, Wang added there are currently two bills pending in Springfield to bring back the more traditional view of the school day.
In separate action, the board unanimously approved a $5 increase for summer school courses, starting this year.
“A few years ago when our participation was really high we were breaking even, but now with participation a little down from highs, it is not quite break even,” noted Jason Edelheit, the district’s director of finance and operations.
Edelheit said the transportation, student registration and athletic participation fees would remain the same.
The board also approved a series of contracts for upcoming projects this summer at South and West schools including electrical, flooring and painting, among others.
Edelheit said the estimated budget for the entire scope of the work was $2.15 million and the total contract amount now stands at just over $2.025 million.
“Overall hopefully we will be a smidge under our original budget,” Edelheit said.