Districts are busy hammering out plans for the 2020-21 school year as families wait to learn whether it’s a return to remote learning, a return to school or something in between. The process involves district’s prioritizing different sources of guidance, thinking practically about implementation and improving upon a treacherous spring e-learning experience. The E3 Group wanted to put this question to the OP and RF community and created a poll where respondents rated the relative importance of each input in district decision making. The poll was made public using the subscriber list, E3 Facebook and members posted to local community groups.
Guidance from scientific/medical organizations ranked highest with no other input coming close in relative importance. Guidance from top state government education organizations was ranked next highest among inputs. Both the Illinois Board of Education and the American Academy of Pediatrics recently offered guidance urging District-level policy making to set a goal of returning to in-person learning. Still, these agencies see returning to school through different lenses leaving districts to interpret guidance. How to do this safely remains a challenge for districts.
Inputs ranking least important to respondents were District-level views of the Board of Education and Administration, and What other local school districts are doing.
An input with mixed opinions was Survey of the Oak Park and River Forest community. Districts recently surveyed their communities and results from this survey, as well as an earlier remote learning survey should be available soon. Some comments from the open field of the The E3 Group community poll point to other inputs and are below:
“The district needs to tell parents how elearning has changed and improved from our march-June experience. What have we learned, what works, how are we keeping keloids engaged and how much synchronous learning will be offered daily.”
“Quite frankly the needs of children and what keeps them and their families and the staff safe; that said, teachers are no less essential their doctors and nurses and we as a society have undervalued their contributions for too long. Let's put our money where our mouth is. It’s not like the folks in any of these districts are lacking for resources.”
The different family surveys administered by Districts 97 and 90 are below and reflect different approaches to gathering community feedback.
Oak Park District 97 - Fall 2020 Planning Survey for Families
1. Please specify your race/ethnicity
· White/Caucasian
· Black, African American or of another African origin
· LatinX or Hispanic (e.g. Mexican, Puerto Rican, Cuban or of another Spanish
origin)
· American Indian or Alaskan Native
· Asian or Asian-American
· Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander
· Two or more
· Other/Unknown
· Prefer not to say
2. What is your annual household income?
· Less than $25,000
· $25,000 - $50,000
· $50,000 - $100,000
· $100,000 - $200,000
· More than $200,000
3. Please indicate the school and grade level for EACH of your children (for the 2020-21 school year).
4. Which best describes your child care needs this fall?
· I do not need child care.
· My child(ren) would need additional care after school (such as the Park District’s
Clubhouse, Hephzibah, etc.) only on the days they are in the classroom.
· My child(ren) would need additional care after school AND full-day care on
Remote Learning Days.
· My child(ren) would need care only on Remote Learning Days.
5. Which best describes your ability to support learning at home should the district utilize Remote Learning Days?
· A parent, guardian or caregiver would be able to assist with learning at home on
Remote Learning Days.
· A parent, guardian or caregiver would be able to assist with learning at home on
Remote Learning Days to some degree.
· I would hire a private tutor to support my child(ren) on Remote Learning Days.
· My child(ren) would not be able to meaningfully participate in Remote Learning
Days.
6. Various models are being considered for fall, including a “hybrid” plan (combination of on-site and remote learning) and a full-time return to school. A hybrid/part-time model might be implemented to minimize the number of people together at one time and ensure compliance with the state’s health and safety guidelines.
Please indicate the extent to which you agree or disagree with the following statements. (The answer choices for each of the following questions were: Strongly Agree, Somewhat Agree, Neither Agree or Disagree, Somewhat Disagree, Strongly Disagree.)
I would be comfortable having my child(ren) do full-time remote learning provided by District 97, assuming improvements to the Spring 2020 Remote Learning Plan.
I would be comfortable having my child(ren) return to school full-time in the fall, if the state’s health and safety guidelines are met.
I am likely to have my child(ren) return to school in a full-time model, if the state’s health and safety guidelines are met.
Someone in my household has an underlying medical condition that puts them at high risk and I would not feel comfortable sending my child(ren) back to school.
I intend to keep my child(ren) at home until I feel it is safe for them to return.
Additional child care requirements of having my child(ren) in school fewer than
five days a week would be a financial burden for my family.
Additional child care requirements of having my child(ren) in school fewer than five days a week would be difficult given my family’s work situation.
I plan to look at alternatives to sending my child(ren) back to District 97 in the fall.
I am likely to have my child(ren) return to school in a hybrid model, if the state’s health and safety guidelines are met.
I would be comfortable having my child(ren) return to school in a hybrid model (part-time) in the fall, if the state’s health and safety guidelines are met.
7. If you indicated in the previous question that you plan to keep your child(ren) home when school results in the fall, what circumstances would be necessary for you to allow them to return? Please select all that apply.
· Illinois and Cook County stay in “Phase 4” for at least six months.
· Illinois and Cook County reach “Phase 5” of the Restore Illinois reopening plan.
· Contact tracing becomes widespread.
· I don’t intent to return my child(ren) to school for the foreseeable future.
· Illinois and Cook County stay in “Phase 4” for at least three months.
· School is “back to normal”
· I don’t know.
· I intend to keep my child(ren) at home until I feel it is safe for them to return.
· A vaccine for COVID-19 becomes widely available.
8. Please share any additional feedback you would like the district to consider for Fall 2020 planning.
(open text field for community input)
River Forest District 90 – Return to School Family Survey
1. How comfortable would you be in sending your child(ren) back to school for full-time in-person instruction for the 2020-2021 school year?
· Very Comfortable
· Somewhat Comfortable
· Neither Comfortable nor Uncomfortable
· Somewhat Uncomfortable
· Very Uncomfortable
2. If compliance with official guidance does not allow us to safely open schools in the traditional manner for full-time in-person instruction, we will need to modify the instructional program. Please let us know which instructional design you are more comfortable with:
· Instructional Design 1: Full-time remote learning, with daily virtual lessons and tasks to start the school year (i.e. students receive instruction remotely at home from classroom teachers including regular, live teaching).
· Instructional Design 2: Blended remote learning model, with alternate days in-person learning and remote learning (i.e. each classroom of students split in two groups to reduce school/classroom density, with students learning both remotely and attending school in-person by group).
3. If Instructional Design #2 is selected (from Question 2 above), which format would your family prefer?
Alternate day in-person attendance: Every other day attendance on a two-week rotation (i.e. 3 days one week, 2 days the next).
or
Two days in-person, three days remote attendance: In-person attendance twice each week, with three days remote (i.e. scheduled school attendance days remain the same every week, such as Tuesday/Thursday or Wednesday/Friday).
