McHenry Times

Crystal Lake Community Consolidated School District 47 recently issued the following announcement.

At the District 47 board of education meeting on August 10, 2020, the board received an update on the district’s remote learning plan and made a decision to extend remote learning for an additional three weeks at the start of the 2020-21 school year.  

District 47 students will start school remotely on August 24, 2020 and will continue remote learning through October 2, 2020. Starting October 5th, students will either: 1) remain in remote learning for the rest of the trimester; or 2) return to school for in-person instruction. Parents were given an opportunity to select their learning model preference in late July. Staff was also surveyed to determine the impact of COVID-19 on their return to work.  

The board initially approved remote learning for the first three weeks of the school year at the July 20th board meeting, but decided to extend this time period.  

“We continue to monitor the impact of COVID-19 on our community and to prioritize the overall health and safety of our students, staff and families,” said Rob Fetzner, board president. “Extending remote learning at the beginning of the school year will allow time (without threat of quarantine) for educators and families to build relationships and acclimate to the new Remote Learning 2.0 plan. This is critically important should we need to move into a remote learning only mode at some point this year due to the current pandemic.” 

Superintendent Dr. Kathy Hinz presented an update on Remote Learning 2.0 -- District 47’s enhanced remote learning model for the 2020-21 school year. The board presentation can be found at www.d47.org/covid19. Highlights of the plan are noted below: 

Remote Learning 2.0:

• Consistent, daily schedule: Students in all grade levels will have a consistent daily schedule, whether they are learning remotely or in-person. The K-8 schedule is 8am to noon and 2pm to 3pm, Monday through Friday. All core classes and encore classes will be taught during these hours. 
• Synchronous vs. asynchronous learning: Each core subject area taught (including encores) will include “facetime” with the teacher. This is referred to as “synchronous learning” and it occurs when both teachers and students are online at the same time. When students are working independently offline, this is referred to as “asynchronous learning.” Students in grades K-8 will receive a minimum of 2.5 hours of synchronous learning per day. (For detailed elementary and middle school schedules, see the presentations posted at www.d47.org/covid19.)
• The “extra” hour: The afternoon time slot (2pm-3pm) will be a combination of synchronous and asynchronous learning. This hour is intended for enrichment, intervention, independent application, social-emotional learning or additional learning activities as assigned by teachers.
• Parent communication: Seesaw will be used as the primary communication tool between teachers and parents across all grade levels (preK-8th grade).
• Attendance: Attendance will be recorded and reported daily to the state. 
• Grading: Returning to traditional grading practices; grades will reflect work, effort and knowledge obtained.  

Other ideas discussed at the meeting that the district will be exploring include: implementing a loaner desk program for families to create study spaces at home (if interested, please email desks@d47.org); hosting virtual clubs for students; and working with community partners to provide supervision at school during remote learning for families in need. 

Updates on District 47’s reopening plan can be found at www.d47.org/covid19.

Original source can be found here.