D-205 Touts This Key Change For Remote Learning

ELMHURST, IL — Elmhurst school officials use the word "structure" a lot when they talk about the improvement they expect with remote learning this year. Last spring, the district lacked structure when it went remote after the pandemic began. This year, they promise, structure will abound.

Classes in Elmhurst School District 205 are scheduled for set times through videoconferencing programs. This means students will get real-time instruction — or in school bureaucratic jargon, "synchronous learning." Students are slated to get at least 2½ hours a day of such lessons or as much as five hours, officials said.

Last spring, teachers' specified availability was from 10 a.m. to 11:30 a.m., according to the district Now, officials said, they will be available during class and all the hours of the school day.

Assistant Superintendent Scott Grens presented the details of the remote learning plan at this week's school board meeting. It was shortly before the district decided to start the school entirely remotely.

Grens, who has a 7-year-old, acknowledged problems with last year's remote learning apparatus, which the district, like those across the country, scrambled to put together in a matter of days.

"I struggled as a parent knowing there wasn't a time in the day for a particular lesson and that led to fluidity, a lack of structure, inconsistency and often times, led to a lack of learning," Grens said. "This model allows for way more structure in which a child knows on a particular day at a specific time, they need to be engaged in a teacher-driven, synchronous lesson."

"I love the scheduled routine, scheduled class times each day," board member Beth Hosler said. "I agree that it's important for kids to have that class time laid out, so they feel like they are in school."

Others agreed, but member Chris Kocinski said the district should aim higher.

"I agree with the statements made that the plan you put forth, Scott and team, is an improvement over what was experienced last year. I would like to thank you for that," Kocinski said. "But I also push you because I don't believe that's the correct bar. I think that our community expects 100 percent that our plan would be better than what it was last year."

He said the district should be "shooting for getting as close as we can to replacing what an in-person education would provide for our kids."

The district had planned a blended approach of in-person and remote days for middle and high school students and in-person learning every day for elementary school students. Now, the school year will start remotely Aug. 24 because too many teachers had requested remote assignments citing health concerns. Officials hope to start in-person learning Sept. 14, but they are making no guarantees, given staffing challenges.

The district serves more than 8,000 students and employs nearly 600 teachers.