D70 Nixes E-Learning On Snow Days

LIBERTYVILLE, IL — District 70 will not offer e-learning opportunities on snow days this winter season, school officials said. New requirements from the Illinois State Board of Education are behind the school district's decision to nix the "innovative approach to counting emergency days as the days of actual school attendance."

Last year, students were allowed to pick from a variety of activities that took about 40 minutes to complete, according to information posted on the District 70 website. Under the Illinois State Board of Education requirements, students are now required to complete five hours of instruction to avoid a snow day to count as an emergency day for the school.

"This has presented a challenge for District 70 staff to create enough learning activities to meet the increased time requirement, including tasks that can be accomplished by 5- and 6-year-olds," according to information posted on the District 70 website. "There also is no guidance from ISBE this year regarding students requiring special education services."

So, this year, students will again be required to make up missed school days due to snow days or other issues that require an emergency school closure. State law requires school districts to prepare for this by adding five emergency days at the end of every year.

If there were no missed school days, school would end on June 3, 2020. Schools already closed once this school year, on Sept. 13, when Butterfield lost power and Highland Middle School was dealing with flooding. If schools use all five emergency days, District 70's last day of classes would be on June 10.

The last day of school will be an early release with dismissal at 1:15 p.m. for kindergarten through fifth grade and at 1:45 p.m. for sixth through eighth grades.

In addition, District 70 staff will be discussing how to bring e-learning back in the future.