I am so happy to be back in classes, but the school has not considered what is happening with kids who are sick and must stay home due to covid or any other illnesses. 

Recently 17 students in the district tested positive for COVID-19. These students will now have to do all of their work at home with nothing but google classroom and maybe some after-school zoom meetings with teachers. If you have a cough, runny nose or fever you should be staying home and getting tested. Missing even one day of school can set a student back and missing a week or more due to quarantine could set a student back a month. District 225 put so much time and energy into e-learning last year and they are throwing it all away when they should be utilizing it! 

I do not think we need full e-learning back for kids who are home sick, but even just being able to optionally watch classes and see what the teachers are teaching is a huge benefit and can keep students at the same pace as their classmates even if they are home sick. 

Partial E-learning at the very least would mean teachers have cameras on during class so students can login from home and watch the lessons. I want to be clear that teachers do NOT need to be on zoom chatting with students. Students can email questions to the teacher later if needed.

We know teachers had a hard time with hybrid teaching and this is NOT meant to be that. This is meant to help the students get the lessons they are missing AND help the teachers not have to take as much time after class to try and get the student up to speed.

We have already used the zoom technology in classes for over a year. This is a modified version making it easier on EVERYONE.

Typically when a student is sick the teacher emails them a worksheet or homework but the student has missed the actual lesson. While this is fine for a day or two of school, after 2 weeks it will undoubtedly damage a student’s grades and academic standing. There are NO negatives to bringing back a partial e-learning environment for this purpose and I hope the district realizes how much they can help students in this difficult time with the technology they already possess.

We are no longer in a time where you can go to school with a runny nose or cough and stick it out. If kids and parents feel it is better to go to class sick to make sure they do not fall behind we will all be back to full e-learning very soon. Let’s prevent this while we can.