One Glen Ellyn District 41 parent says she's hired tutors for her children to fill gaps in virtual learning. | Stock photo
One Glen Ellyn District 41 parent says she's hired tutors for her children to fill gaps in virtual learning. | Stock photo
Less than two weeks into the school year, fully remote learning in Glen Ellyn District 41 has been an anxiety-ridden, costly adventure in ineffective learning, one district parent told the DuPage Policy Journal.
“We’ve hired tutors to cover what they aren’t learning from the school,” said Jesse Ingoglia, who has one child in kindergarten and another in first grade. “We had to hire extra child care because my husband and I both work full-time out of the home.
“We could send them to the ‘Y’ [B.R. Ryall YMCA], where they have in-person supervision but that’s another $800 a month per child," Ingoglia said. "We shouldn’t have to do that when our taxes are already covering over 80% of the district’s budget.”
Superintendent Melissa Kaczkowski
| D41.org
Earlier in the summer, the D41 school board, which sets policy for four elementary schools and a junior high, had considered a blended approach of in-person and virtual learning but, instead, approved fully remote learning at a special Aug. 6 board meeting. The school year began Aug. 21.
A district spokesperson said to contact the YMCA with questions about why the district can’t hold in-person instruction and and that all updates on the status of remote learning will be posted on the district’s website.
In a “Week One Update” posted on the website, Superintendent Melissa Kaczkowski wrote that the district remains committed to a blended approach to learning. Timing for the implementation of that approach, she wrote later in the message, is at the “end of quarter 1,” but they might need to “revert to fully remote throughout the year.”
Ingoglia, who recently emailed Kaczkowski about getting reimbursed by the district for the extra educational costs, believes that the district has no firm plans for reopening and is simply buying time. Some parents aren’t waiting, she said.
“I know at least a half-dozen parents who have pulled their kids out and are sending them to private schools,” she said.
In late July, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) issued guidelines favoring the reopening of schools, noting that children are largely immune from the symptoms of the disease, and are less likely than adults to spread it.
The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine likewise recommended that children return to school.
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