Next Steps for Monday, March 15, 2021

In This Section:

It is the District’s desire to continue increasing opportunities for in-person learning, as long as it can be done safely. Based on community feedback and health metrics, the District’s immediate next step is to extend the length of the school day to provide additional instructional time and a more “normal” day for students and staff. After that, the District will assess whether we can implement a “full return” to learning. Remote learning would remain an option. Information about these next steps follows.

Extended Day Hybrid Learning Schedule

Students will continue to follow an A/B style schedule Monday through Thursday for an extended day. Extended day times can be viewed below. Students on the Hybrid-A schedule will attend school in-person on Mondays and Wednesdays. Students on the Hybrid-B schedule will attend school in-person on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Most students will participate in asynchronous learning on Fridays. Students will continue to participate in independent learning as provided by the teacher on days when they are not in-person. This will include special education inclusion students. For the continuity of students across our schools, families will be assigned the same schedule. Teachers will have a standard workday each day.
 
Final start and end times, as well as the daily schedules, may be revised as we finalize transportation. The times below are projected as of February 23, 2021 and will take effect on Monday, March 15, 2021.
 
Updated transportation details will be shared on Wednesday, March 10, 2021.
  Elementary Schools Middle School High School
Start Time 9:00 AM 7:50 AM 7:45 AM
End Time 2:10 PM 2:30 PM 2:41 PM

 

In order to facilitate lunch at Sycamore High School, open campus privileges for lunch will be extended to Sophomore students. Open campus is currently available only to Junior and Senior students.

Addition of Fridays to Hybrid Learning Schedule

Adding Fridays to the Hybrid model will continue to be considered, but is not recommended at this time. Fridays have been critical for staff, as they engage in the following activities on those days due to limited time during the week Monday through Thursday.
 
  • Professional Learning Community (PLC) Grade Level Team Meetings
  • Special Education Services Provided on Friday. Staff has more flexibility to schedule groups because it is asynchronous.
  • Reading Services to Students who qualify for support
  • Supply Pick-Up at elementary schools
  • Material Preparation
  • Lesson Recording- Preparing, recording, editing, posting
  • Preparing Google Classroom and Teaching Boards
  • PLC Building Team Meetings- Planning, pacing, assessments, resources
  • Student Assessments
  • Building Meetings
  • Special Education planning between general education teachers and special education staff to support students with Individualized Education Plans (IEP’s)
  • Federally-mandated IEP Meetings with staff, parents, administrators, and students (when appropriate)
  • Professional development such as training on new technology applications and equipment purchased this year.
  • Communicating with parents via emails, phone calls, virtual meetings

As a result of this critical work, Fridays are not recommended to be added to the hybrid learning schedule at this time.

"Full Return"

Our plan is to implement a “full return” to in-person learning for all students at the beginning of the 2021-2022 school year. We also plan to offer a remote-only option for students and their families who may not be comfortable with a full return to in-person learning at that time. We will continue to monitor safety guidance from the CDC, IDPH, and DCHD and announce final details for our full return on, or before, the Regular Meeting of the Board of Education in July.
 
Remote learning during the 2021-2022 school year will include one of the following options:
 
  • Remote students continuing to participate in parallel with in-person students; or
  • A “remote academy” where remote students are assigned to a teacher who works solely with students who have opted for remote learning; or
  • Other models that may be available for consideration at that time.

Variables such as staff availability, ability to maintain students’ classroom teacher assignment, minimize any changes if students opt to change their designation from remote to in-person, cost, logistics, and other variables will be considered as we finalize our plans for the remote learning option for the 2021-2022 school year.

It is important to note that regardless of the safety guidelines at the beginning of the 2021-2022 school year, the district cannot guarantee that individuals in attendance at school will be able to maintain 6 feet of social distancing.

Students and their families will be asked to designate their desire for remote or in-person learning 7-10 days following the Regular Meeting of the Board of Education in July.