District 225 board reinstitutes remote learning plan
At a special meeting on Sept. 3, the Glenbrook High Schools District 225 board instituted a remote learning plan for the 2021-22 school year.
Targeted only to students under quarantine, the district will offer Zoom lessons, via the Owl device purchased for all district classrooms last school year.
The Owl, a combination speaker, camera and microphone, connects a teacher's desktop to Zoom software, said D225 Associate Superintendent R.J. Gravel.
At the district's Aug. 23 board meeting, several members of the public urged the return of a remote learning platform to complement the existing plan they said comprised five hours of tutoring per week for a student under COVID-19 quarantine.
Students and teachers are expected to quarantine for a 10-day period. It'll take at least 24 hours after notification of a student quarantine to coordinate remote learning services, the district stated.
The board said that should a certain activity not lend itself to remote instruction, the teacher will communicate that no streaming will be done. Some assessments, the board said, must be completed in-person upon the student's return to school.
At the Sept. 3 meeting, the board also released information pertaining to an agreement between District 225 and the Glenbrook Education Association regarding teachers testing positive for COVID and their responsibilities.
Any teacher who tests positive for COVID will be placed on paid administrative leave for no more than 10 days during the 2021-22 school year. Further absence beyond the 10 days will be covered by any accrued sick leave, or if none has been accumulated the teacher will be placed on unpaid leave.
A teacher awaiting the results of a test will be placed on quarantine for no more than four days, with the other qualifications applying similarly. The administrative leave will be granted to teachers who are either fully vaccinated or unvaccinated due to religious or medical reasons.
Should a teacher's quarantine last longer than a day, the agreement stated, a teacher may be allowed to teach remotely. An instructional assistant will be assigned to the teacher's classroom to monitor the class and set up the hardware involved, and the teacher will stream into the classroom from home for the entire period.
The quarantined teacher will be accessible at all other times during the school workday, and the days when a teacher instructs remotely will not count against the COVID administrative leave allocations.
Students who find they need technical help during the remote process were asked to call the Glenbrook Help Desk, (847) 486-4555.