OLCHS Announces Blended Remote Learning Reopening Plan For Fall
OAK LAWN, IL — Officials from Oak Lawn Community High School released their reopening plan for the fall on Friday, which indicates the district will use a blended remote learning model of learning this fall while also providing the option for parents to learn on a completely remote basis for the first semester.
In an email to district parents Friday, Oak Lawn Superintendent Michael Riordan wrote that a plan that allows students to return to the classroom two days a week for four hours a day while participating in a robust e-learning model the rest of the week is based on the recommendation of a nearly 100-member Reopening Task Force and current guidance from health officials.
While the district is prepared to allow students to come back to school on a part-time basis to begin the school year, the plan also allows for parents to choose to have their students learn from home for the first half of the school year. Parents who opt for the fully remote model must do so for the entirety of the first semester.
Students learning from home will participate in a program that Riordan wrote is monitored by certified faculty members, but that will involve students having several classes monitored by the same faculty member.
The hybrid model, Riordan wrote, relies on very specific protocols and health guidelines that will “maintain and safe and healthy environment for all who enter our building.”
District officials also announced that it will host a virtual Town Hall meeting at 6 p.m.. Tuesday to further discuss reopening plans. The link for this event is here and parents may submit questions to school officials using this link.
The district is also asking district parents to complete a survey that will assist officials in planning for the upcoming school year. The survey can be accessed here and officials are asking that the survey be completed by Sunday, Aug. 2.
While the plan allows for students to return, Riordan wrote in the letter to parents that the district must remain fully prepared for a sudden change in conditions that would push the district back to the fully remote model it used when the coronavirus pandemic set in earlier this year. On Thursday, state officials announced that the state saw its highest number of confirmed COVID-19 cases since late May.
As part of the plan, Riordan said due to social distancing guidelines, only 50 percent of students will be permitted to be in the school building at any given time.
“As you can see in the plan, no stone was left unturned in our efforts to keep our building clean, sanitized, and safe for all,” Riordan wrote.
This article originally appeared on the Oak Lawn Patch
