Oswego schools modify e-learning plans for junior high and high school students

Oswego School District 308 has modified its e-learning plan for sixth through 12th grade students in an attempt to better suit their needs.

At the Sept. 23 Oswego school board meeting, board members unanimously approved the changes following a public hearing. There were no public comments during the hearing.

The Regional Office of Education will now have to approve the plan. The e-learning plan can be used in case of inclement weather or unforeseen school closures.

As part of any e-learning plan, a school district needs to ensure access for all students and a minimum of five hours of instruction or school work. Changes are being proposed at the secondary level in the district’s e-learning plan.

“Currently, our secondary level meets across what you would consider a typical school day,” District 308 Deputy Superintendent Heather Kincaid told board members at the board’s Sept. 9 meeting. “And what we’ve seen over the last year of implementing this is that a 41- or 48-minute period remotely is longer than what we need in order to provide instruction and have students have the opportunity to complete school work.”

As part of the change, students in grades 6-12 will have a shortened class period schedule while attending school via Google Meet. The proposal blends instructional time with support time.

Junior high students would start remotely at 8 a.m. Students would have support time from 8 to 8:10 a.m.

“They currently have student support time at the start of their day, so we would continue that,” Kincaid said. “Class periods one through nine would then be 20 minutes in length.”

At the end of the day, there would be a 55-minute student support time period, which students could use to finish work or get help from their teachers.

The high school schedule also would start at 8 a.m. Eight periods would be 25 minutes in length followed by a 55 minute student support/work time period at the end of the day.

The school day for in-person learning starts at 8:05 a.m. for junior high students and 7:20 a.m. for high school students.

“So what this does is it standardizes it across six through 12th grades,” Kincaid said.

Superintendent Andalib Khelghati said the district will continue to try to improve e-learning.

“We know that e-learning could be better and that it’s not perfect,” he said. “In the spirit of continuous improvement, we will continue to evaluate the resources.”