One of three school districts participating in an Illinois e-learning day pilot program got to test it out on Monday.
The e-learning day pilot program was meant to provide schools an alternative to snow days and a way for districts to prevent adding days to the end of the school year because of those snow days. West Chicago High School District 94 used its first e-learning day instead of a school cancellation on Monday due to extreme low temperatures.
West Chicago Superintendent Doug Domeracki says it went well, with very few tech issues so far. He says a few students less than the high school average attendance checked in on-line.
“So if we’ve got 94 percent that checked in, that means 94 percent of them had no technology issues and they were able to get online and check in with their assignments,” Domeracki said. “So that’s a pretty good indicator.”
Domeracki says students get a heads up the day before a possible e-learning day if they need to check out an internet hot spot from their school library.
Domeracki also says e-learning days aren’t meant to create extra work. He says they’re designed to be a seamless continuation of what’s been happening in class so far, while working with technology that students already use on regular school days.
“What I’m most looking forward to is the debriefing from the administrators of all their teachers,” Domeracki said, "and then the opportunity to sit down with them and really kind of get down in the weeds with some of the really granular detail."
The other two participating districts in the pilot program are Gurnee School District 56 and Leyden High School District 212 in Franklin Park. Neither has used e-learning days.
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