CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- Parents in a couple of west suburban school districts are weighing in on whether they want their children back in school, as their districts prepare to have students back in-person.
The two districts are in the Naperville area, Naperville District 203 and Indian Prairie District 204, which is the fourth largest district in Illinois.
Parent survey results show about 71 percent of those with children in Naperville School District 203 and 54 percent in Indian Prairie School District 204 support sending their children back to the classroom, at least some of the time.
According to the Naperville Sun, both districts asked parents to complete a questionnaire so administrators could see where people stood on the issue as they prepared plans to shift to a hybrid schedule in which students will attend in-person classes on some days and do remote learning on others.
More than 15,000 District 203 parents responded while nearly 12,000 did in the Indian Prairie District.
In District 203, 95 percent said their children had access to all online resources needed for classes and 71 percent indicated their children were getting rigorous instruction, while 33 percent said their students could maintain relationships with classmates remotely, the Naperville Sun reported.
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As of right now, District 203 is planning to have kindergarten students start attending in-person classes on Oct. 20 and all preschool and elementary school students back in the classroom on a hybrid schedule by Oct. 28. No back-to-school schedule has been set for older students. Parents who prefer their children to continue with remote learning will have the option to do so.
Indian Prairie parents were asked to rate their remote learning experience from 1 to 5. About 76 percent gave Indian Prairie a 3 or higher positive score, with more than 21 percent rating it a 5.
District 204 parents also were asked to rate their child’s remote learning workload from 1 to 5, with 5 indicating their child could finish everything on time. About 49 percent of respondents gave the district a 5 and about 5 percent gave rated it a 1, the Naperville Sun reported.
Indian Prairie started a trial program this week to bring some elementary school students back in eight schools. Middle schoolers will start a hybrid schedule on Nov. 2, all preK through second-grade classes will be back part time on Nov. 5 and third- to fifth-grade classes on Nov. 16.
Half of freshmen and sophomore high school students will start in-person classes one day a week on Oct. 16 and the other half on Oct. 26. The same split will be set up for juniors and seniors, with half starting Nov. 2 and half going back Nov. 9.
According to the Naperville Sun, both districts said they may survey parents again or conduct focus group discussions after students return for in-person instruction.