The Parent Diversity Advisory Council (PDAC) for Indian Prairie School District 204 held a digital School Opening Listening Forum for parents and families in the district.
Questions Collected
Over 300 people attended the meeting via Zoom where they were able to ask questions about the new Fall Reopening Plan to the council and school board members, who served as panelists.
New District 204 Superintendent Dr. Adrian Talley also participated in the meeting.
Questions were asked and recorded by dozens of participants. The council will take the questions to the District 204 board to be answered.
A poll taken during the meeting said that 62% were not comfortable with the District’s current plan while 38% were comfortable with the new plan.
Examples of Questions
Some of the questions that will now go to the board are:
Will students get the same teacher for online academy and the hybrid schedule learning?
Can parents change their minds and start in two day a week in person classes and then switch to all remote online academy learning?
Will the kids in hybrid classes be learning at the same pace as the kids in remote learning only?
What classes will be made available for the online academy?
What will be the teacher/student ratio for the online academy?
How strictly will mask policies be enforced?
Are online academy classes mixed in with other schools in the district or separated by school?
Are online academy students allowed to participate in sports if they are available?
What support will there be for teachers in terms of instruction along with mental and physical health?
What will the lunch situation look like?
Answers to FAQ’s on the Way
There were also several questions related to AP Classes, extracurriculars like band, orchestra, chorus and theatre.
Dr. Talley informed the participants after the questions were recorded that there will be a series of FAQ’s about the Reopening Plan, likely to be released Friday, with more to follow early next week.
“Please know that PDAC is here to support you and be a voice for you. We are very lucky to live in a community that cares so much for their children,” said PDAC Chair Saily Joshi.
Joshi then asked the district for communication, even if they don’t have all the answers at this time. PDAC is also open to conducting a similar meeting again if necessary.
The answers to the FAQ’s will be released on the IPSD website.
