A higher percentage of District 87 students in grades 3 through 6 will stay online this year than their younger schoolmates.
Data from the district show 36% of students in grades 3 to 6 opted out of in-person instruction when it resumes in early November. Thursday was the opt out deadline.
Sixth grade had the most students opting out of in-school classes at 38%. Only 28% of children in kindergarten and pre-k will stay with online school.
Thirty percent of students in pre-K through second grade stuck with the all-virtual option. That compares with 24% of elementary students in Unit 5.
District 87 administrators are compiling class lists now for grades 3 to 6, so it’s not yet clear how many students will keep the teacher they’ve had since the start of the school year, according to district communications director Julia Perez.
Some parents have raised the concern that allowing in-person schooling would cause their remote-learning child to be assigned a new teacher midway through the school year.
Last week, the district said about 18 teachers were being reassigned to teach remote learners in the lower grades.
Unit 5 begins in-school instruction for some students next week. District 87 begins in-person schooling for its youngest students the week of Oct. 26. Students in grades 3 to 6 will return to the classroom on Nov. 9.
Bloomington Junior High and High School students won't return to the classroom until January. They will decide in December if they want to stay virtual.
District 87 online opt outs
- Pre-kindergarten: 47 of 169 students (28%)
- Kindergarten: 109 of 382 students (29%)
- First grade: 111 of 371 students (30%)
- Second grade: 132 of 404 students (33%)
- Third grade: 132 of 360 students (37%)
- Fourth grade: 124 of 353 students (35%)
- Fifth grade: 114 of 348 students (33%)
- Sixth grade: 133 of 347 students (38%)
- Pre-K to sixth grade: 902 of 2,734 (33%)
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