Du Quoin schools likely to offer full 'remote' option to all students

Du Quoin Superintendent Matt Hickam said Monday he will propose that all parents have a full remote learning option when school begins again in mid-August.

Hickam said the rise in coronavirus numbers in Perry County has driven the proposed change, as well as the Illinois Department of Public Health's decision to give Perry County "warning" status.

"At this point I'm ready to make the move, and our administrators are on the same page," he said Monday. A special school meeting will be held Tuesday evening to discuss it, as well as other back to school details. The meeting will begin at 6 p.m. at the K-8 Media Center.

Hickam sent messages to parents late Monday afternoon.

Until this past weekend, the district was holding the all-remote learning option only for families with medical reasons for keeping their children at home.

"Now we're going to open it up to anyone who wants to make the request," he said. "I have not been overwhelmed with people asking, but a few have reached out since Friday."

Families will have a week to make the request for remote learning for the first quarter, which ends Oct. 16, Hickam said. The district will reopen the window at the end of each quarter for families who want to join the remote learning ranks or come off them.

How it will affect teachers and staff depends on how many families want all-remote learning, he added. Some teachers could record their class in front of live students, and replay it for their remote audience later, he said, Others could conceivably broadcast it live to both sets of students.

He said if fewer parents elect for remote learning, the cleaning staffs at each school might be the ones stretched.

Meanwhile, Hickam said remote learners won't automatically be excluded from athletics and extra-curriculars, that those decisions will be made on a case-by-case basis.