East St. Louis 189 extended the school year. Here’s the how superintendent plans to do it

As COVID-19 kept classrooms closed for weeks and then months, some states and districts proposed extending the school year to help students make up for lost class time. Few of those plans have materialized for this year, but East St. Louis School District 189 is moving forward with plans to move the final day of school almost a month to the end of June.

The district and the East. St. Louis Federation of Teachers have signed a memorandum of understanding, and the school board approved the plan to extend the school year this week.

The Belleville News-Democrat interviewed Superintendent Arthur Culver about details of the district’s plans. Here are his answers:

Question: The agreement with the teachers union states that the extended school year is voluntary for staff. Do you know if enough teachers are on board to meet your staffing needs?

Superintendent Arthur Culver: “We made it voluntary because we really didn’t make this decision in a vacuum. We talked to groups of teachers and had a committee on this. They really understood based on student achievement data, that an extended school year was needed.

“The reason we made it voluntary is, every year we have summer school anyway, and if we don’t have enough teachers to teach summer school, there were teachers in surrounding districts that we would hire. It felt like between our teachers and teachers in the surrounding area, we would have enough to meet the needs of our students.

“We did do a survey, and so far we’ve gotten a very high percentage of staff members, especially teachers, that have signed up. I’ve been told that all but about 30 of our teachers have signed up saying yes, that they want to do this. Our teachers, they really do care about our students and they know that because of COVID, our students are way behind.”

Q: Is there any concern that the extended school year could cause burnout for students or staff?

Culver: “We thought about that, and I’ve been asked that by parents as well as staff members. They say, you know, they need some time off. We just felt like we couldn’t afford to take that time off. Kids need help with social-emotional things too, just living in the environment they live in and experiencing the things they’ve witnessed.

“We don’t start school until the third week of August. They’re still going to get seven weeks of a break.

“We knew that, if you factor in the learning losses and the time losses of instruction (from virtual learning), and you mix that with the natural slippage in student achievement that occurs in the summer when they’re off for two and a half months or so, it was going to make it a real steep hill to climb to make up the learning losses from COVID and just being off for the summer.”

Q: The current agreement with the teachers union is to extend this school year, but you’ve said you plan to advocate for extending the next two school years as well. What is the schedule to make those decisions?

Culver: “We’re going to do that upfront. As we look at our proposed calendar that we’ll be negotiating with the union and the board, we’re going to be proposing a calendar that’s going to go through June. I would like to do that for the 2021–2022 school year, as well as 2022–2023, and then look at assessment data and teacher input and see where we are. I really believe that for the next two years, that would be the best thing to do for our students.

“I have to look at myself in the mirror in the morning, and I know having an opportunity for extended learning over the summer, having that opportunity for our students, is really what’s best for them.

“We can’t do what’s best politically. We can’t focus on what’s best for adults or what adults want. We’re in this business to do what’s best for students. That’s why we signed up, and I think we have to stay true to that and remember that when it comes time to make difficult decisions.”

Q: How will the school district pay for this extension?

Culver: ”We’re using money from CARES funding. We’ve got approximately $78 million from the CARES Act that will be more than enough to support this. That’s one of the things the Department of Education, as well as the Illinois State Board of Education, expects. They expect us to look at ways that will directly impact students and to look at ways that will directly overcome the learning loss that has occurred because of COVID and virtual instruction.”

Q: How many students are physically in class now?

Culver: ”Our kids were out of school for about a year, and we only have about 50% of them back. We’re only going to have about 50% back for this summer period, but we’re going to prioritize it, and those kids that need it the most are the ones that we want to be in school. The kids that are doing better will be engaged in virtual instruction.

“Some parents just aren’t comfortable with in-person yet. They’re concerned about the other strands and whether those could cause a spike. They are legitimately still concerned with that, so they’ve said they want to continue virtually. We’ll encourage those and do what we can to get them to come in-person if they’re in that group that’s not doing well academically, but if they refuse, we’ll offer virtual instruction.”

Q: Community partners have been helping students get internet access for remote learning. Will that continue through the extended school year?

Culver: “That will be continuing. We’ve already talked to our centers — the Griffin Center, the Christian Activity Center, the Jackie Joyner-Kersee Center, those are the big three — and they plan to continue to offer services to students over the summer.”

Q: Do you know what school will look like in the fall?

Culver: “I wish I did. We’re going to plan for everybody coming back, but we’re also going to have a Plan B, which is in-person instruction for 50% of our students and virtual for the other 50%. Then we’re also going to have a Plan C, which is a hybrid, where all students will have both virtual learning and in-person learning.”