Unit 5 School Board Welcomes New Members, Expects Typical Year wglt.org - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from wglt.org Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Staff / WGLT
The Unit 5 school district expects higher enrollment next school year, Superintendent Kristen Weikle said this week, noting the changing nature of the pandemic is altering the enrollment pattern as registration proceeds. We know that we had some families who opted to home school, or go to a private school that was open five days a week at the beginning of the school year that was in August. I do expect most of those families to come back, said Weikle.
Weikle said there also may be a shift in at least one grade size because of the pandemic. We probably have a larger kindergarten class enrolling just because I think some parents who maybe had kindergarten-age eligible children this year decided to not enroll their kids this year, and maybe wait until next school year, Weikle told WGLT.
About 50% of Unit 5 employees have received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine so far. Speaking to the school board Wednesday night, Superintendent
Unit 5: State Budget Would Slowly Squeeze Schools wglt.org - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from wglt.org Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Weikle said that some families want students in-person five days a week regardless of whether proper social distancing can be maintained. Other families want their students in-person five days a week
only if proper social distancing is possible. Some families are happy with the hybrid model, she said, while others don’t think it’s safe to be in-person at all.
Weikle said the district based its decision to bring younger students back to the classroom, in part, on the success of neighboring districts that have remained in-person. While Unit 5 is a larger district, she said many of its elementary schools are similar in size and attendance to schools in smaller districts.