Dear D11 Families and Staff,

After an in-depth discussion with the Board of Education tonight, it has been determined that D11 will be starting the school year on Aug. 24 with a hybrid model, targeting students with the greatest academic need for levels of in-school support. The remainder of our students will be engaged in our remote learning platform, Inspire Online. By default, all students will be automatically enrolled in the Inspire Online program for the first quarter.

We will continue this schedule through the first quarter of the academic school year, ending October 15 for students, at which time we will review current health data and district readiness to invite all of our students back in person for the second quarter. Those who choose to remain in the Inspire Online option for second quarter will continue to receive online instruction. If you’ve already enrolled your child in the Inspire Online program and anticipate wanting to remain online for the semester, no other action is needed.

This decision was very challenging to make. We are fully aware that making the decision to open in a more remote fashion and/or returning at full capacity impacts our community either way, but in an effort to ensure the greatest safety for our students and staff, we felt the targeted hybrid approach was most appropriate.

Understandably, we have student populations who will still need in-person services and supports that are not feasible to accomplish in an all remote learning environment, specifically students receiving special education support, English Language Learners, TITLE/Read Act supported students, and preschool students (who, under current guidance, are classified as essential childcare). Additionally, there may be other programmatic needs requiring school access, such as AP, IB, and CTE courses that will require laboratory time as part of programmatic requirements. These areas are where some hybrid options will be built into schedules at the individual school level.

We will share more details with our community soon about how our hybrid/remote learning model will work. We strongly believe in-person learning has significant benefits for students, not only academically, but also for social-emotional development and overall health and well-being. The desire of the District’s Board of Education and leadership teams is to return to in-person learning as much as is safely possible and as soon as possible. Thank you for your continued patience as we navigate the start to an unprecedented school year.

With many of our students now returning to learn remotely at the beginning of this school year, and with limited access to buildings for special populations of students, we are happy to announce D11 will be providing a device for all students. Thanks to CARES Act stimulus funding, each student in District 11 will be provided a device for their use both at home and at school. We are excited to be able to provide this opportunity to our students and families, and hope it alleviates some of the uncertainty you may have as we prepare for remote learning. 

Both school and district staff are working hard to finalize all of the plans of this project, and details will be communicated by your school as soon as possible. Please watch for announcements via email, the D11 app, text, and on your school’s website for specifics.  Schools will begin communicating later next week the school specific deployment dates. Please give them time to put together the communication and details necessary to make this smooth for you and your students. The goal will be to begin deployments the week of August 17. Teachers and staff are working right now to create great learning experiences for all students as we begin the new year. 

The types of devices being provided are:

• PreK-2nd grade students – iPads
• 3rd - 8th grade students – Chromebooks
• 9th - 12th grade students – Dell Laptops