Interest in continuing some form of remote learning for students in Barrington Community Unit School District 220 took a nose dive after officials asked families to commit to the program for the entire 2021-22 school year.
In a March survey, about 25% of families in Barrington Community Unit School District 220 expressed interest in continuing virtual or blended learning for the 2021-22 school year, even if schools are fully reopened.
But when the district followed up last month asking those families to commit to an online program for the entire year, only 4.8% were willing to do so.
“It was not 25%. It actually went down considerably,” Assistant Superintendent for Technology and Innovation Matt Fuller said during a school board meeting last week.
The questionnaire, which was returned by nearly 60% of district families, showed that 53.4% said they would not participate in an online learning program and 41.8% did not reply to the question at all.
Broken down by school, the greatest interest is at Barrington High School, with 195 students saying they would participate. The interest waned as the students got younger, with 81 middle school families committed, but only two families of elementary students, both from the same school.
School officials say each grade level would need a minimum number of students in a virtual/blended program to justify the staffing needed. The only levels that meet that threshold, based on the survey, are grades 4, 5, 10 and 12.
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