Some alternatives to move students out of the house
For families who have exhausted attempts to figure out how to keep their children on remote learning while having to work themselves, the park district and a private school offer help.
The Huntley Park District is offering students in kindergarten through eighth grade Remote Learning Camp, starting Aug. 21, the same day that remote learning begins for District 158 students. The camp is organized by grade in groups that won’t exceed 15 students per room at the Park District’s recreation center.
The kids will bring whatever devices have been issued to them by their school district,” said Scott Crowe, the district’s recreation director. “I believe District 158 uses exclusively Chromebooks.”
Staff from the district’s summer program and people who worked on the before and after school care programs in the past will supervise the children and may help with computer issues but are not trained educators or tutors.
The program is advertised as a “recreation-based camp designed to provide children a safe environment to complete their remote learning, participate in enrichment activities and engage in fun activities with their peers.”
After a $55 one-time registration fee, monthly charges for the program run from $300 for two days a week, $440 for three days and $700 for all five days. Additional charges apply for extended day if the children stay past 3:30 p.m.
Children will be required to wear a mask, with outdoor activities allowing mask breaks as much as possible throughout the day. Since there won’t be educators, tutors, or parents nearby, the children are required to be what the park district calls “independent learners.”
“When they’re done with learning, we’ve got games and activities for them to do,” Crowe said.
When Crowe spoke to MyHuntleyNews.com, 51 students had enrolled in the program, a rate that would put the program in the 50-75 range, in keeping with the district’s plans.
More information on the Remote Learning Camp can be found at the park district’s main number 847-669-3180.
St. Charles Borromeo Catholic School in Hampshire opens its doors for its 91st year this fall, offering students from three-years-old through eighth grade in-person education with religious training.
“We are doing in-person classes following restrictions given to us by the Rockford Archdiocese,” said Vicki Gray, the school’s secretary. Those restrictions include wearing masks at all times, with some “mask breaks” offered throughout the day when children can go outside and stand an acceptable distance from each other. Hand-washing will be encouraged throughout the day, and the school is establishing “pathways” for children to get through the day while maintaining social distancing.
The school traditionally draws students from Huntley, Genoa, Marengo, Pingree Grove, Maple Park, Virgil and other small towns in McHenry and Kane counties.
Enrollment at St. Charles Borromeo has remained constant at about 100 students, Gray said, so the school is not seeing an influx of students from public schools that will offer students only remote learning.
“We’ve had it both ways,” she said, with families leaving the school because of the health dangers perceived in the face-to-face approach and others enrolling because of the in-person teaching being offered. We’re such a small school with smaller classes, so it’s easier for us to maintain social distancing,” Gray said. The largest class in the school has 12 students.
The kindergarten through eighth students pay $3,850 for the school year with before-school and after-school programs offered at an additional cost. There are discounts for multiple students from the same family. For the first time, the school is offering a full-day program for 4-year-olds.
And students don’t have to be Catholic to attend the school, although the non-Catholics will attend Friday mass with the rest of the students, Gray said, but they won’t take communion.
“We’re going to do the best we can,” Gray said. “We’re going to bring our kids back and teach our kids and keep everybody safe and healthy.”
More information is available by calling the school at 847-683-3450.
