The School District of Beloit has finally decided to send our kids to school. Ours is the only district in the area which has not sent kids back to the classroom yet. They want to divide students into two groups. One group will attend school on Mondays and Tuesdays and the other group will go Thursdays and Fridays. Wednesdays will remain a no school day.
While I am excited the kids will be going back, I feel this is a half-assed attempt to prove to parents that the district can handle their response to COVID. Honestly, it's too little too late, nothing but frustration and headache having to deal with the administration.
In August, the district sent out emails about registration. The emails were vague at best, a basic outline of how to register your child. What was truly disappointing? No one from the district called us to ask us about our plans or walk us through registration or answer our questions.
The whole year went like this. A vague notion of change, implemented in a month's time - until now, when the kids are going back to school in April and no one has any idea what's happening because the school district doesn't know itself what's actually going on. The district tells parents to call the schools, but the teachers and staff are just as in the dark as we are.
It's no wonder the district lost 500 kids to Beloit-Turner and will lose about 700 to the Lincoln Academy when it opens in the fall. I've talked to parents who have sent their kids to OLA, a private school, because they felt the School District of Beloit wasn't doing enough, wasn't communicating enough to their parents.
We aren't stuck. We are actually within the boundaries of the Beloit-Turner District. We've chosen not to send our kids there because of the Dual Language program. Even that has lost a lot of its luster during distance learning. So, what do we do? Do we suck it up and finish the rest of the school year? Do we contact the district and inform them of the awful job they are doing? Do we hang in there and hope it gets better?
However it is done, there's only a few months left. Whatever the Beloit School District has planned for next year, I'm fairly confident it won't be any better.
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