'Upheaval' In La Grange District 102?

LA GRANGE, IL — La Grange School District 102 board members engaged in a passionate debate last week over whether to return to full days before the end of the school year.

In the discussion, members "respectfully" disagreed with one another, while one of them got fought back tears questioning the idea of full days.

District officials presented a survey showing that about 60 percent of families supported going to a full day. The survey drew nearly 2,500 responses. Of those backing a full day, about 40 percent said they would only support it if their children could keep their current teachers. Officials believe they may have to change some students' teachers if the schools go back to full days.

Board member Brian Anderson, who teaches at Elmhurst University, said he believed the current hybrid model is the "larger upheaval" for the school district. He said the district should consider going back to full days, saying it needs to get back on the path to normalcy.

"Every decision we make is for the children first," he told his colleagues. "What we're doing now is causing far more upheaval."

Board member Leah Werab, a seventh-grade teacher in Elmhurst School District 205, said she "respectfully" disagreed with Anderson's opinion, to which Anderson responded he "respectfully" disagreed with hers.

Werab said it could be inferred that most families want to leave things alone for the rest of the year, given they indicated they do not want their children's teachers changed.

"I feel like we are really leaping ahead to the idea where we are all OK with saying that we go back to full time," Werab said. "I still have 20 questions that I need answered before I can even fully understand the gravity of the decision that I'm being asked to make."

Werab said some of her colleagues seemed to favor just two choices for families — full day or remote, without offering the current hybrid model as an option.

"I think that's a missing piece of data on how many people who are willing to finish the year the way it is," she said. "That's an extremely important piece of data."

She said a survey asking for full day or remote appears to be an endorsement of full day.

Board member Bessie Boyd said it wasn't an endorsement, just a gathering of information.

However, Werab maintained that changing to full days could bring "upheaval" to the district.

"At this point, my answer is that I don't have enough information where I'm comfortable asking parents if they want full day. I personally don't support it at this point with the information we have," Werab said.

Asked about her 20 questions, she got emotional, sounding as if she were fighting back tears in the audio recording of the meeting. Her inquiries involved special education students, changing of teachers and instruction time, among other issues.

"My point is I'm not endorsing anything full time until I understand the consequences on every child. We have a responsibility to them, and we need to honor that," Werab said. "It's not that easy going full time. Is it a possibility? Absolutely. It is doable? Probably. Does it mean it's the right thing? I don't know."

Anderson said the district has enough data to make a decision now.

The board made no decision after hours of discussion.