District 87 Superintendent says moving to e-learning came with learning curve

Posted on May 21, 2020
District 87 Superintendent Dr. Barry Reilly spoke with WJBC’s Scott Miller about e-learning. (Photo courtesy: WJBC/File)

By AJ Harris and Blake Haas

BLOOMINGTON – Back in March, when the stay-at-home order was implemented in Illinois, educators were suddenly confronted with the problem of teaching students online.

District 87 Superintendent Dr, Barry Reilly said he is proud of the work District 87 teachers and staff did to make it a smooth process, but it came with a learning curve.

“Being able to quickly change gears and move into a learning mode where everyone is at home and moving to use software packages as Zoom to connect with students,” Reilly told WJBC’s Scott Miller. “Teachers turning on a dime to change how they do lesson plans to account for students being at home, so it’s been a tremendous learning curve for all of us in education.

“Our goals were two-fold; one was to keep the continuity of learning going. The second goal was to continue to maintain relationships with kids, making sure we are connecting with them because we’re very concerned about their social and emotional well-being during this time.

Reilly adds while remote learning can’t replace face-to-face interaction, they have a better sense of what to do moving forward.

AJ Harris can be reached at [email protected]

Blake Haas can be reached at [email protected]. 

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