BOURBONNAIS — Bourbonnais Education Association announced during Tuesday night’s District 53 board meeting 99% of District 53 teachers are using materials they’ve created to teach during the pandemic.
That according to a recent poll the BEA conducted for District 53. “They’ve been hard at work with their remote learning, “said Lauren Lundmark, President of the BEA during Tuesday’s remote meeting.
Teachers had less than a week to adapt the remainder of their schooling for the year to online learning when the Stay-at-Home order was first announced in March.
Lundmark reports the BEA survey of Bourbonnais teachers found 60% of all teachers felt like they were spending more time, planning, preparing, grading, and interacting with their students than a regular school attendance day.
“If you know our BESD teachers, you know they’re already putting in a lot of hours,” said Lundmark.
That same poll found 80% of teachers are feeling additional stress due to remote teaching practices.
“Not surprising considering two-thirds of them are caring for their own children at home while they work so hard to meet the needs of their students.” Lundmark said, “Despite this, our teachers are still delivering. They’re still doing great.”
A recent poll by EducationWeek Research Center showed morale among teachers dipped 10% lower in just a two-week window since adapting online learning practices. No morale rating was given during the District 53 meeting by the BEA.
Polling showed Bourbonnais teachers continuing to adapt to new technology, with 95% of them taking the time to research, plan, and deploy new tech solutions to better reach their students.
“Working late hours, weekend hours, although that’s not something that’s new to them,” says Lundmark. “The support we’ve been receiving from our community at this time has just been overwhelming, and it’s really keeping us going. We love and we miss our kids and we so badly wish we could see them.”
“There’s a saying, not all heroes wear capes, we celebrate the good work of our teachers, our support staff, and the aids that continue to work on behalf of our children,” said BESD 53 Board President Rob Rodewald. “We salute our parents who have supported their children through our remote learning needs. You are our heroes.”
Illinois teachers have been away from classrooms since March due to Governor Pritzker’s Stay-at-Home. Teachers will not return to classrooms to end the school year following the Governor’s call for an end to in-person learning for Illinois earlier this month.
