RPS 205 Receives Grant to Help Remote Learners Catch Up

Since March of 2020 there has been constant disturbances in our lives, especially when it comes to school. Despite the hard work of all educators in the last year, all the pandemic-related changes have had a huge effect on our children's education.

My daughter is an RPS 205 student, and although we chose in-person learning for her, this school year has been an...adjustment. The Fall was rough with transitions to remote-learning due to class quarantines and then back to in-class again. Then there was the "adaptive pause" the entire district took from Thanksgiving through the new year. Don't get me wrong, my daughter's school, and especially her teacher, have done an outstanding job managing all these changes, and I am beyond thankful for it, but all the changes do not come without some side effects. I feel my daughter is still trying to catch up to where she should have been education-wise when school ended last year, and I can only imagine the struggles full-time remote learning students are facing. I think it's safe to say every family is doing their best to navigate this school year, but we need help; our students need help catching up.

Thankfully, help is coming for RPS 205 students that need it.

On Wednesday Governor Pritzker visited Ellis Elementary in Rockford to announce that RPS 205 is receiving 220 million in federal funding to improve education.

Mystateline.com reports RPS 205 Superintendent Dr. Ehren Jarett as saying;

By allowing this investment, it allows us to have extra staff. It allows us to make extra investments in our summer programs potentially lengthening the school days in terms of before and after-school programming during the year extra tutoring, extra social and emotional support.

Harlem and Belvidere School Districts will also receive some of this federal grant money. You can watch video of Wednesday's press conference with Governor Pritzker here;