Oswego District 308 To Offer Evening, Online Classes For High School
(CBS) -- Many school districts have altered their start times to better coincide with times students learn better, but a far west suburban school district is taking things one step further without raising taxes.
Starting in the second semester next month in Oswego District 308, some high school students will be able to take classes like Algebra II and English IV starting at 5:30 in the evening. And they can take U.S. History and Geometry online.
"The concept is around meeting the needs of students," says District 308 Superintendent Matthew Wendt.
Dr. Wendt says it's all about preparing students for college and for getting through life.
"We have a number of kids working, not working for a sports car but to help pay the electric bill," he said. "We have a number of kids that just simply perform better in the classroom late in the day."
A couple of hundred students are expected to take part in the pilot program, but Dr. Wendt hopes to expand the evening and online offerings next school year. He says he'd like to see 20 percent of the classes offered by District 308 to be evening and online classes.
District 308 in Oswego is not going to change its early morning start time for high school students. Dr. Wendt says some students like early morning classes and do well. It's about choices for parents and students.
He says he knows "there are going to be far more students interested in the evening classes than we can possibly have."
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And Dr. Wendt says the expanded hours will not cost the district more tax dollars. "We were having our faculty surveyed and we found we had over 40 teachers that were willing to come in later and stay later," he says.
As for students who are in sports or in other extra-curricular activities, Dr. Wendt says students would have to make a choice when signing up for classes and maybe not sign up for an evening class if they have a conflict.
Dr. Wendt says he hopes the program in District 308 becomes a national model.
