outnumbered yes I am on the parent board for our preschool, I need to ask about this. My biggest concern about preschool re-opening is that MANY of our teachers are older and some have underlying health issues One has already chosen to retire a year early to avoid coming back.
@ My son will be going to kindergarten next year, and I’m sad that his first exposure to school might be a super rigid, masked, six feet apart experience. I worry that he won’t find any joy in school like I did, and might even be scared because of the constant reminders of the virus.
(I fully agree most/all of these precautions must be taken. It just makes me sad to think about in practice.)
I’ve been wondering I’d they will cancel kindergarten for next year here in California. It is not required that students start school until first grade and any sort of distancing seems especially difficult at that age.
@ My son will be going to kindergarten next year, and I’m sad that his first exposure to school might be a super rigid, masked, six feet apart experience. I worry that he won’t find any joy in school like I did, and might even be scared because of the constant reminders of the virus.
(I fully agree most/all of these precautions must be taken. It just makes me sad to think about in practice.)
I’ve been wondering I’d they will cancel kindergarten for next year here in California. It is not required that students start school until first grade and any sort of distancing seems especially difficult at that age.
Oh gosh. This thought hadn't even crossed my mind. My youngest is set to start kindergarten in the fall, and he's so so so ready to go. I wish I could have sent him last year, but he was born in November - so that was a no go (Sept 1 cut off).
I'm in MD, we haven't heard any speculations yet. I understand if things begin virtual next year or if other options are decided on. I just feel bad for the kids in general. My DS as we were heading to bed last night asked me when this quarantine is going to over because he misses play dates and sleepovers with his friends.
One thing I’ve seen tossed around is sending kids August-TG and eliminating fall break, being out Dec-Feb, returning in March-June. I’ve seen universities toss that out for fall semester and I suspect that’s what my alma mater will do in an effort to limit anyone bringing it to campus after a break at home.
I’m pretty sure I know what your alma mater is (because I work there so noticed you mention it previously, not because I keep a spreadsheet ) and the August-TG on campus, no fall break is the schedule. There will be online/distance stuff happening after TG so the semester isn’t ending there but the in person stuff is.
Nothing has been decided about the spring semester that would normally start in January.
Being a college town, our local school district typically does what the university does schedule-wise because a huge percentage of the kids are from university faculty/staff families. Unlike normal times, the city district has been more coordinated with the county and neighboring city’s schedule for the pandemic so we willl see how it plays out here.
I will say we live in a very well funded and privileged district and we have had a big chunk of students just not participating in elearning so I don’t know how it would play out in the fall to keep things online.
I'm in MD, we haven't heard any speculations yet. I understand if things begin virtual next year or if other options are decided on. I just feel bad for the kids in general. My DS as we were heading to bed last night asked me when this quarantine is going to over because he misses play dates and sleepovers with his friends.
But I'm curious how this could actually work. For example, how do you coordinate with families who have multiple kids? My friend has four kids at three different schools. How do they all get the same set of days?
Post by Velar Fricative on May 12, 2020 9:58:56 GMT -5
I hadn’t even considered cancelling K. That may have a domino effect on cancelling Pre-K and 3K here too, which would really suck after we’ve all been learning over the years about how critical early education is. This would be a huge setback.
One thing I’ve seen tossed around is sending kids August-TG and eliminating fall break, being out Dec-Feb, returning in March-June. I’ve seen universities toss that out for fall semester and I suspect that’s what my alma mater will do in an effort to limit anyone bringing it to campus after a break at home.
I’m pretty sure I know what your alma mater is (because I work there so noticed you mention it previously, not because I keep a spreadsheet ) and the August-TG on campus, no fall break is the schedule. There will be online/distance stuff happening after TG so the semester isn’t ending there but the in person stuff is.
Nothing has been decided about the spring semester that would normally start in January.
Being a college town, our local school district typically does what the university does schedule-wise because a huge percentage of the kids are from university faculty/staff families. Unlike normal times, the city district has been more coordinated with the county and neighboring city’s schedule for the pandemic so we willl see how it plays out here.
I will say we live in a very well funded and privileged district and we have had a big chunk of students just not participating in elearning so I don’t know how it would play out in the fall to keep things online.
#boilerup 😉
It seems smart esp for college campuses since kids travel home.
I think universities want to get kids on campus because it’s part of what people pay for. We live in Knoxville and our county schedule is typically aligned with UT. I know several parents with kids at UT who have said if they go online in the fall to start, their kids will go to community college instead because they aren’t paying UT prices.
This all sucks. None of the options are any good. The best option is lots of precaution around hand-washing, mask wearing, and discouraging kids from gathering and touching but we all know that's not happening. It also has to be done the same way in a school - you cannot have the option of being in school or learning at home, because one teacher cannot do two full time jobs, and we all know schools aren't hiring. You cannot stagger the days or the weeks and ask teachers to teach the other half remotely. Again, that's TWO FULL TIME JOBS for a profession that is already underpaid and overworked. I think schools need to put together the precautionary measures, be prepared to move online for a week or two at a time when an outbreak occurs, provide the means to have good distance learning during those times, and offer the option that you can homeschool your child if you're not comfortable with it, but real homeschool, without the guidance or lessons or grading of a teacher.
I do think it's possible to create two groups IF there are appropriate teachers. You can choose remote learning (with teachers who don't want to be in school and kids who don't) or in-person (with a different set of teachers and kids and all the precautions possible).
And for fucks sake, drop high stakes testing for a couple of years.
"Hello babies. Welcome to Earth. It's hot in the summer and cold in the winter. It's round and wet and crowded. On the outside, babies, you've got a hundred years here. There's only one rule that I know of, babies-"God damn it, you've got to be kind.”
Yes now is a wonderful time to re-evaluate and do away with stressful high stakes testing. Now isn’t the time to subject kids and teachers to MORE stress.
Yeah, I should have added that this growing concern will most likely have an impact. If it’s happening here now, it will happen elsewhere soon. Awful. We need to learn so much about how this impacts kids.
I have so many thoughts about going back, and none of them are good or productive. I'm sure I'm echoing most of your comments, since I am fired up now and haven't read comments. I just get angry. I get angry because the people planning these things have NO IDEA what teaching and day to day school life looks like. I get angry because it puts teachers at the front of all the new work and doesn't account for their health or well-being. I get angry because there is no money for this. I get angry for the students, who aren't going to get the best of their teachers or their school experience with no extra curriculars or sports. I get angry that all of these changes aren't going to impact the daily life of administrators/superintendents/people who make almost $200K a year by doing nothing but making policy that impacts the rest of us negatively.
If school boards or districts are going to make these kinds of recommendations, they should damn well also attach how they are going to pay for it and what people's exact responsibilities are. If they can't do that, then they are just fanning flames of fear and frustration - for teachers, students, and especially parents.
I'd love to say that I'd quit before I'd do this, but I can't. I have too many years in for it to be feasible, and I suspect that now isn't the best time to try to find work. Our district has already started making cuts for next year, our salaries are more than likely going to be frozen, and that $14M mill levy that the community passed strictly for increasing teacher salaries in November is probably going to disappear into something else.
Kawasakis is an immune system response to a virus. Kids can get it from a common cold. There are 1.5 million kids in NYC. If even 10% of them got Covid (and it’s probably higher) these numbers should not incite panic.
Post by Velar Fricative on May 12, 2020 10:20:36 GMT -5
I should also add that as we learn more about this mystery illness in children, the majority of these children so far have underlying conditions. If those conditions enable them to have special services at school, then the desire to prioritize bringing back children with special needs might have to shift.
ETA: mmmomof2, we should still be more concerned because this is the result of a 6-month old virus that we still know relatively little about, so we just don't know what the ultimate impact will be on kids.
The school I was in pushed tables for 4 in classrooms instead of traditional desks. Flexible seating has been popular in schools in recent years, so many classrooms don't even have the desks to make these plans work. I would have 6-8 kids in my classroom tops with 6ft distancing. I agree that there may have to be a choice for families between in-person and remote learning.
The idea of switching classes makes me want to vomit. There is no way to keep middle schoolers away from each other in the hallways. If you have the teachers move instead of the students, the kids will get antsy. It's not fair to anyone.
A lot of work to organize this and to keep the classrooms clean is going to fall on teachers and administrative assistants. These positions are female dominant. Women will once again be expected to go above and beyond - and I can guarantee they will not be compensated for it. Their compensation will be grateful meme shares on Facebook.
ETA I am so flipping glad I quit last year. This remote learning would have a significant impact on my mental health. Those of you teaching deserve ALL the money and credit.
I can't fault them creating an exhaustive, likely unattainable, list like this. The fact of the matter is, everything needs to be on the table, if only to see how impossible this will be without additional funding that is somehow magically going to come out of governments that don't have money right now.
It is simply impossible for every student to return to a physical building for school for the time being. But I hate the idea of one day in school, one day not in school. That does nothing to contain the spread since you're still dealing with a ton of students and staff, which sounds like a disaster for contact tracing. They'd need to have the same cohort of students and staff in the building for a long period of time.
When my brother went to CO in the early 1980s the school district was divided into A, B, and C student and teacher groups. Only 2/3 attended at any one time and rotated through blocks so they all got the same amount of instruction a year. I see something like that happening, but a nightmare for non-school childcare. I could envision maybe 4 groups, each group going 50% of the year. That would give around 125 instructional days, short of normal but maybe substitute elearning when not in school?
Kawasakis is an immune system response to a virus. Kids can get it from a common cold. There are 1.5 million kids in NYC. If even 10% of them got Covid (and it’s probably higher) these numbers should not incite panic.
For me, it’s about the uncertainty and long term potential damage not specific numbers. There is so much we don’t know and it’s a risk I’m not sure I’m willing to take.
Maybe we will know more in a month or two if outbreaks are under control but it seems unlikely. No one is inspiring confidence these days.
Kawasakis is an immune system response to a virus. Kids can get it from a common cold. There are 1.5 million kids in NYC. If even 10% of them got Covid (and it’s probably higher) these numbers should not incite panic.
For me, it’s about the uncertainty and long term potential damage not specific numbers. There is so much we don’t know and it’s a risk I’m not sure I’m willing to take.
Maybe we will know more in a month or two if outbreaks are under control but it seems unlikely. No one is inspiring confidence these days.
Yeah I'm fine with treating every new development as a potential emergency. We didn't do that with this virus in the first place and look where we are. I'm all for overreactions at this point until we learn more about why this is happening and who is prone to such issues.
The other problem with half day or staggered days is that many of these kids will then have to be in daycare the other days, thereby exposing all those kids to the extra germs (and getting both school and daycare exposure themselves).
Part of me is thinking of just doing real homeschool rather than having to worry about finding part time daycare on different days for him. Then he can go to daycare full time with his brother and home school at night and on weekends. I don’t have to worry about zoom meetings at certain times and can home school on my schedule.
I NEVER thought I would say this and would have sworn to you on a stack of bibles that I would never home school. But in a way, it seems easier than having to regularly change my schedule, find a daycare who can accommodate not only part time kids, but part time kids with days that may shift (if they do two school days one week and three the next), or having to do elearning on a schedule if they don’t go back. I really don’t want to do this, but it may be the most convenient way to deal with work and teaching.
The major downside is that this would be $800-$1,000/month in daycare costs for him when my only cost should have been $208 in aftercare costs.
Also, can schools even access cleaning supplies? Until that happens I think everything about this is silly.
I'm not sure what the current status is, but in mid-March, right before we were shut down, I know our administration had told us they could not get their hands on any more hand sanitizer or wipes, so what we had was what we had. And that they wanted us to be sanitizing high touch areas in our room 5 times a day but also to ration supplies lol.
Kawasakis is an immune system response to a virus. Kids can get it from a common cold. There are 1.5 million kids in NYC. If even 10% of them got Covid (and it’s probably higher) these numbers should not incite panic.
It’s not actually Kawasaki though. It just shares features with it. They don’t know what it is.
I'm in MD, we haven't heard any speculations yet. I understand if things begin virtual next year or if other options are decided on. I just feel bad for the kids in general. My DS as we were heading to bed last night asked me when this quarantine is going to over because he misses play dates and sleepovers with his friends.
Thank you so much for sharing this. I skimmed through it and determined that I need to know whether they will be opening the kids summer camp before even thinking about school next year. It is good to be prepared mentally though.
Also all of this :waves hands around wildly: planning is based on knowledge that is incomplete and totally uncertain. Everyone keeps talking about well high risk people need to be protected and accommodated BUT DO WE REALLY KNOW WHO IS HIGH RISK?
(Not to mention how grating I find it to other people who are high risk and act like they should just isolate so the rest of us can get back to normal)
Some details: Only nursery and primary schools are set to start up at first, and classes will be capped at 10 students at preschools and 15 elsewhere. Administrators were told to prioritise instruction for children ages 5, 6 and 10.
Education Minister Jean-Michel Blanquer estimated that 80 percent to 85 percent of France’s 50,500 preschools and elementary schools will open this week. Secondary schools in regions with fewer virus cases are expected to reopen on May 18. A target date hasn’t been scheduled yet for France’s lycées, or high schools.
Post by RoxMonster on May 12, 2020 10:46:01 GMT -5
Our local university announced they are going ahead with reopening dorms as planned in Mid-August and starting back up in-person classes as usual in mid-August. I haven't heard of any precautions being taken. In fact, their President said that because the university isn't huge, germs can't spread well. LOL what?
Now, it remains to be seen if, come August, they are still going ahead with this. I do think there could be ways to distance, etc. in college classrooms perhaps. But the dorm situation really concerns me, as does the communal cafeterias that would be open. I know you need housing if you offer in-person classes, but. I don't know. We'll see what happens with that.