First inkling of our district’s plan here in NJ...
Parent survey asks, would you choose: 1. Full days 2x/week (Mon/Weds or Tues/Thurs) with half the class attending each time 2. Half days 5x/week with the full class every day. Masks required, kids dismissed at noon with no lunch or recess. 3. Fully remote
First inkling of our district’s plan here in NJ...
Parent survey asks, would you choose: 1. Full days 2x/week (Mon/Weds or Tues/Thurs) with half the class attending each time 2. Half days 5x/week with the full class every day. Masks required, kids dismissed at noon with no lunch or recess. 3. Fully remote
I picked option 1.
I don't understand the point of option 2, the only reason to go less than full time is so they can have fewer kids and more distancing.
Well, you guys shouldn’t have any issues getting spots in private schools. It looks like a ton of kids in DD’s class are going to do some sort of homeschool co-op because they can’t pay tuition and risk it being distance learning so they have to pay a nanny or tutor too. I get it, but I’m sad for DD and our school community. We are going to lose teachers. And we won’t get them back.
The district where I live published their plan yesterday. It involves assigning every child to a color cohort based on last name and four potential scenarios for how often the cohorts will attend based on local community spread within the county. It looks like a clusterf*ck and I have no idea how parents will keep up with the schedule, much less teachers and school personnel.
Still no word on the district where I work.
I don’t envy the higher ups who have to make these decisions.
Post by mustardseed2007 on Jul 11, 2020 9:41:21 GMT -5
k3am , even if you think the private school ship has sailed, it might actually still be an option some place? The impact of covid on private school is a complicated one. Some people don't want to go back, some people do. Parents who don't want to go back might prefer to pay for a home school curriculum or get the free public school virtual curriculum. I've heard some of our parents express this sentiment. Plus the economy is taking a hit so some people who were in private school withdrew. While some are seeking out private school, some are running away from it. Anyway if you start looking now you might be pleasantly surprised.
Well, you guys shouldn’t have any issues getting spots in private schools. It looks like a ton of kids in DD’s class are going to do some sort of homeschool co-op because they can’t pay tuition and risk it being distance learning so they have to pay a nanny or tutor too. I get it, but I’m sad for DD and our school community. We are going to lose teachers. And we won’t get them back.
This is my concern at my school and why I thought she might have a shot. I've definitely heard some parents say that they will not pay priviate school tuition for virtual learning. Our school is going to allegedly finally announce what they will be doing next Thursday.
My concern is that I think they might say they will start virtual and move to in person with a virtual option and that will lead to them loosing kids which will lead to further death spiral for the school that was already small.
On the other hand, in DD's class (kinder) I see that kids have joined b/c our school is small, but my guess is that they won't stay post pandemic...whenever post pandemic happens. Also not great for the community.
I’m one of those people joining private school who doesn’t plan to stay. But that said, I can definitely see a scenario where we’d change our minds, especially for DS1 who I think will benefit a lot from smaller class sizes.
I’m one of those people joining private school who doesn’t plan to stay. But that said, I can definitely see a scenario where we’d change our minds, especially for DS1 who I think will benefit a lot from smaller class sizes.
This is us. I think it’s a short term solution but I can see us staying through 5th grade if it goes well and the public school doesn’t figure something out.
Post by mustardseed2007 on Jul 11, 2020 13:20:34 GMT -5
Oh no blame for anyone intending to join short term at all!! It's just that our small school was hoping to really build the school population and now building the population is very complicated.
I don’t believe our private schools have announced any plans yet. Like I said before the one we would pick is already affiliated with public (public provides bussing), and with the Archdiocese of our area. If public shuts down completely I’m sure they will also. But I am curious to hear their plan.
Exactly mustardseed2007, I really hope not, but this could go on longer than this school year. Or there could be a lot of public school changes as a result of it that might cause us to stay with private. Who knows!
waverly definitely, if all schools shut down state or county wide again, private will shut too. But if public decides to start with distance learning but current public health orders stay in place, I think private can open. Both private schools we’re considering have detailed, 5+ page documents on their safe reopening plans (like we have for my office). They have calculated square footage of each classroom and how many students it can accommodate with distancing. Teachers and lunches come to them. Outside play time is distanced like at summer camp. There are still some things up in the air like whether there would be any after care option (since they’re trying to keep everyone in small cohorts so if there’s a case, they don’t have to shut down the whole school).
A friend of mine whose kids are currently at one of the schools sent me the latest letter from the diocese. It said there can be different plans for different schools based on sizes and age of kids. I would guess that it’s more feasible for the 175-kid k-8 school to open vs the large high school. Paying for private is certainly still a risk when everything could shut down again. But I figure private schools would have an incentive to reopen again more quickly since as PPs have pointed out, parents will withdraw and stop paying if it goes on for too long.
I think our public will open at least 2 days a week in person, private might be 5 days. DH said he would still rather pay a babysitter than switch to private though. I’m not sure how he will find one though since our current babysitter is only slated until school starts. We could ask her to stay on part time, but ultimately she wants to get on with her career plus her previous family might want her back. We might be hitting up sitter city again. She left her previous family to do sales in a gym, which obviously were closed and now they are open people are not running out to get memberships. So basically she doesn’t know what she wants professionally.
Post by sandandsea on Jul 11, 2020 17:52:30 GMT -5
I’m on to my next concern now since our district is all up in the air now. If we, and others pull kids to do private or homeschool due to poorly implemented distance learning, the schools will get less funding and less PTA donations leaving them in a worse position financially than they already are. I feel like this hole is getting deeper and deeper and I/we/the universe don’t have a good solution.
I’m on to my next concern now since our district is all up in the air now. If we, and others pull kids to do private or homeschool due to poorly implemented distance learning, the schools will get less funding and less PTA donations leaving them in a worse position financially than they already are. I feel like this hole is getting deeper and deeper and I/we/the universe don’t have a good solution.
That’s us as well. Our district is terribly underfunded. And if students drop out and go private or homeschool, that’s going to effect public school funding.
So one of our friends works for the private school we were considering, and she's back channeling for us. They have a couple kids who waffling over whether they'll be attending with everything going on, so... she's confident we'll have a spot.
I literally feel sick about it. I don't WANT to send her. I want her to be in class and stay at her home school. I don't want to take her away from her friends. I don't want to have to worry that her school trajectory in private will be different than if she'd stayed in public and on that trajectory.. I mean, our district is a mess, so if we try to put her back into public after a year, she would likely be in a different spot in her learning. I don't want to commit to $20k, especially not for more than a year.
But our district is... I mean really, calling it a mess is going easy on them.
First inkling of our district’s plan here in NJ...
Parent survey asks, would you choose: 1. Full days 2x/week (Mon/Weds or Tues/Thurs) with half the class attending each time 2. Half days 5x/week with the full class every day. Masks required, kids dismissed at noon with no lunch or recess. 3. Fully remote
I picked option 1.
I don't understand the point of option 2, the only reason to go less than full time is so they can have fewer kids and more distancing.
The reason the five day in person learning with a dismissal an noon/1:00pm is an option is to get kids in school the maximum number of days without having to have them take off their masks to eat. Also, because many schools are skipping things like music and PE because they can’t socially distance properly the teachers are now without planning breaks so the afternoons with no students can replace that lost planning time. This only works in schools that have the space to properly socially distance the student population as is.
So one of our friends works for the private school we were considering, and she's back channeling for us. They have a couple kids who waffling over whether they'll be attending with everything going on, so... she's confident we'll have a spot.
I literally feel sick about it. I don't WANT to send her. I want her to be in class and stay at her home school. I don't want to take her away from her friends. I don't want to have to worry that her school trajectory in private will be different than if she'd stayed in public and on that trajectory.. I mean, our district is a mess, so if we try to put her back into public after a year, she would likely be in a different spot in her learning. I don't want to commit to $20k, especially not for more than a year.
But our district is... I mean really, calling it a mess is going easy on them.
Just remember it’s (hopefully) only for one year, which is nothing in the larger scheme of 13 years of K-12.
I’m with ya though, having made the decision to move my DD (also rising 2nd).
We just got an email from the principal that stated that, basically, unless the state shuts down or dictates things differently, they're planning to open 5 days, full time for all students. They will offer remote learning for those families that do not feel comfortable sending their kids. They will require face coverings for all grades except for DD2's class, because that class is small enough that they can be socially distant.
They're encouraging classes outdoors whenever possible... but that's really not going to work long-term since we live in New England. The cafeteria/gym/multipurpose room has been taken over by the preschool and pre-k, which is really disappointing.
The district is sending out a survey today to parents. The news last night said that 4 days a week in person will only happen if there is a vaccine. And that the only in person option would be Monday/Tuesday or Thursday/Friday with everyone online on Wednesday. I guess I should at least start hiring a sitter for Wednesdays.
San Diego unified and Los Angeles just announced they’ll be online only. We’re not in the San Diego district, but I expect the 50ish other school districts in San Diego County will mostly follow suit.
San Diego unified and Los Angeles just announced they’ll be online only. We’re not in the San Diego district, but I expect the 50ish other school districts in San Diego County will mostly follow suit.
I think given the numbers rising the rest of the country will mostly follow suit unless they are 1. Complete jerks (Florida) or 2. cases are low in that area.
For those not doing private school, how are you planning to handle it if school is 100% elearning. If that is the case it seems doubtful they would allow aftercare to run a small program at the school, right?
So my options are FMLA or hire a nanny for elearning? Right now I am allowed to work 1 day a week from home. My other option is elearning in the morning and sit them in front of the TV (so unhealthy) while I go to work in person in the afternoons say 1-5 maybe.
San Diego unified and Los Angeles just announced they’ll be online only. We’re not in the San Diego district, but I expect the 50ish other school districts in San Diego County will mostly follow suit.
I think given the numbers rising the rest of the country will mostly follow suit unless they are 1. Complete jerks (Florida) or 2. cases are low in that area.
For those not doing private school, how are you planning to handle it if school is 100% elearning. If that is the case it seems doubtful they would allow aftercare to run a small program at the school, right?
So my options are FMLA or hire a nanny for elearning? Right now I am allowed to work 1 day a week from home. My other option is elearning in the morning and sit them in front of the TV (so unhealthy) while I go to work in person in the afternoons say 1-5 maybe.
can you find someone in your neighborhood to do a cohort? Distance learning at your house in the morning and PE and free play at their house in the afternoon?
SDUSD said we will start that way but they will reassess with the help of UCSD medical teams and local public health officials on Aug 10 to determine for how long.
I just got home from the board meeting. They ruled out 100% elearning. We will either do hybrid or full in person.
My personal opinion is that the reopening committee is leaning toward hybrid, and the board is a bunch of wafflers, so they will likely go with committee recommendation.
On the board, we had 2 that said nothing, 2 were for hybrid, and 1 for in person. And the token delusional guy who adds no value but will likely vote with the majority.
lexus yes we are discussing a pod with another family. I think we’d have a teacher/tutor from say 8:30-noon, kids go home for lunch/quiet time noon-1:30, and then we hire someone from the aftercare program from say 1:30-4:30 to do outdoor sports/activities or something.
There are just a lot of logistical issues. It would cost as much as the private school, require more daytime interaction from us, and not be as good for the kids to only be with a few other kids and learning mostly on screens. And little stuff like DD finds one of the other kids annoying and other small issues.
We’re not super close friends with the main family we’re discussing with but they seem nice enough -both parents are attorneys. But our really close friends here with similar age kids all have a stay at home/flexible parent and wouldn’t want to pay for this. And no teachers/tutors/aftercare people want to commit to anything right now because who knows what their fall schedules will be like. We don’t even have a certain start date or know what hours online learning will be or anything else.
However you slice it, we’re paying something like $20k a year extra next year just to do our jobs and have our kids learn something/not go crazy. And that’s tough to swallow when my friend who is a high school administrator is thrilled that she gets to work from home and homeschool her daughter next year.
Imagine we do this and pay the teacher/tutor $40 an hour ($20 each per family) and the aftercare guy $25 an hour ($12.50 per family) - that’s $21,500 per year. And what about taxes?
Welp, I just sent in the paperwork to enroll DD for private. I'm sad about it. We love, love, love, love, love our school. We bought our house because of the schools. This one is a 15-20 minute drive away without traffic, and traffic in the area has really picked up. We are hoping that they'll resume busing (vanpool) from DS's daycare (they're affiliated), which would make life a lot easier. DH was against it at first, until I pointed out my hourly rate vs. their monthly rate of $140 round trip.
We are not putting her in before/aftercare, which will save us ~$3500 for the year at least.
DD is.. not happy. We keep trying to explain that school isn't opening anyways, and she'll know at least two people in her grade (one that she's VERY close to).
For some reason I keep worrying that now that we're committed, things will improve and the school year will be normal again after a few months but.. IT WON'T. Our state is shutting down again (I mean.. our county hasn't opened most of what they're shutting down anyways), our teacher union will refuse to put teachers in the class, and the vaccine horizon isn't anytime soon.
k3am, Yes! You are doing something right. @ sdlaura, Yes, this was supposed to be the first year with no one in daycare, and just paying for aftercare, which means that we can swallow the extra expense, of either nannies or private school, but it is crazy how much it costs to work right now. This is a make or break it year for me work wise (I'm about to go up for tenure, and now is the time to do as much as physically possible).
I just had to break it to DS that he likely won't be going back to school fulltime in the fall, part time at the most with a nanny to help fill in the e-learning and do enrichment activities with him and his sister. He seemed really sad, and I'm really sad. DD hasn't asked yet, but she will likely be bummed as well. They have been going to daycare since they were babies, so all of this feels super strange to them. And I have been told that so far I will have to teach in person at the university, they sent me a set of slides with my different PPE options to select from. I'm okay with that, I just wish the schools would open in person, because it feels like to me that they are learning towards online only.