I’m curious what others’ districts are planning for the fall. So far three districts adjacent to mine have announced their plans:
1 - school will be open as usual - no further details
2 - planning a split week with two days in a row at school and two at home and having Wednesdays to deep clean. Only 1/2 of the students coming at a time
3 - A fairly complicated schedule with colored and numbered days. Basically boils down to 1/3 - 1/2 of the students in the building at a time. Families will be on the same schedule. Their days seemed to be more like M/Th or T/F at school and the rest at home. Again closed all day Wednesday for deep cleaning.
We do not typically go back until the last week of August - just finished a week and a half ago so I’m sure other areas are much further along in their planning.
No districts in my state have announced any plans or even the options they’re considering. I’m a teacher and a parent—my anxiety over this is slowly taking over my life.
Our school board discusses it on the 30th, but there is a tentative new calendar that gives teachers 2 weeks of PD time, pushing the student start date back to after Labor Day. They've put out surveys asking what people would prefer, with the options being, regular schooling with masks, blended (online and in school) or wholly online.
My district will be 5 days a week; my kids will be hybrid with them in the building 2 days a week. I have absolutely no idea how we are going to make this work.
Our district has to submit plans to the state by July 1. They’re supposed to have three plans: Distance Learning, Traditional, and traditional. I know teachers are going back a week early for professional development on distance learning, but that’s just from teachers. They know nothing else.
Our state just put out their guidelines today. Basically, “There’s no GUARANTEE that anything works 100%, so we’re not going to make you do anything. Symptoms don’t mean you’re sick and people can be asymptomatic, so no health screenings are needed. Go to school. If you DO make any guidelines, you best check with your public health department and lawyers to make sure you say it correctly/won’t get sued.” My understanding is that since the state guidelines literally don’t require anything, they don’t have to pay for any of it. So, once again, wealthy districts will be able to afford more than others...and then an avalanche starts. Forget equitable education! With this setup, they’ll never have people to teach classes! If/when teachers are out (COVID or otherwise), they won’t be able to get a sub. They struggle enough as is! And I think that any teacher who can afford to stay home will do so...or they’ll move to the districts who are taking more measures to keep people healthy. It’s maddening! Our State Education Association has already put out a statement saying that our teachers and students deserve better.
We have no plan for school, but my kids bot their teacher assignments for next year already.
No districts in my state have announced any plans or even the options they’re considering. I’m a teacher and a parent—my anxiety over this is slowly taking over my life.
Same here. I HOPE this means that they are carefully considering options behind the scenes, and waiting until we are closer to the first day of school to assess conditions and decide. But really, it’s Florida, so they will probably pretend that everything is normal and send kids back with no modifications even though cases have been skyrocketing in our area.
Choice of 100% distanced learning or 2 days in person, rest async. distance learning. But our “no one at school” day is Monday bc there’s a lot of Monday holidays on school calendar.
It’s messy. But schools are SO overcrowded here I don’t understand how ppl expect 5 days in person to happen. There’s barely anywhere to put the kids as is.
Choice of 100% distanced learning or 2 days in person, rest async. distance learning. But our “no one at school” day is Monday bc there’s a lot of Monday holidays on school calendar.
It’s messy. But schools are SO overcrowded here I don’t understand how ppl expect 5 days in person to happen. There’s barely anywhere to put the kids as is.
Texas very helpfully sent out guidelines on Tuesday that are incredibly vague and give no information or requirements other than they must offer on campus instruction.
Teachers start back in early August. I imagine plans won't be announced until closer to then. From what I understand the hybrid model is the leading choice but plans change daily so it's all a big question mark.
Our state guidelines were released with a push for in person as much as possible (masked). But they left it entirely up to the school districts and ours is playing coy.
We initially got a survey asking what parents were comfortable with - normal with safety measures, hybrid or distance. Then guidelines from LA County were clarified and because the 6 feet distancing is required, not recommended as initially thought, normal is off the table for now. None of our classrooms have space for that. So as of now we know it will be hybrid or distance.
All we know (I'm a teacher, not a parent) is that it will be a hybrid, with probably 50% of our students on campus each day. My principal said he'd share the specifics as soon as they were decided.
Our state just released their guidelines earlier this week. Next the districts will follow up with surveys. State guidelines say social distancing or masks are required, districts can decide on in person/NTI/hybrid. So no idea what to expect yet. My facebook mom groups have BLOWN UP that if masks are required, they're homeschooling. I'm like great, maybe that will mean there's actually room for social distancing at school.
I am curious about the districts that choose hybrid or NTI, is that for the entire school year? I can't imagine trying to do that and work full time until May 2021.
Is it pretty well determined that if it’s a hybrid option, the days at home are independent study? As a working mom, I could do that (daycare during the day and I help him learn at night and on weekends). But if they need to be on zoom calls with set times and turn in work by the end of that school day, that won’t work. I barely have time to go to the bathroom while working, let alone closely manage a 5-year-old’s elearning. And daycare can’t help three different kindergarteners from three different schools with different schedules, while also taking care of three toddlers .
I am worried about our daycare provider, though, because she is 60+ and a breast cancer survivor. Having two or three kids from two different schools could be really dangerous for her.
Post by pierogigirl on Jun 26, 2020 8:22:24 GMT -5
No guidance from the state yet (NY). I'm hoping we know in July. I'm on one of my district's 23! reopening committees but they are advisory and I imagine, useless.
The trend locally from colleges is to plan for an in-person fall semester and a probable distace learning second semester. Right now, cases are low and steady or falling, but most of the rest of the country is blowing up and I am more scared now than I was when all this started.
I do know our district is trying to have at least K-6 be in person 5 days a week, but the suggestions for how to do that have been -- not good.
Post by Ashley&Scott on Jun 26, 2020 8:27:23 GMT -5
lilac05, our state's guidance is terrible. You're right, they're just trying to get out of paying for anything. I think they're also trying to make things look as good as they possibly can.
Our district is in the process of purchasing iPads & Macbooks for each student, so while they haven't announced any official plans yet it certainly seems like they are gearing up for at least some distance learning. They've sent out a parent survey regarding possible options but no other info yet.
Our district has a summer care program which is currently open with reduced hours. They are doing temp checks & symptom screening upon arrival for all staff & students, no parents in buildings, cohorts of 10 or less with social distancing between groups. Extra cleaning, hand washing & all staff will wear face coverings. Students are allowed to wear masks but they are not required. I expect the school's plan for fall will be similar.
Choice of 100% distanced learning or 2 days in person, rest async. distance learning. But our “no one at school” day is Monday bc there’s a lot of Monday holidays on school calendar.
It’s messy. But schools are SO overcrowded here I don’t understand how ppl expect 5 days in person to happen. There’s barely anywhere to put the kids as is.
Is it pretty well determined that if it’s a hybrid option, the days at home are independent study? As a working mom, I could do that (daycare during the day and I help him learn at night and on weekends). But if they need to be on zoom calls with set times and turn in work by the end of that school day, that won’t work. I barely have time to go to the bathroom while working, let alone closely manage a 5-year-old’s elearning. And daycare can’t help three different kindergarteners from three different schools with different schedules, while also taking care of three toddlers .
I am worried about our daycare provider, though, because she is 60+ and a breast cancer survivor. Having two or three kids from two different schools could be really dangerous for her.
Our at home days would be asynchronous, so no scheduled times
Post by penguingrrl on Jun 26, 2020 8:58:45 GMT -5
The governor of NJ will be releasing guidelines today for if and how schools can reopen. I assume he isn’t making a blanket call that school can’t happen in September this early, so I’m hopeful. I’ll be curious to see what the guidelines are and how teachers (who are in the buildings every day) think they’ll be able to work in practice.
Post by jordancatalano4ever on Jun 26, 2020 9:01:28 GMT -5
We’re supposed to get our guidance sometime in mid July 😫. Based on the preliminary findings the district shared we’re looking at a hybrid option with 25% students full time. Then between 50-75% on 2 day attendance based on state guidelines. I’ve already started to comb through my files and I’m planning on developing plans for 5 days a week in class. 2 days a week and 3 days at home. I’m also going to put together a 3 week emergency plan should I get sick and need to quarantine. The amount of work is overwhelming. There is also talk of us switching from google classroom to some new mystery platform. I don’t even know what it would be but that would be kinda shitty because I feel like I finally developed a system that worked by the end of distance learning. Were supposed to get three days of training in August before we reopen. 🥺. It’s kinda terrifying
The governor of NJ will be releasing guidelines today for if and how schools can reopen. I assume he isn’t making a blanket call that school can’t happen in September this early, so I’m hopeful. I’ll be curious to see what the guidelines are and how teachers (who are in the buildings every day) think they’ll be able to work in practice.
Post by StrawberryBlondie on Jun 26, 2020 9:04:35 GMT -5
MN here. Our schools are supposed to plan for an all-in-person, and all-distance learning, and a hybrid model. They're not making a decision till end of July, which as much as I think sucks, is probably the right decision.
I did read something the other day that said we're on track for the in-person option but we'll see.
Post by Patsy Baloney on Jun 26, 2020 9:10:55 GMT -5
Our school district in central Illinois just sent out a family survey asking about what our family’s ranking of hybrid schedules would be, along with what we felt should be prioritized when students are in school. The options were -
1 week on, 1 week distance Morning and afternoon cohorts (everyone goes half-day, with distance learning for the other half of the day) 2 days on, 3 days distance
It’s hard to know what’s best. I ranked half day cohorts as first preference for us, but we’ll do whatever the school district decides as best. I’m encouraged that they think we’ll be able to go back in some way, but I hope they make the decision quickly for the sake of the teachers and their preparation.
The governor of NJ will be releasing guidelines today for if and how schools can reopen. I assume he isn’t making a blanket call that school can’t happen in September this early, so I’m hopeful. I’ll be curious to see what the guidelines are and how teachers (who are in the buildings every day) think they’ll be able to work in practice.
I am so incredibly anxious about this
Me too. I’m very torn between needing my kids in school for a lot of reasons and wanting no part in them having the risk of exposure that comes with school.
Nothing here, and we probably won’t know until August (NYC area).
And then it’ll probably change after watching the western part of the US attempt to do it first.
Pressure is starting to mount to get plans out earlier but I see no chance of hearing anything before August. Carranza and de Blasio have done a truly bad job during this educational crisis and I don't expect them to change over the summer.
My kid was in her last grade of a public school. Our old school isn't even planning to meet and start planning with a committee until late July. At orientation for our new school they basically talked about pre-covid set up for an hour and then said we have no idea if any of this will be in place for fall. We'll tell you when we know and we don't know when that will be.
Me too. I’m very torn between needing my kids in school for a lot of reasons and wanting no part in them having the risk of exposure that comes with school.
Same. We're Fairfax County, VA, so we've currently got the choice to either opt into full time online learning for the whole school year, OR have two days a week in person/three days asynchronous (it's not clear if you can change from in person to all online at any point). DH and I both have the flexibility to work from home so we could make all-online work (though it would be a challenge) and that's of course going to minimize exposure risk, but educationally/developmentally my kids would absolutely benefit from two days a week in a classroom. It's hard to figure out what the right balance is.
That said, I find it really unlikely that there's going to be in person school at all in the fall. It assumes that there's not a second wave of COVID cases as restrictions are lifted AND that there will be enough teachers willing and able to be in school buildings to accommodate that many kids two days a week. I think the school should really be focusing on quality online learning for the fall, and planning for a reassessment of the situation over winter break with the possibility of starting in-person instruction for the second semester.