DD2 is in 5th grade. K-5 school. LOVES school. In-person, masks required, and seem to be followed. I pull her for lunch to eat in my car because I'm paranoid about delta, and she's had some lung issues when she was younger when she'd get sick. Reactive airway, needed inhaler, etc.
Last year she actually did ok with online. She found her groove, is highly independent and self motivated, and we were very fortunate that she was able to settle in and do ok (emotionally) with that. Academically it was a cluster, but I was very whatever about it. She wasn't struggling, doesn't have special learning needs/concerns, still at/above grade level, and I figured it's one year. I know that big-picture she'll be fine.
However this year, she has no teacher. Like, he walked out the first day before students arrived, because "he was nervous" (that's what the kids were told by the TA, who is basically the sub now I guess?). Hasn't been back. Just got word through the grapevine that he's not coming back. Haven't heard that officially, but it came from a source at the school. The OTHER 5th grade teacher retired the *day before* teacher assignments went out last week. So there are NO 5th grade teachers. That class at least has a long-term sub, but there's no official sub for our class at this point.
I know the TA is certified as a sub, so legally it's ok, but....at the same time, this whole situation is very not ok.
I'm debating pulling her to enroll in the district online school. It's live instruction, taught by a teacher in the district, with other district kids. BUT. None of her friends would be there. She wouldn't get in-person specials of library, music, art, and gym, which she LOVES, and those teachers are amazing.
I was OK with online school last year, because it was just one year, and all her friends were in class with her. But now I feel like the rug was pulled out from under me, and there are no good choices. Thoughts/insights appreciated. Fuck covid.
Based on the description here, I would wait for a week ish to hear from the principal what the plan is, and make a decision based on that. I wouldn't move to online school today.
*I don't fault/judge the teacher. If it's truly anxiety, I can't really blame him. He's a good person, and great teacher, and I was so excited when she got him this year.
**EDIT - found out the virtual school principal is different than the online non-live school (with whom I've interacted before), so all good there. Totally different lady than I thought (thankfully). Am emailing her to see if there are even spots open.
I am a big advocate of in person school but this is obviously not ideal. Has the principal addressed it at all? I would email administration and see what the long term plan is. If things don't change in the next few weeks I would probably consider the online school but it would be the last resort for our family. Things like the library and specials are DD's favorite part of school, too, and you just can't replicate that at home.
ETA: With your update I would definitely not do virtual unless absolutely necessary.
That sucks. I agree that I'd give it a week or 2 and then decide. Realistically you could even give it a month and still be able to catch up if you ended up pulling her. Give them a chance to fix it.
Oh man, that sucks. The constant churn is what has just killed me the last year and a half, just when you think things are going to settle down NOPE.
I'd give it at least a week to see what admin does about the situation and how the TA handles things, before going through yet another round of change. Is there a deadline to opt into virtual?
Oh man, that sucks. The constant churn is what has just killed me the last year and a half, just when you think things are going to settle down NOPE.
I'd give it at least a week to see what admin does about the situation and how the TA handles things, before going through yet another round of change. Is there a deadline to opt into virtual?
Honestly I think it's unacceptable that you haven't heard anything from the school and your info is from the grapevine. Even if they're still forming a plan they should at least communicate that to parents. It's not like it's only been a day or two. I would email the principal.
I would give it a few weeks. There are occasionally new teachers looking for jobs the first few weeks of school (especially after relocating) and sometimes they’re great.
Would I still contact the principal to get an idea of the plan? Yes.
As a teacher, I was unexpectedly out for an entire quarter due to a family emergency and while my honors parents were FREAKING out (according to my assistant principal), the kids did turn out to be some of my favorites and are now successfully in college doing amazing things!
I would wait and see. We've had a couple years where enrollment for kindergarten was a lot higher than expected and they were basically hiring another teacher the same week as open house.
So the classes were a bit full for the first couple weeks, but then they hired, on-boarded, and were able to distribute to the new teacher and lower numbers.
I would keep my kid in person in this scenario. I just hated online that much for my kids.
My son had three teachers last year; one left with notice, the other just peaced out with an email to the principal and never returned. The TA taught after that and was the best instructor of the year. I would call the principal and ask for an update.
I would also give it a couple of weeks. It takes time to hire someone. One of my kids teachers was hired literally a couple of days before school started- she's a new college grad and our district usually does not hire fresh grads but so far she's been wonderful!
Post by gretchenindisguise on Sept 2, 2021 10:38:47 GMT -5
I would also wait 2 weeks and see how things shake out. There are so many shuffles that happen at the beginning of the school year, this one in particular. Given where she is academically and socially, I'd let this coast for a bit and see if things improve. If they don't - switch her.
Post by maudefindlay on Sept 2, 2021 10:48:40 GMT -5
Agree with pp that school should be communicating something to you. I'd want to know if the teacher left lesson plans or if the school is providing those and if not what resources are being given to the TA to support her.
I would give it time. Even pre-covid there are always last minute teacher changes right up until school begins as teachers get new jobs or whatever. Especially if districts start at different times.
One year my kids teacher had a sudden death in the family and she left after first week and never returned. It was fine!
I wouldn’t make a dramatic change until I knew more about that the plan is.
Post by notoriousmeg on Sept 2, 2021 10:55:26 GMT -5
That sucks but I would give it a week. Last year DS’s teacher quit after the first week b/c she got a better job. Then the sub they hired quit b/c she got a full time job. I was frustrated with the way it was handled but once he settled in with the final teacher it was great. She ended up being the perfect fit for us in a crazy year. Good luck!
If she is still academically on par and she enjoys in person I'd keep her there. For now at least unless things changed again or you noticed she was getting extremely behind.
Post by pinkdutchtulips on Sept 2, 2021 11:11:18 GMT -5
I always heard more through the parent grapevine rather than the school/district itself. I’d inquire w the principal what the current status is and leave it be for a week or 2. There is no way, I’d leave in-person schooling but I have a kid who is NOT independent or self motivated in ANY way, she needs the structure a classroom provides.
I'm so sorry, that really sucks. What a mess. I loved virtual last year, but I hear you too about kids needing to be able to be back and interact with other kids. I have a 5th grader also in a K-5 school. I felt like he really needed to go back for his last year of elementary and have some of those "normal" school experiences. I'm pretty sure we're going to get Covid or be exposed at any minute, but I would not have wanted to choose virtual all year for him even if that were an option for us. I would have done it for a couple months until the spike settles down or a vaccine is available, maybe, but not all year.
Sounds like you are in the same place. I think I'd wait longer for the school to fix it and see what they do.
My first reaction is did you ask your kid what she wants? She might be crushed going online again when her friends are in-person. Plus she would miss out on all the activities. These sort of things (no teacher) happen quite frequently at the beginning of the schoolyear. I would contact the principal and see what their plan is.
How long has she been back in school? My daughter didn't have a stable teacher staffing in the 1st grade until December- that was an extreme situation and a very long story- but she was ultimately, just fine. Better than fine. I will say that I'm pretty sure she would have finished out that year with a sub parade if H and I hadn't inserted ourselves as enormous thorns in the principal's side during this process, but hopefully your daughter's situation will just require a little patience.
We've been bleeding teachers much faster than we're making new ones for years now, so this isn't just a COVID thing- COVID just made it worse. Hang in there, do whatever you can to lighten the load on the good teachers we still have, and be kind if you do have to become a bit of a thorn.
Agree with pp that school should be communicating something to you. I'd want to know if the teacher left lesson plans or if the school is providing those and if not what resources are being given to the TA to support her.
So as far as I know, there are no lesson long-term plans that were left. They're getting super long recesses (which they obviously love), have done lots of free-time reading, and took a math pre-test. Other than that, they've played games (like Uno) and just sort of hung out/gone to specials.
I guess it would be one thing if there was another teacher to help the TA with lessons. But she's gone too, so there's no support.
Principal got back to another parent that he doesn't know when the teacher will be back, but that was yesterday, and I just got the grapevine news today at 6:30AM. I believe and trust him, and don't fault the principal for not giving an up to the minute update, because as soon as he says something, shit's going to hit the fan. So I know he needs to have a plan in place before he's like "he guys, so...there are now no 5th grade teachers, we'll keep you posted, have a good weekend."
We've been in school since Monday. This is day 4. I'm going to give it till the end of next week for a plan to come into place before I decide. No private school options for a number of reasons, but the main one is they're all now PACKED - a ton of parents left the district because they wanted full in-person school, and the district wasn't willing to guarantee that when enrollment happened last year (district has been really cautious and conservative about full in-person return).
I would definitely email the principal and ask about long term sub plans. It isn’t acceptable that they are just playing games and waiting.
I doubt they would have a new instructor anytime soon. If the other teacher went on leave instead of resigning, they may not hire until they know for sure what is going to happen with him. But there should be a long term sub that can be given curriculum and lesson plan.
This sucks for sure, but I think it's a lot more common than we realize. In my school alone, we had 4 teachers quit randomly throughout last school year. In all of those cases it took a few days for admin to get a plan in place and the amount of rumours flying in the interim was crazy. Even among our small staff the stories were never consistent.
I know you aren't blaming the teachers and it really, really sucks to be on the parent side without up to the minute communication. Just also know that it's really awful on the teaching and admin side too. We had a record year of resignations and retirements in June.
If your daughter is happy there, just stick this out. This will likely be a minor blip in the overall shitstorm of the last two years.
Since it’s only day 4 and the teacher left 3 days ago, I would give them a week or two to come up with a plan. We are in our second week of school and my 4th grader has had a sub since the first day. We do have a teacher assigned, but she’s out for “family reasons” and they expect her to be back at the end of next week. My mom was a teacher and she was hired on the first day of school right after moving to a new town due to a sudden opening. Teachers are often hired at the beginning of the school year so it may just take a few days to post a position, interview, and hire someone.
Personally, if my kid loves school, I'm going to let her stay and let the school figure out the teaching situation. We've been through lots of teacher leaves/medical issues/long term and short term subs, and the school has always figured it out eventually.