update pg 2. Fvck. @ kid covid school wwyd

[snipsnsnails]

Last year, my kid’s teacher also quit the day before school started. The principal’s wife came on the first day to sub. We coasted with some cobbled-together subs for a couple of weeks and then they hired an ahhhhh-mazing teacher. Legit amazing. The Mary Poppins of teachers. We loved her beyond sense. So, I guess all that to say, hold out until you see the placement and then decide. It may turn out great. And if it doesn’t, make the choice then.((Hugs)) to you.

[expectantsteelerfan]

I'm sure the principal and all administrators are scrambling behind the scenes, but they might also have their hands tied as to what they can do immediately due to their contract with the teacher who left (who is obv. in breach of contract but might have options as to what he can do at this point and whatnot).

Are there other schools in your district that have 5th grades? If so, I would maybe float the idea of having any other 5th grade teacher send lesson plans over for whoever is in the classroom at the moment to follow?

I am a sub, and I know if a teacher leaves absolutely NO plans, it's awful. But I am also not equipped to 'make up' plans because I can sub for any subject at the high school level, etc. 5th grade is different, but even if they found a long-term sub or asked the TA to fulfill the sub position until further notice, they would still need plans to come from somewhere to be followed.

[mccallister84]

Sept 3, 2021 13:03:01 GMT -5 expectantsteelerfan said:

I'm sure the principal and all administrators are scrambling behind the scenes, but they might also have their hands tied as to what they can do immediately due to their contract with the teacher who left (who is obv. in breach of contract but might have options as to what he can do at this point and whatnot).

Are there other schools in your district that have 5th grades? If so, I would maybe float the idea of having any other 5th grade teacher send lesson plans over for whoever is in the classroom at the moment to follow?

I am a sub, and I know if a teacher leaves absolutely NO plans, it's awful. But I am also not equipped to 'make up' plans because I can sub for any subject at the high school level, etc. 5th grade is different, but even if they found a long-term sub or asked the TA to fulfill the sub position until further notice, they would still need plans to come from somewhere to be followed.

Well that’s true for a daily sub, but in most (if not all) long terms subs are most definitely responsible for daily planning. It is also why it can be extremely hard to find someone to take it on - you have the full responsibilities of a teacher at a much lower rate of pay and often don’t have benefits, etc.

[Leeham Rimes]

Is there an update DotAndBuzz?

In my area, short term subs have completely different qualifications than long term subs and are hired differently. This definitely is a messy situation but I know there are severe shortages in my area from teachers to bus drivers and everywhere in between. We have a lack of everything including crossing guards and cafeteria workers. It's a giant mess and a half. Xavier's teachers keep leaving for a week here or there, I suspect it's covid related but haven't been told so.

I hope that they can find a solution for the class sooner rather than later.

[DotAndBuzz]

oh yes. update.

Got an email from the principal Thursday evening that there's a family emergency, and teacher is out until further notice. No idea how long. Got a notice Friday evening that there are officially 2 cases in the school now. We've been in school for all of 4 days. We weren't notified as being close contacts, thank goodness, but some students on her bus were (parents posted publicly that they have to stay home now).

Close contact = mandatory stay home for 10 days, and, get this - there's no online instruction platform. So if you're told to stay home, you're just....home. No way at all to have school. Yes, I know that's how it was in the olden days when we got chicken pox, but I feel like....none of this is ok. So 10 days minimum, and then of course longer if you develop symptoms/test positive.

The TA is now the official sub. We got an email yesterday with a little welcome letter and her email address, but she's clearly learning as she goes. She sent the email literally 8x over the course of 2 hours. So if the district shuts it down and sends us all home, I'm not holding out much hope that the online instruction will be much of anything at all. Not her fault, but it's still just a lot of upheaval and instability.

So I'm about 80% decided that we're going to pull her. She's been crying and said she's afraid to go to school, but also wants to go be with her friends. Talked to the online principal (who is lovely, and not who I thought it was) for about 40 minutes, and we can commit to online school by trimester, so we can re-evaluate in November, and then again in Feb. The whole situation just sucks, and there are no good choices. And I know we're not alone in navigating these kinds of things, so many hugs to everyone.

[pinkalicious]

Is it possible that the TA is actually a certified teacher? Before I got my own classroom I worked as a TA, and long term sub. So it could be that the TA is perfectly capable of running the classroom.

ETA: never mind, I read the replies and your update. This is a crappy situation, I’m sorry.

[redheadk]

I’ll admit that my view is very skewed since covid is awful in our schools (just finished our 4th week and there were almost 60 reported cases at DD’s elementary school of 615 kids). So 2 for the whole school doesn’t sound too bad.

Anyway. I would honestly give it another week. I bet the TA/sub is working really hard this week to get things ready for next week. If they start academics, I’d consider keeping her there. The nice thing about the TA being the sub is that it’s likely she will remain in some capacity even once the situation is resolved.

I would follow up with the principal to ask what kind of support is planned for lesson planning since they have no 5th grade teachers at all who are actively working. Do they have an instructional coach (lots of names for that position)? Or someone at the district level? They need to be providing support and guidance to the TA and the other classroom’s sub. I would also want to know if there are plans to have someone sub for the TA’s actual position. After all, the reason the TA was assigned to the class still exists.

[af1212]

Your update does not make me feel any differently - if they are putting the assistant in the classroom and this is a public school then she clearly had whatever the state requirements are for certification and experience.

I have glitched on sending an email many times in life and it does not reflect my teaching abilities or dedication to my students.

I get that this is all scary but going to in-person school is not without risks. My hope for my kids is that the benefits of being with peers and live teachers will be worth it. 2 cases would not change my risk/benefit calculation.

[DotAndBuzz]

To be clear, I know the TA will do her best. She's taken on a massive workload in impossible circumstances, and I'm certain she's not being paid nearly enough.

I just look at all the Facebook posts of people with kids IN my daughter's classroom, partying it up at the local Big 10 football game, packed in the stadium, and I'm like....what the fuck.

I feel like it's only a matter of time before we get shut down/sent home, and I guess I'd rather have as little disruption when that happens as possible. So it's kind of like, do we rock the boat now, or sail directly into the storm and then just hang on when it happens? I've mostly made up my mind that we're out. Was going to give it another week, but seeing the insanity this weekend mostly seals the deal.

[maudefindlay]

I'm mostly concerned about lesson plans and actual teaching and how long till that begins.

[Monica Geller]

As a teacher in a district that has no “remote” option and ~20% (20/110) of my students in quarantine the first 3 weeks of school I’m going to say it sucks. That being said, even though I’m not required to post online learning, I am. I want my students who are out for 10 days to do what they can and not feel behind when they come back any more than necessary. I don’t see our district going remote or shutting down again no matter how bad it is. I think our super is a secret trumper/covid denier even though he says the “right things” at the right times. He smarmy.

You’re not wrong no matter what you decide. Do what’s best for your family.

[basilosaurus]

Even back in chicken pox days work packets would be sent home with a sibling, neighbor, parents... It's totally unacceptable that possibly very healthy kids are without any instruction for 10 especially in today's connected world. Especially when they figured it out over a year ago. Despite it being imperfect it was still something.

Ianap, and I truly have no idea what I'd do. FSM be with you

[cricketwife]

I see you’ve already made up your mind, but...

I am always less than pleased when I feel like my kid doesn’t have the best teacher, so I would be very upset too. But your school is mandating masks and you are taking her off campus for lunch so she really shouldn’t be a close contact with anybody (assuming that close contact means within. 3 feet for more than 15 min). I wouldn’t jump ship just because of the possibility of having to quarantine. If you think she needs to social interaction, I would consider leaving her, or at least giving it another week or two before deciding. But we all have to make these impossible decisions and there’s no judgement if you think online is better for her and your family.

[Deleted]

I'm not sure who is responsible for dropping the ball with this issue, but I've heard this a few times this school year...IMHO this should be a part of planning 101 for the 2021-2022 school year.

Why isnt it possible for teachers to create weekly remote learning homework so students who need to quarentine don't fall behind their peers? Is this an admin issue? When I was a student, even in high school, teachers would create packets...students would have a turn in date or not receive credit. Obviously there was a grace period as they knew a child won't do homework if they feel sick.









I'm sorry your going through this (((hugs)))

[karinothing]

DotAndBuzz I think the lack of online school for kids quarentine is pretty par for the course in a lot of districts. We are in a district that is very covid cautious and even created a separate virtual school for folks and we still have no virtual school for kids on quarentine.

Concurrent was hard in everyone last yr the district won't do it this yr. I think some other districts are putting up video feeds in classrooms but there are privacy issues there. But there just really isn't a good option.

Our teachers are supposed to provide asych work but it is hard for the teachers to create two lesson plans for a week. They canr create in a advance because they don't really know where they will be exactly week to week (sure you can have plans but topics may move faster or slower than expected). Last year teachers had a whole day of no teaching to create videos and materials for kids at home. They won't have that this yr.

[abs]

Sept 5, 2021 7:21:40 GMT -5 @princesslily said:

I'm not sure who is responsible for dropping the ball with this issue, but I've heard this a few times this school year...IMHO this should be a part of planning 101 for the 2021-2022 school year.

Why isnt it possible for teachers to create weekly remote learning homework so students who need to quarentine don't fall behind their peers? Is this an admin issue? When I was a student, even in high school, teachers would create packets...students would have a turn in date or not receive credit. Obviously there was a grace period as they knew a child won't do homework if they feel sick.









I'm sorry your going through this (((hugs)))

Teachers cannot be responsible for this.  It's asking them to do two full time jobs.  IMO district leaders dropped the ball here.  In May and June things looked good and it seemed like there wouldn't be a need for on-line learning.  Then bam July happened and they should have immediately pivoted.  Instead it was head in the sand nope the Covid explosion won't happen here!  

Yeah.  That isn't working out.  Our district did finally develop a remote option (3 weeks into the school year) but it's not great.  It's also only for kids that are out with Covid.  Secondary students get a conference period with the school's instructional specialists but otherwise do work on their own that is already posted in the online learning system.  Elementary students also get a two hour window with the campus instructional specialist but there is no work in the online learning system because everything they do in class is on paper.  It's all a big mess.  This isn't on teachers though.  They are barely surviving already.  I absolutely blame district leadership and even more than that state leadership that refused to fund anything that would make campuses a safer environment.

[redheadk]

Sept 5, 2021 9:31:11 GMT -5 jennyparnassus said:

Sept 5, 2021 8:30:22 GMT -5 abs said:

Teachers cannot be responsible for this.  It's asking them to do two full time jobs.  

I hope that nobody responds that this is just an extra thing that teachers should do in the summer.

My dad is a retired high school teacher. Before he retired from teaching, he worked a completely different job in the summer, every summer, because he couldn't financially support his family on just his teaching salary. 

SAME.

When we as a society only pay teachers to start back a few days to 1 week before students return, we get what we pay for. Those days are already full with parents clamoring for info and complaining that schools don't communicate until the last minute; meanwhile, teachers and campus staff are working frantically to get to the point that they have the information to even offer to parents. So here we are.

[abs]

Sept 5, 2021 9:31:11 GMT -5 jennyparnassus said:

Sept 5, 2021 8:30:22 GMT -5 abs said:

Teachers cannot be responsible for this.  It's asking them to do two full time jobs.  

I hope that nobody responds that this is just an extra thing that teachers should do in the summer.

My dad is a retired high school teacher. Before he retired from teaching, he worked a completely different job in the summer, every summer, because he couldn't financially support his family on just his teaching salary. 

Right.  And if we DO want teachers to be responsible for this then school needed to be put off a few weeks.  Last year our district delayed the start day by 3 weeks.  Teachers were still there and had that time to get the online systems up and running and work through Covid protocols.  It seemed to really help and I wish they had done the same this year.  There is no hold harmless agreement for attendance this year though so here we are.