Back to School during the pandemic ...a discussion thread

[hdrolfe]

I'm still waiting for the school board and the school to announce their intentions based on the new information from the province. I still plan to send kiddo to school. He is anxious to see his friends and get back to learning something. Ironically, he hasn't played a game on his computer or xbox in a few days, though he is still watching youtube and tiktok, and he has been so good. He is wanting to help, learn how to cook things, spend time with me... remarkable what a change in his personality when he gets off those games. So yes, I hope he will stay off them and back to school means less time for them.

I am prepared to keep him home if he has a cough/sniffle, and will work from home if necessary those days, and hopefully those kids will be able to do some of the online stuff those days as well.

Back to school shoe shopping in a few weeks, his backpack and stuff from last year got less use so should still be good for another year. But shoes, he is so hard on his shoes!

I've been reading a lot of opinions on facebook and such, so many people who aren't parents have opinions they feel quite willing to share. And I do wish they would make the classes smaller as well. I still hope they will be as some people chose to keep their kids home. He has been lucky, his biggest class was last year at 23 kids. The other grade 5 class was the same, so 46 grade 6 kids this year unless there are new enrollments. It would be nice if they got split into 3 classes, but if even 6 kids stay home and they split into 2 groups, I am ok with that. I emailed the school, the new principal actually emailed me back quite quickly, and hopefully he'll be with the kids he's already playing with.

I imagine if this was a different school year, or he was at a different school, my opinion could be different. Everyone's situation is different and one little thing can make such a difference. If he was at a more populated school, if he was in kindergarten, or going into high school. So many things could change this.

We did talk about homeschooling, and online schools, he also thought if he could stay home he'd get more time to play games and watch videos, umm no. But I think if I did decide to homeschool I'd go for more of the "unschooling" approach. And that is still in my back pocket should things go sideways on the back to school stuff, or even if we all get locked down again. I just want him to learn something this year. And let him be able to play with his friends.

 

[Disneylover99]

Am I the only one to think that they are banking on parents being scared or unwilling to accept the risks that they keep their kids home therefore achieving smaller numbers?

Yes, I think they’re banking on that in elementary especially. Keeping class size status quo, instead of reducing class size, may deter families from sending the younger students back. I think they’re hoping many will opt to keep their kids home home and do 100% online learning. Then, the smaller numbers in class will appease the teachers and parents in school, and it will save the boards from hiring additional teachers.

 

[pigletto]

Yes, I think they’re banking on that in elementary especially. Keeping class size status quo, instead of reducing class size, may deter families from sending the younger students back. I think they’re hoping many will opt to keep their kids home home and do 100% online learning. Then, the smaller numbers in class will appease the teachers and parents in school, and it will save the boards from hiring additional teachers.

There could be many parents who are waiting to see what those class sizes will be before making those decisions though . I imagine that it will be hard for schools to get a solid head count and it will even harder for parents to hear what the numbers will be . I know I wouldn’t be making my decisions without the most accurate number they could provide for me though . Cohorts of 15 is vastly different than 26 in these scenarios .

 

[mshanson3121]

It’s not true that art, music, PE will be cut in NB - at least at the elementary level. I am a NB Kindergarten teacher and we have directly been told these subjects will be kept. In fact, they are introducing a daily exploratory block that will be focused on child centred and play based learning. Cross-curricular learning will become part of our every day plans. They are also allocating time each day to socio-emotional learning, recognizing that all children will have experienced some level of trauma due to the pandemic.

I said my info was re: high school specifically. Though yes, I had added general info re: classroom spaces, so I can see your confusion.

 

[Disneylover99]

There could be many parents who are waiting to see what those class sizes will be before making those decisions though . I imagine that it will be hard for schools to get a solid head count and it will even harder for parents to hear what the numbers will be . I know I wouldn’t be making my decisions without the most accurate number they could provide for me though . Cohorts of 15 is vastly different than 26 in these scenarios .

I’m sure many parents will take a ”wait and see” approach. If class sizes are low, many parents may decide to opt back in, making class sizes large again. So who knows.

I thought I read there were windows for opting in or out of online learning too, but I’m not really sure about that.

 

[quandrea]

We officially withdrew our daughter from the school system yesterday. I feel at peace with the decision. It’s nice not having to wait and wonder how things will turn out. It’s also nice that should any drama ensue during the year, that we will be away from it. In the end, she will just have an ordinary final year of high school.

 

[hdrolfe]

I’m sure many parents will take a ”wait and see” approach. If class sizes are low, many parents may decide to opt back in, making class sizes large again. So who knows.

I thought I read there were windows for opting in or out of online learning too, but I’m not really sure about that.

I imagine the school boards will share those plans if they haven't already in terms of how they plan to handle this.

We had this sent in early July:
The Ottawa Catholic School Board is prepared to offer remote education for students whose parents choose, for personal reasons, not to send their children back to school in September.
As we hope you can appreciate, there are several factors that we need to consider that require considerable planning to welcome our students back in person or through distance learning. Please complete this short survey so that we can more accurately plan.
For staffing and planning purposes, we ask families who choose full-time distance learning as the September option to commit to three months (September - November) for elementary students and Semester 1 (September- January) for high school students.

 

[Donald - my hero]

I know from the parking lot discussions and the local newspaper that our school board wants an answer by August 14th from families. Either in class or online, it's an all or nothing type choice so they can get classes set and lessons planned.

 

[tgropp]

Just out of curiosity, how many people have gone to restaurants and especially Walmart since the epidemic?

 

[hdrolfe]

Just out of curiosity, how many people have gone to restaurants and especially Walmart since the epidemic?

No restaurants for anything but take out. Been to Walmart a couple times, my parents go there quite often. Honestly, the restaurant thing, we don't eat at them very often (except when travelling). Usually only Mother's Day and last day of school. We did delivery instead.

My last trip to Walmart was annoying, I hate my walmart to begin with honestly, it's such a mess... but this time people were just all up in my business. I guess because we had moved to stage 3 and everyone was wearing masks they thought you didn't have to keep your distance. It was annoying though.

 

[FigmentSpark]

People, in the before-times, if the class sizes were low, they made a split class with another grade. Be careful hoping for people to withdraw or do remote, because the board may just end up filling up fewer classes with split grades. That would be hard to manage, but if they are required to keep "full" classes, it could happen.

 

[bababear_50]

Just out of curiosity, how many people have gone to restaurants and especially Walmart since the epidemic?

Nope no restaurants,,unless a Mcdonald's drive thru coffee counts and I never go to Walmart.
I actually had a bad fall in Walmart a few years ago (someone poured baby oil on the floor,,guess it was some sort of joke) anyhow you would not believe how filthy dirty their floors and under the shelves are,,, .

Hugs
Mel

 

[bababear_50]

This is the timeline in my email as a staff.
GTA area.

"Reopening Plans will be shared with staff in mid-August and training will be provided during the Professional Learning Days that are scheduled from Sept. 1 to 3, 2020. "

I am going to also say that as staff we normally go into the school anywhere from 1-2 weeks ahead of school start (on our own dime) and do
:classroom prep (example .. bulletin boards)
:classroom moving
:IEP reviews
:material prep
:tour for new families and special needs kids
:equipment cleaning and organizing
:mini staff collaborative meets
:filing/photocopying for parents
:schedule organizing
and a 1001 other jobs that are never ending,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,


From our Union representation : Nothing..........
OPSEU

Not a whole lot of planning time here,, just saying.

 

[mshanson3121]

Just out of curiosity, how many people have gone to restaurants and especially Walmart since the epidemic?

No restaurants unless they provide outdoor dining. And that has only been twice. Walmart we have been to a few times, but we order online as much as possible. Same with groceries - we have only gone in store a few times. We typically do curb side pick up or get things delivered. If we go in a store we aren't there long - we're typically just picking up one or two items, so are in and out quickly.

 

[TammyLynn33]

Just out of curiosity, how many people have gone to restaurants and especially Walmart since the epidemic?

Not sure how this is relevant to schools opening . Restaurants are trying to maintain 2m distance and no one spends 6 hours in one with mostly poor ventilation .
Same as Walmart , unless you work there .
But to answer your questions no no restaurants , takeout occasionally . Usually curb side or no contact delivery.
As for Walmart, I order curb side pickup. And if I do go to a store I go early or late not On weekends and get in and get out. I am masked and I am the only person from my family grocery shopping because well my family needs to eat , and I mask and as an adult I’m careful with hand sanitizing keeping 6ft apart as opposed to little kids in small classrooms who don’t have that capacity and aren’t being mandated to wear masks .
Any other questions ?

Just out of curiosity, how many people have gone to restaurants and especially Walmart since the epidemic?

 

[quandrea]

Just out of curiosity, how many people have gone to restaurants and especially Walmart since the epidemic?

No restaurants, coffee shops, etc. No visits to grocery stores, drugstores, any retail of any kind. We have been to the dentist once and for haircuts.

 

[pigletto]

Just in case any of us were still hanging on to the notion that kids don’t contract or spread Covid . I still feel like we are walking into a dangerous experiment

https://www.google.ca/amp/s/www.pbs...-covid-19-after-4-days-at-a-georgia-ymca-camp

 

[ottawamom]

We went to one of our favourite breakfast restaurants last week. Sat outside (I won't eat inside a restaurant) no one closer that 8 feet from us. Food was served on paper plates with plastic cutlery and paper coffee cups. The food was the same (slightly smaller portions) but we won't be going back until we can eat off regular plates with real cutlery and mugs for coffee and do so safely.

I was happy to be back to support them but until things are "normal" we'll eat at home. We do get take-out from some local haunts but these are places we always got take-out from before Covid.

Haven't stepped foot inside a WalMart in a few years (or a mall for that matter) and big venue shopping will just have to wait.

 

[tgropp]

Just out of curiosity, how many people have gone to restaurants and especially Walmart since the epidemic?

Just thought that I would ask. Since we live in a city of 30,000 and go to the cottage in Southampton, we have eaten out on patios on a regular basis but shy away from Walmart...... Canadian Tire pretty well covers our household needs. We are quite strict on our social distancing but I have worked in a seniors retirement home all along with no symptoms, which was a result of wearing masks and temperature taking weeks before government recommendations. If all peopLe would thoroughly scrub their hands On a regular basis, the spread can be greatly reduced. The biggest issue with kids returning to school would be for them to not follow this simpletask.

 

[bababear_50]

Just thought that I would ask. Since we live in a city of 30,000 and go to the cottage in Southampton, we have eaten out on patios on a regular basis but shy away from Walmart...... Canadian Tire pretty well covers our household needs. We are quite strict on our social distancing but I have worked in a seniors retirement home all along with no symptoms, which was a result of wearing masks and temperature taking weeks before government recommendations. If all peopLe would thoroughly scrub their hands On a regular basis, the spread can be greatly reduced. The biggest issue with kids returning to school would be for them to not follow this simpletask.

This is interesting to me as today I read an article that suggests that the CDC was in error of not making masks mandatory right from the start but that it probably didn't because governments did not have an adequate stockpile for frontline workers. Masks also became a *political* subject unfortunately.
In discussing this matter today with some co workers we feel the staff in classrooms with young children not wearing masks will be at the most risk.
This is just our thoughts,,,4 kinder and 1 grade 2/3 teachers.
Children in those classes may not get very sick with the Virus however the Staff and their families will.

**Biggest issue for many schools is having enough washroom sink space to adequately provide an area for the kids to wash**.
I did some digging and my school needs over 4 million just to bring it up to code...whew!

Mel