Are you sending your kids to school next month?

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

- As PP mentioned COVID had its own plans, there was a lot of hope that it would dissipate over the summer and we might be able to start school up again pretty close to normal in the fall. Public schools don't have a lot of fluid cash to throw at a "maybe" solution if there's a chance it can't happen. Unlike private schools, they have more severely limited resources and many more governing bodies to answer to.

This isn't really what happened in our area unless you're talking back in early Spring when school was still in session (albeit remote) here. No one, in leadership that is, thought it would dissipate over the summer in our metro where we could go back to normal in the fall. They just thought the positivity rate would be at a better place than it is now.

I think what we're trying to say is our area had the information, had the ability for time to be on their hands and didn't use the time they had efficiently, are making decisions so late and that seemingly constantly change on what they actually want to do as their plan nor have been as forthcoming to those involved who need to know the information.

They have the plans for what in-person and remote is they just can't make up their mind who they want to listen to. It's like a pin ball machine.

 

[siren0119]

This isn't really what happened in our area unless you're talking back in early Spring when school was still in session (albeit remote) here. No one, in leadership that is, thought it would dissipate over the summer in our metro where we could go back to normal in the fall. They just thought the positivity rate would be at a better place than it is now.

I think what we're trying to say is our area had the information, had the ability for time to be on their hands and didn't use the time they had efficiently, are making decisions so late and that seemingly constantly change on what they actually want to do as their plan nor have been as forthcoming to those involved who need to know the information.

They have the plans for what in-person and remote is they just can't make up their mind who they want to listen to. It's like a pin ball machine.

I'm pretty sure everyone was hoping we'd be in a better place than we are now, whether that was hope that it would be less prevalent, hope that we'd have it under better control, or hope that we'd have a better handle on treating and combating it.

To your middle paragraph, I offered the experiences in our state as an example of why on the outside it might appear that districts didn't use their time well and didn't make decisions until the eleventh hour (you didn't quote those). Our districts' hands were tied until well into July in terms of being able to make any decisions, and there have been changes coming down from the governing bodies since then. I as a parent really needed more advanced notice as to what our school year would look like since I'm balancing work and kids - but at least in our area, the update we got last week was really the soonest they could put anything concrete out for us. YMMV.

 

[Kamy04]

Schools here are flip flopping like mad and it’s a nightmare for teachers and students.

Most schools switched to the idea of starting fully virtual in July. Teachers prepped for that, trained for that, parents got care for that.

The Friday (school started THURSDAY) a bunch decided to start Hybrid on MONDAY.

Teachers had to change everything. The schools aren’t even set up for in person. Now parents are/were trying to find care for a whole new schedule.

Hot mess...

 

[Renarr]

FIFTY?! In my state, they raised the cap and average to 35 (which have special exceptions for classes like band and gym). This applies to virtual classes as well. I think you can apply for an exception, but the district my husband was in literally hired teachers from the Florida Virtual School to cover virtual classes. (And asked district teachers to sell their prep time...) How is 50 allowed?!

For what it's worth, union conversations are happening, but I suspect that we'll also go the route of asking virtual teachers to take overage assignments. It's still going to make for an awkward first couple of days (weeks?).

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

To your middle paragraph, I offered the experiences in our state as an example of why on the outside it might appear that districts didn't use their time well and didn't make decisions until the eleventh hour (you didn't quote those). Our districts' hands were tied until well into July in terms of being able to make any decisions, and there have been changes coming down from the governing bodies since then. I as a parent really needed more advanced notice as to what our school year would look like since I'm balancing work and kids - but at least in our area, the update we got last week was really the soonest they could put anything concrete out for us. YMMV.

The last minute or constant switch up isn't related to governing bodies and unions and whatnot. Once the guidelines were released it was up to whomever to decide what they want to do..it's the deciding and sticking with it they are having issues with. You're right that for many people things came down in July and even into August too but I think it is more like what the poster was saying that it's shifting opinions in our area rather than what another poster suggested that COVID is doing its own thing. The COVID situation in our metro has been around long enough for the officials to be more forthcoming with parents.

The state the other poster lives in their governor is very hands off and decisions from the beginning have been left in the counties and cities control and changing that quick (deciding the weekend before to delay) for when school would start is not tied to what they legally can do/have guidance for. Various school districts within the metro (on both sides of the state line) have opted to delay back in July so it's not that delaying just up and popped up as a viable option. And for her specific direct area summer classes have been going on so they should be able to be more transparent with the parents at this point. She's saying they had months to prepare but can't make up their dang minds what they want to do which mirrors what's going on even on my side of the state line.

In my state the governor has no control over what the counties do, the actual plans have been there for a while but the school districts in my county (within the same metro as the other person) keep flip flopping between whose gating criteria they want to follow (the state or the county or pull from both) and the parents are left trying to push for the information to be given to them. The gating criteria is out there and has been available. The county above us at least said in mid-August at a county level no non-professional fall sports but in my county they have said they won't be making those blanket mandates at the county level or for what the academic rules are and instead allow the school districts to make that decision though they will offer guidance and gating criteria for them should they wish to follow it.

There are multiple examples of the districts having the information, even voting on it, then deciding later to re-vote, etc

Just one example is one of the school districts on her side of the state line voted on August 6th to delay school until September 8th (their reopening plan having been released late July) and to be virtual for nearly all the students until the pandemic ended (yes they used those words). When school started on September 8th it would be virtual for all for sure at the beginning. IF any in-person schooling occurred at a later date then only k-3rd would be in-person until the pandemic ended (those several decisions was unanimous), on August 25th the decided "hmm..let's revisit that" and voted to go ahead and start in-person on September 8th for k-3rd graders (that decision was 5-2). The hard part will be for parents who have children in the same school building as another but one would be virtual and one would be in-person.

There does need to be leeway here but there's not really an excuse for not giving the parents more information than they are giving with school being so dang close (or having already supposed to have started but delayed last minute) and to be so wishy-washy.

I'm pretty sure everyone was hoping we'd be in a better place than we are now, whether that was hope that it would be less prevalent, hope that we'd have it under better control, or hope that we'd have a better handle on treating and combating it.

And I don't disagree with that I was responding to "there was a lot of hope that it would dissipate over the summer and we might be able to start school up again pretty close to normal in the fall."

 

[Luv Bunnies]

In terms of planning, there are so many factors at play. The district where I work announced plans for distance learning at the end of June so parents and teachers could prepare. Then they said some special ed classes would be in-person. Then our governor said no schools could open. Then he said special ed would be an exception. We've been pulled in every direction for the past 6 weeks. We can open. We can't open. The county health director also chimed in. We were finally told a few weeks ago to plan for distance learning but be prepared to open for some students. My classroom team has plans in place to serve the in-person kids and the distance kids at the same time. Right now, every one is on distance. It would have been a much easier process if we were given a firm answer back in June or July. This has not been an easy process, and we're still not convinced the plans won't change again.

 

[VandVsmama]

In terms of planning, there are so many factors at play. The district where I work announced plans for distance learning at the end of June so parents and teachers could prepare. Then they said some special ed classes would be in-person. Then our governor said no schools could open. Then he said special ed would be an exception. We've been pulled in every direction for the past 6 weeks. We can open. We can't open. The county health director also chimed in. We were finally told a few weeks ago to plan for distance learning but be prepared to open for some students. My classroom team has plans in place to serve the in-person kids and the distance kids at the same time. Right now, every one is on distance. It would have been a much easier process if we were given a firm answer back in June or July. This has not been an easy process, and we're still not convinced the plans won't change again.

Change is certainly the name of the game in 2020! It's been stressful on everyone - teachers, students, and parents!

 

[EACarlson]

My two sons both had their first day of in person classes today. The 2nd grader is very excited about going to school and having class. And not excited at all about his virtual days. He came home and the only thing he has for his "virtual day" is "read." I guess that is better than the kids that had virtual days today that have nothing to do and no way to connect with the teacher. The district sent home a math workbook for him to do on his virtual days, only problem is that it is stuff he's been doing since Kindergarten. Some stuff at the end of the year he will actually learn.

The 4K kid is very happy with how it's going. He gets to go every day, no longer has the option to take a nap and has his best friend in the world attached to his hip. Only downside is he has to wear a mask since he's in "school" even though he's below the age mandated by the Governor.

The district confirmed that the high school and middle school that had to start virtual were due to staff members either being diagnosed with COVID or having to quarantine for exposure.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

My county just announced thousands of saliva tests will be available to be used exclusively for the school districts within the county as early as next week, schools are starting up next week in various forms with various grades going to in-person. Previously they had allocated 25% of their nasal swab testing supplies for appointment based symptoms/no symptoms tests for school aged children last month. There is a local company that created and tests a saliva test and I'm wondering if they'll be using that company. That company has been using their tests for universities in my state and the neighboring state and will soon be used for the LA school district.

 

[BadgerGirl84]

My 4 and 7 year olds started in person school last Wednesday. So far, so good.

 

[JM23457]

How is 50 allowed?!

My state has no limit on class sizes beyond 4th grade. I imagine a lot of other states are the same way.

 

[khertz]

My kids started school on 8/12 (4th grade & Kindergarten). The school gave the option of doing in person or concurrent virtual learning, we chose to let ours go to school. Unfortunately after only a couple of days they missed an entire week due to hurricane Laura, so this week has really been like the first week of school for them. So far everything is going well with the health & safety practices they have put into place for the kids & staff.

 

[sk!mom]

We've been back for 2.5 weeks but high school just started in person on Wednesday. They did their first two weeks virtual since the district simply wasn't ready for our larger high school of around 3,000 to start back. Especially since the choice here was in person or virtual but high school students were allowed to choose virtual BUT come to school for electives, sports, and any classes not available on the virtual learning system we are using. This made it very flexible for families but was a scheduling nightmare for the 4500 high schoolers at the two schools.

So far we are still open and things seem to be going OK. Families have to stick with their choice for 9 weeks. At the end of each quarter, they can choose to switch.

One interesting note, I keep running into fellow teachers who are back at work but their own children are at home. One guy I ran into yesterday is in Admin and he has been the star of all the informational videos the district has put out on safety procedures and plans encouraging people that it is a safe environment. He said that the current school climate is not what he wanted for his first grader. My kids are grown but I feel confident that I would not have sent elementary kids back. Middle and High School would have been a tougher decision.

 

[godisney14]

One PTA leader in our school district conducted an informal poll on Facebook among registered families, and the result after two weeks of school has been pretty much the same as the results from a school district poll about couple months ago. I thought that was interesting.

 

[sk!mom]

One PTA leader in our school district conducted an informal poll on Facebook among registered families, and the result after two weeks of school has been pretty much the same as the results from a school district poll about couple months ago. I thought that was interesting.

A poll of ???? What was the informal poll question? Sorry if I'm being thick headed.

 

[godisney14]

A poll of ???? What was the informal poll question? Sorry if I'm being thick headed.

Sorry, should have been more clear.
It was a poll of who would feel comfortable, or would like to, sending their kids back into classrooms at this point in time given the virus situation now and having experienced a couple weeks of remote learning. Almost 600 families responded to the informal Facebook poll so far.
The result is same as from a school district survey from couple months ago. More than half would not still.
The strange thing is, even with these results from the summer survey and this informal poll, almost all of the board members prefer to have in-person learning. I wonder if they, or the district, stand to benefit from opening classrooms.

One reason why it can’t be done yet (besides the important county’s coronavirus cases count) is more teachers would be needed to teach both in-person and remote students. I can’t imagine any, even remote, scenario that remote learning is dissolved for this school year. Hard to do both with just the existing pool of teachers, and not enough money to somehow double the teacher headcount.

 

[mom2rtk]

The strange thing is, even with these results from the summer survey and this informal poll, almost all of the board members prefer to have in-person learning. I wonder if they, or the district, stand to benefit from opening classrooms.

Or perhaps they understand just how damaging this all is to the students’ educations.

 

[DisLiss]

My state has no limit on class sizes beyond 4th grade. I imagine a lot of other states are the same way.

Wow, I had no idea. I've discussed school and schooling and so forth with people from other states many times and I guess class size never came up, because this was definitely my "learn something new every day" moment for the day.

 

[DisneyOma]

I think the issue for me is you can't have it all ways here.

You can't IMO say you have the issue that school is viewed as babysitting from what comments you've seen but then be okay with someone else watching the kids so long as it's random people and called friend pods--one is a school building the other is people both serve the purpose of babysitting if that's the viewpoint held.

Wasn't your comment that you shouldn't have kids unless you plan on taking care of them? In the modern era kids go to school. Largely that's away from home in a building with other children (private or public) but there's also or home schooled, or online schooling. Those who have chosen home schooled or online schooling pre-COVID did so because they had the means to do so whether that was income, supervision, age-related, skills of their child,etc. That was then, this is now. I don't think a parent saying "well shoot what am I supposed to do now" amounts to IMO a lack of parental responsibility. I think there are people who aren't exactly parents of the year but that's unrelated to this whole mess we've got going on.

I do however think it's a good idea to share ideas with each other, even knowing that for some it won't work out regardless, but in a more positive, supportive, uplifting way. I *think* you had different intentions than what came out in your comment basing off of your last sentence of "taking care of each other" part. Your other comments came off to me more about tearing each other down for choices made at conception and I'm not sure now that you were meaning to come off that way

A small group, or pod, is much different than a school full of 500+ kids. We are encouraged to keep the kids in "cohort" groups, but that is impossible (and illegal) in our high schools.

I also agree that as a society, in modern times, we've gotten used to having others spend a lot of time taking care of our kids. We expect schools to feed them, teach them how to be nice, take care of them when they are sick (physically and emotionally), teach them manners, etc, on top of academics. That's why some parents are so lost now having to take care of their own kids. And the fact that some parents supposedly can't teach their kids how to read and write and do basic math?

Or perhaps they understand just how damaging this all is to the students’ educations.

Wouldn't it be more damaging to have Grandma, Grampy, or even Dad or Mom die from COVID that the kid brought home from school?

 

[EACarlson]

My kids are grown but I feel confident that I would not have sent elementary kids back. Middle and High School would have been a tougher decision.

I'm actually the exact opposite, I sent my elementary kid back with confidence, middle and high schoolers would be a much more difficult decision for me due to the class changes. My 2nd grader has 6 kids in his cohort and 5 in his latchkey program.