A few days ago, the CDC released some guidelines about what schools need to do to reopen/stay open. Looking at that, I'm confident that schools here in Michigan (at least in some of the bigger counties) will almost certainly be looking at a minimum of a hybrid situation (some distance learning and some in-person learning) in the fall.
Those guidelines are vague to the point of meaninglessness. The real standards will end up being set by the governors. But I do think that will mean hybrid or fully online learning for those of us here in Michigan.
Schools need to open up in the fall with many changes.
Every day everything in the school needs to be sterilized by cleaning crews after students leave. Creates jobs and the government has tons of our tax money to pay for this service.
Between each period students should be washing their hands using whatever method is available for the school.
At the end of the day students can have the opportunity to wipe down items that will be bought home to help reduce risks at the home. Gloves and cleaning wipes will be provided.
Non essential subjects and assignments will be eliminated. Let’s now provide good quality education that will benefit students throughout their life. Yes, I know, how is that defined? Well, we now have a unique opportunity in these extraordinary times to have thoughtful educators, parents, and some government leaders to engage in serious discussions in this area.
Knucklehead behavior and bullying must be stopped. How? Teacher, parent, and administration intervention. They all need to work together and stop that behavior immediately.
Dream on you say? Please provide a reason why any this cannot work.
I know it can.
1. State revenues are being gutted by this pandemic, relying as they do on sales and gas and tourism taxes. Our public schools are facing a 25% cut to their per-pupil funding as the state looks ahead to how to make up the shortfall. So no, there won't be plenty of money for additional cleaning crews.
2. Our school has two sets of restrooms with three sinks in each. So that's 12 sinks for the whole school to wash their hands between periods... not exactly distancing friendly, and would require dedicating an unreasonably large chunk of the school day to waiting through hand-washing cycles.
3. What is non-essential to one person is the thing that makes school worthwhile to another. Cutting art, music, PE, foreign language, humanities, and the other content that reformers like to call non-essential has been shown time and again to produce less engaged students.
4. We aren't suddenly going to have a new crop of students and families that don't bring their home issues to school with them. If it were easy or even possible to "solve" bullying, it would have been done sometime in the 40 years or so that it has been an educational priority.
But I suppose wiping things down, at least, is possible.
That's why I think parents should have the choice. If online learning works for you and yours, that's great. But eliminating school and sending kids with issues to "centers" (which sounds a lot worse that you probably meant) isn't the answer.
Exactly. This sounds like a recipe for "separate but equal" along lines that are defined by economics and ability rather than race. And we all know how that worked out.
Part of the reason public schools have worked as well as they have for as long as they have is that most of the population has some stake in them - either they attended public schools or they send their kids to public schools or they work in public schools or they have friends and family who send their kids to or work in public schools. We all see the benefit, and so most people support them. When you start talking about a system where the physical schools are only for the kids who lost the lottery of birth, being born with learning challenges or into poverty or to lousy parents, you create the same hazard that exists with the welfare and foster care systems. They don't touch the lives of most of the people with political power (and I don't just mean in an elite "halls of power" sense, but also in the broader sense of people who volunteer and donate and vote) so they become an easy target for budget cuts and general neglect.