The Money Mustache Community
Learning, Sharing, and Teaching => Mini Money Mustaches => Topic started by: cats on June 04, 2020, 08:50:29 AM
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We've got one kid, age 4. I was definitely looking forward to getting him off to public kindergarten in fall 2020 and seeing our monthly spend plummet. However, the covid pandemic has me wondering if public school is a good choice.
In the short term, I'm thinking about the odds of getting in-person instruction. Our local school district has already said they will probably be doing mostly distance learning for 2020-2021. While I certainly hope there will be some kind of progress on a vaccine/therapies/developing herd immunity in a non-devastating way over the next year, it seems quite possible that some level of social distancing will be needed in fall 2021 (what with cold & flu season stressing medical system capacity as well). I'm wondering if a private school that has smaller class sizes by design is better equipped to deal with this. I guess I'll get some idea by observing what happens this year.
In the slightly longer term, it seems public school budgets are going to get hammered by the economic crisis accompanying the pandemic. My kid is a delight but he's also VERY high energy and I do worry that he could struggle to meet classroom expectations to sit still, etc. Again, I'm wondering if a private school with smaller classes and more time to devote to each kid would be a good choice for a year or two as he matures a bit more.
I haven't gotten as far into it as looking at specific schools or filling out enrollment forms, but I'm kind of surprised to find myself even thinking about it. I've always been very pro-public school and have felt confident that we would be sending our kid to one. Anyone else experiencing a similar shift in thought?
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Private schools, at least in my area, will likely be following the public schools' lead in terms of the amount of in-person instruction possible next year. So, going private may not get you what you're looking for.
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I have two kids in school - one in kindergarten and one in 3rd grade. The teachers are preparing them for distance learning in the fall, and our neighbor who is a teacher said she would be surprised IF they open school in the fall (we're in Pennsylvania). We've been told by the district that they will be making a decision in July.
My friends and family's kids in private school seem to have a lot more online instruction and work than my kids (although kindergarten is where I think it should be for work). I would not recommend online learning for a 4 year old - it's so much work to get a 6 year old to pay attention and it puts so much work on you to see them through it all (even for 3rd grader). One of the reasons that may force distance learning is the bussing kids to school (I heard it was like 12ish kids on the bus safely distance, depending on sibling groups), so you might find a private school open in the fall where public is not, because you are providing transportation.
My 3 year was in 3 morning preschool this year that ended in March with the shutdown. We're tentatively planning to send him back in the fall, but that will only be if they can safely provide the Montessori education. My friend with a 5 year old in the class who was (pre COVID) sending him to kindergarten in September is planning another year of preschool to avoid the distance learning possibility. I know others are looking for babysitters/nannies because they assume things will remain closed.
We're pro-public schools, too, and we moved to this HCOL area because of the schools (and family nearby to help with kids, but they can't because of pandemic). We are thinking about bigger picture - if the schooling stays distance learning then why are we here and can we look at other places to live.
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Not me, but one SIL is seriously considering switching to homeschooling this fall. If the parents have to supervise and direct and enforce the kids' educational activities anyway, they'd rather have the choice of which materials and approaches to use. It would also reduce screen time a lot, which is a concern for their young kids.
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I would not recommend online learning for a 4 year old - it's so much work to get a 6 year old to pay attention and it puts so much work on you to see them through it all (even for 3rd grader).
This. My son is 7, just finished 2nd grade. Distance learning was HARD and required hours every day of sitting with him during class and during schoolwork. If it's an hour of work a day, it's 3 hours of sitting with him.
I don't expect 3rd grade to be any different. By 4th/5th, probably a little more independent.
(The teenager was easy.)
Similar for my friends with kinder/1st/2nd grade friends. Kindergarten zooms were mostly pointless.
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These experiences are really helpful to hear. My daughter is 4 and was in full time preschool when the schools shut down. She's loved being home with me so much, but it's hard since I work part time from home too. Her teachers have been providing some activities to do and a short weekly Zoom meeting, but I haven't been too strict in following the activities. She turns 5 this summer and we were planning to send her to private school for kindergarten, but my mom keeps suggesting I enroll her in online homeschooling so she doesn't have to go in person. I'm starting to wonder if it might not be better since the online school was originally designed to be online. If the schools close again in the fall we might be doing distance learning no matter what.
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I have a 4 year old who we planned to start in kindergarten this fall. His birthday is right before the cut-off, but we were going to go ahead and start him. Now, we will probably wait another year to have him start if it looks like things will start online. Of course, if we get a vaccine in the fall and we end up being able to go back to normal a few months in to the year (optimistic thinking), I might regret this.
We don't really know what we will do with our son if he doesn't start kindergarten--I think they will still have a spot for him at his daycare/pre-school, and if things don't go crazy with covid in the next few weeks, I think we'll be sending both kids back to daycare in july.
Private school has not crossed my mind--I don't see any advantage.
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Our oldest is 5 and I'm pretty sure we're still sending him off on his way to kindergarten (public). He's super high energy and at home, barring Lego or puzzles, he has the attention span of a flea. I don't know what fuel he runs on but he dropped all naps at 16 months old, sleeps maybe 10 hours on a good night, and can still run laps around me. He's currently running laps around the house as I type this.
He loved preschool, he was the popular kid at class. When my wife would drop him off, half the kids would run over to say 'hi' to him (which they did for none of their other classmates). His daily behavior and attitude has been sharply affected since school ended - long story short, he really needs that socialization.
Our school district is in a good financial position and everything is still on track to resume in-person elementary (at least) in the fall. As of now I believe teachers and older kids will be required to wear masks but from the way things are trending, kindergarten and possibly first grade may not have to wear masks on a daily basis. I have no idea what it means for recess.
We talked about homeschooling him for a while, because there was indication a few months ago that fall elementary would be virtual, and there's no way he can sit in front of a laptop for hours at a time with teachers and classmates he's never met. Problem is, we have two younger boys at home (including a 7 month old) and there's no way we could reasonably homeschool while juggling work and the other two.
We also briefly talked about private school, but the cost is just too high and although my wife and I both attended private elementary school, neither of us feel like we benefited any more than if we had gone to public school. So, we affirmed our decision to send him to public school and as of now, we're going to have him attend in the fall unless the school has to switch to virtual learning. If they do switch to virtual learning, we're going to have to explore some alternative options but I don't think it will come to that point.
There's always the risk of the virus, but there's also always the risk of other illnesses from school. We've already been through HFM (and as an adult, that's not anything I would want other adults to have to live through), a number of colds, and a GI bug. Vaccine or not, I think we as a household have fully accepted the potential risk of Covid. We'd be ready to isolate ourselves if we knew one of us had it but we just can't keep our boys sheltered anymore, especially the kindergartener-to-be - he, more than anything else, needs to be playing with kids his age.
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My son will also be starting kindergarten in the Fall 2020. We have already decided to send him to private Kindergarten which is through the same center where he goes to preschool. Not COVID related, but our school district is so large that they only do half day Kindergarten, split into half of the kids going in the AM (9-12) and half in the PM (12-3). I personally don't feel like there is a point sending him for 3 hours and we both work full time, we would still have to pay someone for before/after school care. The private Kindergarten is full day and the class limit is 10. It sucks to have to pay for another year, but in my mind, since this Kindergarten is associated with a preschool/daycare and can stay open even when the schools are closed, we may have a better chance of not doing distance learning if the schools do not reopen in the Fall.
-Marley
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For those considering private school because you think they'll be open for in person and the public schools won't, that may not be a safe assumption. I have friends who teach in private schools. Their administrations are struggling with the same things the public schools are. They are discussing a range of possibilities, including doing remote learning full time.
My friend is actively thinking about and planning for full time in the classroom; alternating who's in the classroom and remote, then a full day of remote (so Monday/Wednesday in classroom for half and rest remote, switch on Tue/Thur, and all remote Friday); fully remote, and probably a few other scenarios. It just depends on what happens with the virus.
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Private schools, at least in my area, will likely be following the public schools' lead in terms of the amount of in-person instruction possible next year. So, going private may not get you what you're looking for.
We'll definitely be waiting to see what happens this fall, and hopefully things will be clearer by the time we have to make a decision. But at least in our area, private schools typically have fewer students per class to start with than public schools. I am thinking also that by 2021-2022 (when our kid enters kinder) that we may be at a stage with social distancing where the recommended group sizes have edged up a bit as we'll presumably be a bit closer to herd immunity (either we'll be working through the process of deploying a vaccine or a larger share of the population will have already had it and achieved some immunity). This might create a scenario where a class of 20 kids is considered fine while a class of 24 kids is too many, which would give our local private schools a pretty clear advantage.
Also, I am guessing that if they are forced to continue with online learning, private schools will be more motivated to provide some kind of "quality" instruction (though for a kindergarten student I definitely question what that could be) as they are dependent upon tuition, not taxpayer money, to stay going.
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Here, the private schools have said they will do what the public schools do in terms of opening.
If schools do not open in the fall, we will be getting an actual kindergarten homeschool curriculum or enrolling in an accredited distance program. Distance learning, the way it is being done by in-person schools, doesn't seem appropriate or rigorous. Because it was implemented as an emergency; it wasn't based on sound pedagogical decisions.
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We did private Kindergarten last year and will switch to public 1st grade this year. The private school was wonderful when it was in session but they cancelled the school at the same time as the public schools.
They also didn’t have the resources for remote learning that the public schools in our area had. Some public school districts were checking out Chromebooks to every student and they bought the children access to online learning websites for math and reading practice. Our private school had many teachers who were also parents. There was a lot of sympathy for the teachers and the adjustment to online. My daughter had one 15 minute 1-1 Zoom call a week with her teacher even though there were only 9 kids in the class. They also posted about five 2 minute videos a week. It was basically homeschooling and I did my own work with my daughter.
I would highly recommend our special private school if not for this pandemic. If school is going to be cancelled, I would rather not pay for it.
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I think a lot of private schools will go under, honestly. Distance learning is pretty terrible even if done well, so why pay for it when you can get it free from the public schools?
I know at least a couple of private schools in my area are in danger of shutting down (I've spoken with parents about it in passing - our kids go to public school). They operate on pretty tight budgets and losing even 20 percent of their students would be pretty devastating.
Adding all those kids to the public system here would be quite a disaster (not enough room in the schools), so I'm hoping that doesn't happen.
-W
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The smart private schools will virtually guarantee in person learning by forming small enough pods that they can be assured of operating in all but full shelter in place situations. I'd pay for that for my middle schooler even.
It's going to be a train wreck and since we are rich, relatively speaking, we plan to deal with it by hiring a nanny.
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The smart private schools will virtually guarantee in person learning by forming small enough pods that they can be assured of operating in all but full shelter in place situations. I'd pay for that for my middle schooler even.
It's going to be a train wreck and since we are rich, relatively speaking, we plan to deal with it by hiring a nanny.
Hahaha. Too late. The teachers and nannies are all hired.
I'm serious, you probably missed the boat. I live in a land of nannies and talk to parents all the time who ask me if I know of anyone (and if *I'm* interested in nannying their kid!) Good time to be a nanny who can teach algebra, I'm guessing.
Private schools can't reduce class sizes without raising prices or losing money/going out of business, probably. I don't think you'll see much difference from what the public schools do except maybe at the VERY high end, and those folks already hired nanny/tutor/chef types (in some cases hiring them away from the private school).
-W
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I think a lot of private schools will go under, honestly. Distance learning is pretty terrible even if done well, so why pay for it when you can get it free from the public schools?
+1
If anything, my friends with kids at private schools told me that in order to "justify" parents' tuition, the workload that these schools were giving elementary school kids (like 9 and 10 year old kids) for distance learning was just unreasonable. Hell, I had a hard enough time getting my little guy to do 15 minutes of work (granted we are talking Kindergarten here). Imagine if it was multiple hours? And I'm paying thousands/yr for that responsibility? Uhh, no thanks.
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My kids are all going to school.
Corona does not kill school aged children. Don't believe me?
https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nvss/vsrr/covid_weekly/index.htm
Per the CDC 14 children (age 5-14) have died from Covid. Out of 41 million. I would also be willing to be that those children who died tragically had serious health complications that made them easy targets for Covid.
Now I am not trying to be glib or minimize the loss of children. It is always terrible. I am just trying to do make a decision with logic and numbers. 14 children dying is terrible, but that is about as many children die in auto accidents in a single week. No one here is advocating for never letting their kid ride in a car ever again.
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My kids are all going to school.
Corona does not kill school aged children. Don't believe me?
https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nvss/vsrr/covid_weekly/index.htm
Per the CDC 14 children (age 5-14) have died from Covid. Out of 41 million. I would also be willing to be that those children who died tragically had serious health complications that made them easy targets for Covid.
Now I am not trying to be glib or minimize the loss of children. It is always terrible. I am just trying to do make a decision with logic and numbers. 14 children dying is terrible, but that is about as many children die in auto accidents in a single week. No one here is advocating for never letting their kid ride in a car ever again.
No but they might kill the teachers. We've got teachers over 60, some teachers with pre-existing conditions. Our school has a lot of disabled students, who are at MUCH greater risk.
Many of our students have parents or grandparents with pre-existing conditions.
Our district is setting up a plan, releasing it next week. I'm 95% sure they aren't starting up in the fall like normal. I expect that they will only have half of the students on campus at any time, in order to distance. What that looks like will vary by elementary/ junior high/ high school.
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I agree that in my area, a lot of private schools will go under. They were barely squeaking by as it was. Also, they mostly had larger classes than the public schools.
I think the public schools will have some kind of hybrid model with some kids at school and some not on any given day. I’ve heard a variety of plans depending on where you are.
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My kids are all going to school.
Corona does not kill school aged children. Don't believe me?
https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nvss/vsrr/covid_weekly/index.htm
Per the CDC 14 children (age 5-14) have died from Covid. Out of 41 million. I would also be willing to be that those children who died tragically had serious health complications that made them easy targets for Covid.
Now I am not trying to be glib or minimize the loss of children. It is always terrible. I am just trying to do make a decision with logic and numbers. 14 children dying is terrible, but that is about as many children die in auto accidents in a single week. No one here is advocating for never letting their kid ride in a car ever again.
Your kids are only going to school if the school is open. For many people, that is up in the air. I agree with others that the concern is the teachers and staff.
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I agree that in my area, a lot of private schools will go under. They were barely squeaking by as it was. Also, they mostly had larger classes than the public schools.
I think the public schools will have some kind of hybrid model with some kids at school and some not on any given day. I’ve heard a variety of plans depending on where you are.
I hear this a lot too, but the biggest thing that makes me think this won't happen is the practicality of it for parents who work. Parents have seen what it looked like for a few months, and that was with a lot of people on unemployment/working from home/significant lock downs and with classroom requirements being eased/much lower expectations of parents actually being able to get kids to learn something. Getting kids in schools five days a week is the lynch pin for a lot of things. Not saying it will or it won't happen, but there's going to be a lot of pressure that it does from people that have just seen first hand what it means if it doesn't.
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yes, thinking how the hell can i get my kids back into a real face to face structured and displined environment as fast as possible.
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I agree that in my area, a lot of private schools will go under. They were barely squeaking by as it was. Also, they mostly had larger classes than the public schools.
I think the public schools will have some kind of hybrid model with some kids at school and some not on any given day. I’ve heard a variety of plans depending on where you are.
I hear this a lot too, but the biggest thing that makes me think this won't happen is the practicality of it for parents who work. Parents have seen what it looked like for a few months, and that was with a lot of people on unemployment/working from home/significant lock downs and with classroom requirements being eased/much lower expectations of parents actually being able to get kids to learn something. Getting kids in schools five days a week is the lynch pin for a lot of things. Not saying it will or it won't happen, but there's going to be a lot of pressure that it does from people that have just seen first hand what it means if it doesn't.
I don't know that the school districts 100% care what the parents think. I mean, they do. Our school did a survey to ask parents what they think. And teachers. But you really can't have a school without teachers. I think some people are vastly underestimating the prevalence of teachers who have preexisting conditions, or spouses/ parents that they have to care for who are elderly/ ill, etc.
I can tell you that our local community college and university have both said they are going to be almost 100% remote learning for the fall semester/ quarter already. I expect that the school district will not 100% open up.
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I agree that in my area, a lot of private schools will go under. They were barely squeaking by as it was. Also, they mostly had larger classes than the public schools.
I think the public schools will have some kind of hybrid model with some kids at school and some not on any given day. I’ve heard a variety of plans depending on where you are.
I hear this a lot too, but the biggest thing that makes me think this won't happen is the practicality of it for parents who work. Parents have seen what it looked like for a few months, and that was with a lot of people on unemployment/working from home/significant lock downs and with classroom requirements being eased/much lower expectations of parents actually being able to get kids to learn something. Getting kids in schools five days a week is the lynch pin for a lot of things. Not saying it will or it won't happen, but there's going to be a lot of pressure that it does from people that have just seen first hand what it means if it doesn't.
I don't know that the school districts 100% care what the parents think. I mean, they do. Our school did a survey to ask parents what they think. And teachers. But you really can't have a school without teachers. I think some people are vastly underestimating the prevalence of teachers who have preexisting conditions, or spouses/ parents that they have to care for who are elderly/ ill, etc.
I can tell you that our local community college and university have both said they are going to be almost 100% remote learning for the fall semester/ quarter already. I expect that the school district will not 100% open up.
Not to mention that pretty much every substitute teacher is a retired teacher (ie, old and usually don't need the money that badly) so as soon as a spike occurs among the staff, it's right back to distance learning.
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My wife is a substitute teacher (basically for fun, $100 a day is peanuts) and I agree that it will be a struggle to get enough subs. Hell, it's a struggle without Covid19.
I think they may need to recruit a pool of parents who have some job flexibility or are SAH. Normally a lot of those people wouldn't want to be subs but they may be willing to given the circumstances and the stakes.
A lot of those subs won't be great, probably (DW has a PhD in biochemistry and is very good at teaching so she's often better than the teacher she's replacing) but it'll be better than distance learning.
-W
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At this point, I'd consider going to jail because I choose to make my son a truant than try and cope with distance learning. I'd rather have him skip kindergarten entirely than stick his face in front of a zoom meeting for hours on end every day. There's no way we're going to be able to juggle homeschooling either with the other two little ones running around demanding our attention.
He's already been registered for school, so legally according to our state he must participate in kindergarten in some form or fashion, because at this point they're not waiving this coming year even if cases spike and schools have to shift to zoom kindergarten. There's zero chance we'll be able to make Kindergarten at home work (I think it would break my wife mentally, permanently). Better to be a truant than the alternative.
Don't believe me that our kindergartener can be a truant? -
https://www.pubintlaw.org/cases-and-projects/a-problem-with-truancy-in-kindergarten/ (https://www.pubintlaw.org/cases-and-projects/a-problem-with-truancy-in-kindergarten/)
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I think that schools will make every attempt to have the younger kids in school at least part time.
My own kids went to half day kindergarten and it was fine.
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I think that schools will make every attempt to have the younger kids in school at least part time.
My own kids went to half day kindergarten and it was fine.
I'd take half day kindergarten, would be much better than distance learning. Our district is full day kindergarten but many of the teachers and bus drivers are in the high risk group.
I will say - I don't know what I'd do if I were an administrator. I don't think you could get anyone younger than 3rd graders to wear masks daily and even then, a lot of kids would fiddle with or take them off absentmindedly. They have to be aware that young kids can't do distance learning effectively but can't really social distance either. I want my kids to go to school but the administration may not want our kids there who could very well be super spreaders.
I have the deepest empathy and sympathy for teachers and other education support staff who are high risk. I don't personally know what to do. My kids can't forego school at such a critical age but those who are high risk shouldn't be asked to put their lives on the line.
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At this point, I'd consider going to jail because I choose to make my son a truant than try and cope with distance learning. I'd rather have him skip kindergarten entirely than stick his face in front of a zoom meeting for hours on end every day. There's no way we're going to be able to juggle homeschooling either with the other two little ones running around demanding our attention.
He's already been registered for school, so legally according to our state he must participate in kindergarten in some form or fashion, because at this point they're not waiving this coming year even if cases spike and schools have to shift to zoom kindergarten. There's zero chance we'll be able to make Kindergarten at home work (I think it would break my wife mentally, permanently). Better to be a truant than the alternative.
Don't believe me that our kindergartener can be a truant? -
https://www.pubintlaw.org/cases-and-projects/a-problem-with-truancy-in-kindergarten/ (https://www.pubintlaw.org/cases-and-projects/a-problem-with-truancy-in-kindergarten/)
Are you in the US? Just pull them from the school district and register them as a homeschooler. No truancy issue. Teach what you want.
Some states will require end of year accountability testing from homeschoolers, but most don't care what the scores are.
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At this point, I'd consider going to jail because I choose to make my son a truant than try and cope with distance learning. I'd rather have him skip kindergarten entirely than stick his face in front of a zoom meeting for hours on end every day. There's no way we're going to be able to juggle homeschooling either with the other two little ones running around demanding our attention.
He's already been registered for school, so legally according to our state he must participate in kindergarten in some form or fashion, because at this point they're not waiving this coming year even if cases spike and schools have to shift to zoom kindergarten. There's zero chance we'll be able to make Kindergarten at home work (I think it would break my wife mentally, permanently). Better to be a truant than the alternative.
Don't believe me that our kindergartener can be a truant? -
https://www.pubintlaw.org/cases-and-projects/a-problem-with-truancy-in-kindergarten/ (https://www.pubintlaw.org/cases-and-projects/a-problem-with-truancy-in-kindergarten/)
Are you in the US? Just pull them from the school district and register them as a homeschooler. No truancy issue. Teach what you want.
Some states will require end of year accountability testing from homeschoolers, but most don't care what the scores are.
This is indeed an option for us, but ultimately I don't think much learning would be able to take place. I expect to be mostly back at work by the fall, and I don't think there's any realistic way my wife could implement a meaningful curriculum while also keeping our (at that point) 3 and 10 month old occupied/happy.
I know some people can successfully do it, but I don't think she (and thereby we) would be able to keep it up for a full year. Also lacking with the psuedo-homeschool approach is the sheer lack of socialization. If all the kids he knows now will be at school anyway, there's no way we could get him any significant interaction with kids his age. Not to mention, he really thrives in a structured play/learning environment. I've watched him in preschool, and then watched him interact with some of the same kids outside of preschool and you wouldn't know he was the same kid.
I get that whether the district does distance learning is entirely outside of our control, but I would be lying if I weren't wholeheartedly disappointed in the choice. That sounds cold and callous but it's how my wife and I feel.
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If it comes down to the choice of online kindergarten, truancy, or lackadasical homeschool, though, wouldn't it make sense to sign up for homeschool just to avoid the complications with the district? Although I would also be looking for a preschool with a kindergarten class. My 4 year olds are going to one in the fall and we will know in a few weeks what it will look like when they open. My 6 year old just finished public kindergarten and, for better or worse, it was pretty low-key in the spring- 2 hours of zoom a week (some of which was spent socializing) and 2-4 worksheets a day. Not too much but I agree, the relentless nature is hard on the parents.
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I have no idea if it is legal but one of my friends was talking about her kids doing a "gap year." Just keeping them out of school for a year and then having them re-enter at the grade they missed, graduating one year later. I'm wondering what the implication would be on a society if we did this as a whole. Obviously there would be massive child care issues for working parents. Colleges would have a whole year with no freshmen. It's just such an interesting thought. Let kids just run wild for a year.
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At this point, I'd consider going to jail because I choose to make my son a truant than try and cope with distance learning. I'd rather have him skip kindergarten entirely than stick his face in front of a zoom meeting for hours on end every day. There's no way we're going to be able to juggle homeschooling either with the other two little ones running around demanding our attention.
He's already been registered for school, so legally according to our state he must participate in kindergarten in some form or fashion, because at this point they're not waiving this coming year even if cases spike and schools have to shift to zoom kindergarten. There's zero chance we'll be able to make Kindergarten at home work (I think it would break my wife mentally, permanently). Better to be a truant than the alternative.
Don't believe me that our kindergartener can be a truant? -
https://www.pubintlaw.org/cases-and-projects/a-problem-with-truancy-in-kindergarten/ (https://www.pubintlaw.org/cases-and-projects/a-problem-with-truancy-in-kindergarten/)
Are you in the US? Just pull them from the school district and register them as a homeschooler. No truancy issue. Teach what you want.
Some states will require end of year accountability testing from homeschoolers, but most don't care what the scores are.
This is indeed an option for us, but ultimately I don't think much learning would be able to take place. I expect to be mostly back at work by the fall, and I don't think there's any realistic way my wife could implement a meaningful curriculum while also keeping our (at that point) 3 and 10 month old occupied/happy.
I know some people can successfully do it, but I don't think she (and thereby we) would be able to keep it up for a full year. Also lacking with the psuedo-homeschool approach is the sheer lack of socialization. If all the kids he knows now will be at school anyway, there's no way we could get him any significant interaction with kids his age. Not to mention, he really thrives in a structured play/learning environment. I've watched him in preschool, and then watched him interact with some of the same kids outside of preschool and you wouldn't know he was the same kid.
I get that whether the district does distance learning is entirely outside of our control, but I would be lying if I weren't wholeheartedly disappointed in the choice. That sounds cold and callous but it's how my wife and I feel.
I mean as an alternative to zoom kindergarten. Not as an alternative to in-person.
I don't think the kids are getting meaningful interaction online, especially not at that age.
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For what it's worth, my wife and I have discussed the different options on a number of occasions. Before she had to put school on hold (for our kids) she was on track to graduate with a degree in early childhood education so to say it couldn't happen isn't giving her enough credit. The viability of homeschooling with our rising kindergartner is her own admission - he's a brilliant kid, and our house is not an environment conducive to learning.
My prior statement was clickbaity, obviously we would never choose to become incarcerated, but in a way it reflects how we feel toward the situation - that our education system is so under prepared for a circumstance like this that parents have to accept a responsibility that they previously never knew would be on the table.
I have no idea if it is legal but one of my friends was talking about her kids doing a "gap year." Just keeping them out of school for a year and then having them re-enter at the grade they missed, graduating one year later. I'm wondering what the implication would be on a society if we did this as a whole. Obviously there would be massive child care issues for working parents. Colleges would have a whole year with no freshmen. It's just such an interesting thought. Let kids just run wild for a year.
My boys would freaking love that! We'd be willing to join an 'isolation cult' if it meant we could let the kids be kids and not make them paranoid about something they can't even understand.
Sometimes we have to remind our son not to cough or sneeze unprotected in public, and his response is often along the lines of "oh, because of the coronavirus, right?" Inevitably the 'why?' comes up (because, five year old) and when we tell him that we don't want other people to get sick his response is ALWAYS "or else they'll die?"
Like we never know how to respond to that, but that's his fear with this. He has associated the concept 'coronavirus' (and by extension, 'virus') with 'death'. That's not cool.
Show me the commune full of families with young kids and I think at this point we'd happily sign up.
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I absolutely think kindergarten aged kids will adapt to wearing masks at school. Let's face it - most 5yo kids wouldn't wear pants if it wasn't a social convention.
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I absolutely think kindergarten aged kids will adapt to wearing masks at school. Let's face it - most 5yo kids wouldn't wear pants if it wasn't a social convention.
Lol
My two year old and seven year old have practiced at home. My seven year is now better than most adult. The two year old still does not get it so we continue our at home practice.
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I have no idea if it is legal but one of my friends was talking about her kids doing a "gap year." Just keeping them out of school for a year and then having them re-enter at the grade they missed, graduating one year later. I'm wondering what the implication would be on a society if we did this as a whole. Obviously there would be massive child care issues for working parents. Colleges would have a whole year with no freshmen. It's just such an interesting thought. Let kids just run wild for a year.
Not really. We could extrapolate from the summer to get a good idea about what would happen. Students from disadvantaged low SES backgrounds would fall further behind while middle to high SES kids would maintain or grow skills AKA we would further the divide between the have and have nots, one of the things universal public education is supposed to address, not accelerate.
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I absolutely think kindergarten aged kids will adapt to wearing masks at school. Let's face it - most 5yo kids wouldn't wear pants if it wasn't a social convention.
Having taught kindergarten, I think for the most part, masks will be useless.
Kids will pull them under their noses, they will stick their hands under them to chew on their fingers, pick or scratch their noses, etc. They may catch the droplets of some sneezes or coughs, but I've already seen adults in public remove a mask to cough (WTF) so I imagine kids may too. And the germ spread from all the finger in mask activity...well...
Why do I think this- let's use your example. I have routinely told kindergarteners, and kids all the way through high school- to get their hands out of their pants. Generally not in a sexual manner (certainly not in kindergarten)- but I've had students just mindlessly scratch private areas, or pick at their butts...
I'm just so glad most of my classrooms had sinks in them! We could send the kids to wash hands after I told them to get them out of their pants.
(My 3 year old wears a mask when we have left the house with her- so far just one doctor's appt; and she did a good job, but it was for less than 20 minutes. And her hands touched the mask quite a few times.)
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Totally agree with Kindergarteners and younger and masks. I think the longest I've seen our 5 year old wear a mask 'correctly' is about 30 minutes. Most of the time it's shorter before it comes off or is adjusted. Thankfully, he's okay with wearing one. Our 2 year old on the other hand? It's off in 30 seconds - he's a picky kid who doesn't like to wear anything on his head, face, or hands. He's still young enough though to not be required to wear a mask - and we haven't taken him anywhere indoors yet.
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Honestly? I don't know what we're going to do if we have to do virtual learning next school year. I thanked my lucky stars that my kiddo was only in first grade last year and all they really cared about was reading, spelling, and math (my best friend was sending me pictures of her sophomore's chemistry homework and asking for help, like I've had a chemistry class in the last 15 years). But, it was not good. Not only was I was never given the go-ahead to WFH, I was working extra hours at work to facilitate everyone who was cleared to WFH. My husband is more or less technology illiterate, so I'd spend at least 30 minutes a day at work trying to talk them through how to set up a Zoom/Meet/whatever, but 90% of the time I'd end up just having to wait until I got home to pull up the recording of the session. Plus, they are absolutely going stir-crazy stuck at home.
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School options here are 100% in class or 100% virtual. We're on the 100% in class track, however any prison-like changes that may occur in the future would definitely have us rethinking the entire thing. If my kids have to be home again, I am almost certain they'll end up truant because it will require a full time parent observing all 3 of them to make sure they're in different rooms, actively watching and engaged in the assignments. At that point I'd rather pull them and homeschool so we wouldn't be subject to whatever their assignment requirements are. I hope it does not come to that though.
Teachers have been remarkably shielded from COVID so far. Please remember that it sounds insulting to the other essential workers who have had to put their needs / health aside to continue performing their jobs amongst the public.
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If I hadn't retired from teaching two years ago, I'd be doing that right now.
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If I hadn't retired from teaching two years ago, I'd be doing that right now.
That's what my mom did. Retired after 35 years of teaching preschool. She just couldn't handle all of the new requirements and was concerned about getting at-risk family members ill.
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Teachers have been remarkably shielded from COVID so far. Please remember that it sounds insulting to the other essential workers who have had to put their needs / health aside to continue performing their jobs amongst the public.
There are some unique challenges that teachers have in their work environment. In the school I work in there is no way to socially distance 2800 students. I am run into/ touched daily when walking in the hallways. I can’t stand behind a plastic shield to talk to my students the way the a grocery store clerk does. I must walk around and get close to my students to assist or give feedback to them. Healthcare staff generally doesn’t have 35 people in the same room with them all day long. Even if I had access to PPE how does that work when the students I teach can’t read my lips or see my facial expressions?
I teach special education and push in to general education classes to teach my students. How do we handle students who act out and refuse to follow health and safety guidelines? What do we do with students who are sick but say they aren’t because they want to see their friends? If a teacher gets sick who will cover for them? Substitute teachers are usually retired teachers who are high risk and unlikely to take the job. Before Covid 19 I had days where no one picked up my job. The list goes on and on. I would love to teach in person but I wonder if we can do so in a safe manner, and if we can do it in a safe manner, I suspect it will not resemble what school has looked like in the past.
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Recruit lots of parents, have vulnerable teachers work remote with on-site parent assistants. Add some telepresence robots into the mix!
Forget the masks, forget the cleaning. Every kid will infect every other kid eventually anyway.
Otherwise just cancel it until there's a vaccine, or let 'er rip. People in hazmat suits spraying mist around looks cool but it's not going to do anything useful. And we can only sacrifice the future of the young for the health of the very old for so long, IMO.
-W
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I will say this, I firmly believe that any educator or school support staff working this fall, wherever schools reopen, should be paid substantially more than they currently are.
Okay, in general teachers should be paid considerably more to begin with. Nobody should have to pull cash out of their pocket to pay for crayons, or have to rely on crowdfunding and generous donations. With average salaries in the $30k-$50k range, the job teachers do is grossly undervalued. I won't hear any argument that they are just regurgitating a preset curriculum either.
Now is the best time to bump the payrolls - first responders and the like have received hazard pay during this pandemic; teachers should absolutely be the next in line. Not having school or having poorly designed remote lesson plans is detrimental to a whole generation of kids - effectively setting them back a year because parents can't split time between homeschooling and remote working.
So, if we're going to have school then those teachers who can or will work should be compensated generously.
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I will say this, I firmly believe that any educator or school support staff working this fall, wherever schools reopen, should be paid substantially more than they currently are.
Okay, in general teachers should be paid considerably more to begin with. Nobody should have to pull cash out of their pocket to pay for crayons, or have to rely on crowdfunding and generous donations. With average salaries in the $30k-$50k range, the job teachers do is grossly undervalued. I won't hear any argument that they are just regurgitating a preset curriculum either.
Now is the best time to bump the payrolls - first responders and the like have received hazard pay during this pandemic; teachers should absolutely be the next in line. Not having school or having poorly designed remote lesson plans is detrimental to a whole generation of kids - effectively setting them back a year because parents can't split time between homeschooling and remote working.
So, if we're going to have school then those teachers who can or will work should be compensated generously.
Yea, that's not going to happen, my husband match and salary were cut.
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Our district is under a hiring freeze. It is always do more with less.
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https://www.npr.org/2020/06/24/882316641/what-parents-can-learn-from-child-care-centers-that-stayed-open-during-lockdowns
I found this interesting. I hope that there is community/gov support for the sort of small class size learning that seems like it would be needed - but I doubt it.
Our district was just asked to return almost a million dollars to the state education fund (in addition the cuts they will be making over the next two quarters) and we are also partially funded by a school district income tax so our dollars will be stretched farther than usual for the next school year. They have already pushed the bus bubble farther out from one mile from school to two miles.
Back in May or so I was really hopeful that the pandemic might actually bring some structural change (to healthcare, education, and corporate structure) but as we all drag on through this I am less hopeful.
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I think people are going to be awfully surprised at how many young people will be really sick when this really rolls through the population.
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I don't know what to say other than it probably has to happen at this point.
Thinking not about my own situation for a minute - what are parents to do this fall who cannot homeschool or supervise distance learning? Single parents, dual earners, and all the other myriad situations that make it just about impossible to help kids learn at home. How can they provide an education for their kids? It seems like the solution the callous people in my life have suggested is 'you shouldn't have had kids then' but that's just as insensitive as directing someone who doesn't want to interact with others for fear of Cocid to do just that.
I don't know what the good answer is here. I would never compel anyone into such an uncomfortable situation, but education is so so critical so I don't know that I can agree with folks (not saying anyone in this thread is suggesting this) who say the best thing is for no school or 100% remote or homeschool. It's just not a realistic solution.
I think as parents we're going to have to live with the risk. It's an inherent risk with kids in general (transmissible illness). I hope there are protections for educators, especially those most at risk. I will be assisting wherever I can come this fall if the school asks, but school will probably have to continue.
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I just saw this (https://services.aap.org/en/pages/2019-novel-coronavirus-covid-19-infections/clinical-guidance/covid-19-planning-considerations-return-to-in-person-education-in-schools/), and it makes me hopeful our schools might actually be open this Fall. Thankfully our state isn't part of the spike, so if we can just maintain that we should be ok. Hopefully.
What do you think? Do the AAP have any biases I'm neglecting? I'd hope not, but I don't know a ton about them as an organization.
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Ugh, one week later and the whole country is spiking. Even if kids don't get it, the adults who work at the schools are going to be more vulnerable than ever. There are absolutely no good options here for anyone.
It's enraging how much better other countries have handled this, and how much better WE could have handled it, if only we'd had even half-competent leadership at the top.
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All our elementary school age kids go to a private Catholic school. As of now they are planning to reopen unless the state specifically stops them. The public schools are talking about half the kids rotating in each week. So Monday and Tuesday half the class is in-person, other half online. Wednesday the disinfect everything then bring the other half in for Thursday and Friday.
We had homeschooled for several years but with baby #6 it was too much for my wife to try and care for a toddler, a baby, and homeschool three kids (now four). Plus, we really like their school and want to make sure it survives. There's less than 100 kids in K-8 so removing our four would be a meaningful loss of income to keep the school going. They adapted to online OK but it was still tough. $12k a year in tuition for zoom classes and worksheets to do at home is a lot harder to swallow too. We'll end up maintaining a complete self-quarantine from March until they go back to school in August - assuming they can reopen.
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Florida here. I guess our state decided that "flat" meant vertical, so we're keeping our Kindergartner home and maybe doing some form of online schooling.
Even if the virus doesn't kill, it is now known to cause long term organ damage to lungs and brains. I'm not exposing my family to that. Yes it's at the cost of my child being able to socialize with his peers, but he has several years of day care under his belt and we'll send him back some day. One year of home schooling is unlikely to screw up his life. I know others locally who are also home schooling their kids who never would have considered it otherwise, I hope this decreases the population of kids physically at schools enough to help with social distancing but given how many teachers will also be staying out of schools, who knows. I don't blame the teachers, they're being placed in an impossible situation and we already had a teacher shortage last year. Last January I dropped off two large containers of hand sanitizers and wipes because there were none left in the classroom and the teacher would have had to pay for it out of her own pocket if she wanted more. I doubt the supply issue will have improved at all when schools reopen.
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Ohio here - We're thinking along the lines of meerkat.
Our school has currently offered two plans: one with half sized classes and the kids in class two days a week/three days online school, and one with full size classes and the kids in school 4 days a week/ one day online school.
If the school opts for the four day/full classrooms I am starting to think about keeping the kids home. The report about the Florida kids who didn't have severe symptoms but did show long term lung damage freaked me out. In addition to thinking about the long term physical health of my kids, I also don't want them ending up with a pre-existing condition the will negate insurance coverage down the road (until we have universal health coverage in the US I just don't trust it).
ETA - I saw an article a week ago or so about a senior living community where the director immediately started taking precautions back in February. And they haven't had a single case of COVID. It was hailed as this major success story and when asked how he had been so prescient in dealing with the pandemic he said that as soon as President had said "we're at 15 cases and it is going to disappear" his gut told him to prepare for the opposite.
So when President Trump tweeted that all schools must be fully open in the fall - I remembered that nursing home director and the importance of going with your gut sometimes.
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My dd is in health informatics (Epic) and works on the COVID team. She is leaning towards keeping their 4yo home this year from public Pre K, which is sad because he loves his school so much. She thinks it’s going to be pretty bad this winter.
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We learned yesterday that per our state's order (PA), all children aged two and older must wear masks at all times in school unless they're eating, they're physically 6 feet apart, or they have a condition (respiratory, mental, or emotional) that prevents them from wearing a face covering. Parents do not have to provide medical justification for their children's exemptions.
My wife is heartbroken over this order, previously it was stated that children under second grade did not have to wear masks at all. Our son says he will be okay with wearing a mask, but he doesn't like it because 'sometimes I can't breathe so well and it gives me headaches'. So it seems like he'll comply but my wife is not happy with it - she's drawn parallels to air raid drills.
We're still moving forward with sending him, though. As of now, the district's plan is to have full attendance and to modify classrooms to accommodate 6ft spacing between all desks and seats.
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For most working parents, it's not a simple question of whether school will be safe enough to return (that's almost impossible to answer). There's a big difference between keeping a Pre-K or kindergartener home from school and older elementary school children who need academic instruction but aren't old/capable enough to work independently like a middle or high schooler. We both work FT and even if I could negotiate a WFH situation in the fall (my spouse, who is essential, cannot), I can't work and adequately support the education of a special needs 5th grader and a 2nd grader who still struggles with reading.
To pull that off, I'd need to go part time, or try to wfh and hire a tutor, or risk grandparents being exposed by asking them for help. Are people who are thinking of keeping kids home FIREd, quitting their jobs, or hiring outside help?
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I just saw this (https://services.aap.org/en/pages/2019-novel-coronavirus-covid-19-infections/clinical-guidance/covid-19-planning-considerations-return-to-in-person-education-in-schools/), and it makes me hopeful our schools might actually be open this Fall. Thankfully our state isn't part of the spike, so if we can just maintain that we should be ok. Hopefully.
What do you think? Do the AAP have any biases I'm neglecting? I'd hope not, but I don't know a ton about them as an organization.
I only skimmed, but when I read it AAP had excellent points about why students should go to school, but made no mention of the safety of the myriad of adults in the buildings. If we can't provide doctors and healthcare workers with appropriate PPE, can we provide it to teachers who have 30-180 disease vectors who aren't great at observing social distancing interacting with them daily?
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Are people who are thinking of keeping kids home FIREd, quitting their jobs, or hiring outside help?
We're both able to WFH, one kindergartner, current theory is that Saturday/Sunday will be the big school days with some other work happening on other days. We're also able to shift our schedules a bit as long as it's a permanent change (so one parent can work 7-4 and the other can work 9-6). We don't have grandparents near enough for them to help on a daily basis. I fully expect this to be a subpar home school experience for everyone. We're already trying to handle our kid's lack of physical therapy/occupational therapy at home, it's obviously not as good as when he had private therapy twice a week but it's better than nothing.
Everything sucks, basically.
If we were in your shoes with one spouse working out of the home and two kids to manage, I'm not sure how we'd handle things. I know someone who is lucky to have a grandparent in the picture who is a retired teacher, last spring the kids basically lived at grandma's house for two months because both parents were essential and at high exposure risk (health care jobs).
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Agree with charis. It is an impossible situation for working parents that can't simply "figure out a solution."
Rising 4th grader and rising 1st grader here. If they have to stay home (or if we choose to keep them home, which we wouldn't if school was open), I see no other option than having one of us parents quit. I make less, so it would be me. I know it seems rash, but what else can we do? Especially if we are both asked to start going into an office (hasn't happened yet, but it could). Our kids can't stay home by themselves and grandparents are not an option. Hire a tutor a full-time sitter? Probably should have looked into that months ago...
We are extremely fortunate that our family can afford to go back down to one income if we have to (obviously not what we would choose). Most two-parent working families cannot just flip that switch. What are they to do? And what about the single parents?
Our state doesn't have a plan yet, but first day is scheduled for 8/17. I hope we find out soon, even if it is full-remote. Parents need to plan their next move.
On masks: I'm fine with the kids wearing masks. Ours have been wearing them for camp for the past month and a half (not all day though). It becomes part of the routine and has been completely normalized since everybody wears them.
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Everyone needs to come up with a plan to manage distance learning. Even if you send your children back into the building, there is a good chance that the school may shut down. Who will staff or teach the kids when teachers get sick? Most of the substitutes in my building were older, retired teachers. They won’t be taking the jobs now with the risk of getting Covid.
There was a survey done that indicated that up to 20% of teachers may choose to not return to in person classes. How will that impact the schools ability to do hybrid classes that are supposed to be smaller?
I teach in a high school with over 2800 students. A decent number of parents surveyed don’t want their children to have to wear masks. If someone comes into the building with Covid, it will take off. Perhaps the kids won’t get too sick but the staff, some of which are older, and some of which have pre-existing conditions will get sick. Some may get sick enough to be out for weeks.
I’m afraid too many people think that sending kids back to school will be a return to business as usual. It won’t. Prepare yourselves. It’s going to be a bumpy ride.
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Actually, our situation is that we will both be working out of the house at the point of school starting. I can ask to go back to a wfh situation, but that's the best case scenario and it still might be denied. We could live on either salary but quitting right now would be terrible for one career and disastrous for the other.
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My son is 10 and starting 5th grade. He will not be attending school in-person until a vaccine is available. Everyone making claims about what the virus will or won't do to children long-term have no idea what they're talking about. My son's health is not worth the risk of him getting sick and potentially having deadly results. It will be a hardship on us to do school work from home, but that's a small price to pay for ensuring his safety and long-term health.
Our school board hasn't finalized and announced their plan for re-opening schools...but regardless of what they decide, our son will be staying home.
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I personally think we have enough evidence that kids aren't at any great risk to send them back to school - all the daycares full of essential worker's kids have yet to report an outbreak, and that's many thousands of kids over many months. Obviously opinions on that vary, but our kids will attend if schools are open. But I doubt they'll stay open for long, because nobody appears to have really thought about how to do that.
It baffles me that creative plans haven't been thought of. I mean, just off the top of my head:
Have every SAHP become a substitute teacher, and have vulnerable teachers teach remotely with 1 or 2 of those subs as in-person aides/helpers.
Hold classes outside in nice climates.
Convert gyms/cafeterias into more classroom space to spread kids out, buy some portable trailers as well.
Build bubble-boy enclosures for teachers so they can totally avoid physical contact with the students, but still talk to/see/interact with them.
Hire anyone with vaguely appropriate qualifications who needs a job and crash-train them to teach over the summer, hold classes at churches and libraries and anywhere available to allow social distancing.
There are plenty of much smarter and more creative people than me out there working in education. Yet it seems nobody really made any concerted effort to plan this. And now, well, it's too late.
-W
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Everyone needs to come up with a plan to manage distance learning. Even if you send your children back into the building, there is a good chance that the school may shut down. Who will staff or teach the kids when teachers get sick? Most of the substitutes in my building were older, retired teachers. They won’t be taking the jobs now with the risk of getting Covid.
There was a survey done that indicated that up to 20% of teachers may choose to not return to in person classes. How will that impact the schools ability to do hybrid classes that are supposed to be smaller?
I teach in a high school with over 2800 students. A decent number of parents surveyed don’t want their children to have to wear masks. If someone comes into the building with Covid, it will take off. Perhaps the kids won’t get too sick but the staff, some of which are older, and some of which have pre-existing conditions will get sick. Some may get sick enough to be out for weeks.
I’m afraid too many people think that sending kids back to school will be a return to business as usual. It won’t. Prepare yourselves. It’s going to be a bumpy ride.
Unless you can wfh or have an extremely flexible work situation, the only way to prepare to "plan" to leave your job. Yes, we have local retired grandparents in their 70s, but who wants to risk their lives? And even if emergency, back up, on-call nannies existed in any sufficient supply, it would be cost prohibitive for most people.
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Paying for those ideas is the issue. Public schools don’t have the funding to add additional staff, portable classrooms, etc.
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Everyone needs to come up with a plan to manage distance learning. Even if you send your children back into the building, there is a good chance that the school may shut down. Who will staff or teach the kids when teachers get sick? Most of the substitutes in my building were older, retired teachers. They won’t be taking the jobs now with the risk of getting Covid.
There was a survey done that indicated that up to 20% of teachers may choose to not return to in person classes. How will that impact the schools ability to do hybrid classes that are supposed to be smaller?
I teach in a high school with over 2800 students. A decent number of parents surveyed don’t want their children to have to wear masks. If someone comes into the building with Covid, it will take off. Perhaps the kids won’t get too sick but the staff, some of which are older, and some of which have pre-existing conditions will get sick. Some may get sick enough to be out for weeks.
I’m afraid too many people think that sending kids back to school will be a return to business as usual. It won’t. Prepare yourselves. It’s going to be a bumpy ride.
Unless you can wfh or have an extremely flexible work situation, the only way to prepare to "plan" to leave your job. Yes, we have local retired grandparents in their 70s, but who wants to risk their lives? And even if emergency, back up, on-call nannies existed in any sufficient supply, it would be cost prohibitive for most people.
I understand the difficulty. Families still need to prepare for schools to close again. Not all will close (rural low incidence areas), but some will. If your schools close you need to have a plan. I posted what I did because I think a lot of people are being optimistic and choosing not to see the reality that just because schools may reopen does not mean they will stay open.
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Paying for those ideas is the issue. Public schools don’t have the funding to add additional staff, portable classrooms, etc.
You could get SAHPs to work for free, they know the stakes.
And yes, money (presumably from the Feds) would be required for a lot of that stuff. So what? The plans could have been made and money could have been requested. Whether congress decided to fund it or not is an open question, but it's too late now regardless.
Working parents are a HUGE chunk of the economy. It's hilarious to hear people talk about reopening the economy and not mentioning schools.
-W
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We learned yesterday that per our state's order (PA), all children aged two and older must wear masks at all times in school unless they're eating, they're physically 6 feet apart, or they have a condition (respiratory, mental, or emotional) that prevents them from wearing a face covering. Parents do not have to provide medical justification for their children's exemptions.
My wife is heartbroken over this order, previously it was stated that children under second grade did not have to wear masks at all. Our son says he will be okay with wearing a mask, but he doesn't like it because 'sometimes I can't breathe so well and it gives me headaches'. So it seems like he'll comply but my wife is not happy with it - she's drawn parallels to air raid drills.
We're still moving forward with sending him, though. As of now, the district's plan is to have full attendance and to modify classrooms to accommodate 6ft spacing between all desks and seats.
Look into a face shield for your son. Ask if that would be acceptable. A lot of people see face shields as an acceptable substitute for claustrophobic people, etc.
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We learned yesterday that per our state's order (PA), all children aged two and older must wear masks at all times in school unless they're eating, they're physically 6 feet apart, or they have a condition (respiratory, mental, or emotional) that prevents them from wearing a face covering. Parents do not have to provide medical justification for their children's exemptions.
My wife is heartbroken over this order, previously it was stated that children under second grade did not have to wear masks at all. Our son says he will be okay with wearing a mask, but he doesn't like it because 'sometimes I can't breathe so well and it gives me headaches'. So it seems like he'll comply but my wife is not happy with it - she's drawn parallels to air raid drills.
We're still moving forward with sending him, though. As of now, the district's plan is to have full attendance and to modify classrooms to accommodate 6ft spacing between all desks and seats.
Look into a face shield for your son. Ask if that would be acceptable. A lot of people see face shields as an acceptable substitute for claustrophobic people, etc.
Face shields are, indeed, acceptable. He would probably wear one but I think he'll be sporting the mask primarily because all the other kids in his class also would and he would definitely feel a bit left out/ostracized if he weren't wearing something similar to the rest of the kids.
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Paying for those ideas is the issue. Public schools don’t have the funding to add additional staff, portable classrooms, etc.
You could get SAHPs to work for free, they know the stakes.
Is that a joke? All the families that I know with a SAHP have at least one child who is not school aged. That's generally why they can't just leave the house and go work somewhere for free 🙄
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Everyone needs to come up with a plan to manage distance learning. Even if you send your children back into the building, there is a good chance that the school may shut down. Who will staff or teach the kids when teachers get sick? Most of the substitutes in my building were older, retired teachers. They won’t be taking the jobs now with the risk of getting Covid.
There was a survey done that indicated that up to 20% of teachers may choose to not return to in person classes. How will that impact the schools ability to do hybrid classes that are supposed to be smaller?
I teach in a high school with over 2800 students. A decent number of parents surveyed don’t want their children to have to wear masks. If someone comes into the building with Covid, it will take off. Perhaps the kids won’t get too sick but the staff, some of which are older, and some of which have pre-existing conditions will get sick. Some may get sick enough to be out for weeks.
I’m afraid too many people think that sending kids back to school will be a return to business as usual. It won’t. Prepare yourselves. It’s going to be a bumpy ride.
Unless you can wfh or have an extremely flexible work situation, the only way to prepare to "plan" to leave your job. Yes, we have local retired grandparents in their 70s, but who wants to risk their lives? And even if emergency, back up, on-call nannies existed in any sufficient supply, it would be cost prohibitive for most people.
I understand the difficulty. Families still need to prepare for schools to close again. Not all will close (rural low incidence areas), but some will. If your schools close you need to have a plan. I posted what I did because I think a lot of people are being optimistic and choosing not to see the reality that just because schools may reopen does not mean they will stay open.
I appreciate your perspective, and it's obviously realistic that many districts or schools will have to change course throughout the school year. Earlier upthread I emphasized that I understand this is a tough situation all around but I also want to reiterate an earlier point I made and echo charis' comments -
Distance learning is not equitable or fair for all students. I'll have to go into the office more frequently as the year progresses and I won't be able to help my wife at all. How is she supposed to supervise Zoom learning while our 10 month old is screaming or our 3 year old is trying to pull his older brother into playtime? We have a grand total of zero family members nearby to help with the other two kids. And asking my wife and I to sacrifice every weekend so that we can tagteam 25 hours of homeschool curriculum over 2 or 3 days is just a nonstarter.
I'm not asking you, Cyanne for answers, but I posit this as more of a rhetorical question.
And again, recusing my own situation for a moment, I'll again bring up the situation of single parents who have to work outside the home - what the fuck are they supposed to do?
But on the flip side there's a glaring lack of funding, and worse there are plenty of teachers who would not do well if they were to catch this virus, so how are we supposed to protect them especially when kids often show mild symptoms to this?
Those are questions for the school districts to answer, not us as parents and not the teachers or other school employees. It's an impossible question but I think it's important to understand that I think we can all agree at least within this forum and especially in this thread, none of us are looking to send our kids to school to 'return to normal'. Normal is gone and statewide stay at home orders really can't happen again so they way I see it, we really all have to work together to figure out how to get schools to open.
Now, I will say that my wife and I will absolutely come up with a plan to handle distance learning because we have to, because our son would be a truant if we didn't. Not that truancy in younger students is really going to be enforced if distance learning were to happen, but you get the picture.
Edit: I also forgot to mention that I've heard half sarcastic/half serious responses from other people (not on this forum) "well, maybe you shouldn't have had kids" or "maybe you weren't ready for kids" and to that attitude (in case anyone here secretly holds that opinion), you can go shove it.
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For most working parents, it's not a simple question of whether school will be safe enough to return (that's almost impossible to answer). There's a big difference between keeping a Pre-K or kindergartener home from school and older elementary school children who need academic instruction but aren't old/capable enough to work independently like a middle or high schooler. We both work FT and even if I could negotiate a WFH situation in the fall (my spouse, who is essential, cannot), I can't work and adequately support the education of a special needs 5th grader and a 2nd grader who still struggles with reading.
To pull that off, I'd need to go part time, or try to wfh and hire a tutor, or risk grandparents being exposed by asking them for help. Are people who are thinking of keeping kids home FIREd, quitting their jobs, or hiring outside help?
I'm in CA. MANY of my friends are thinking of keeping their kids at home, but they are predominantly SAHMs or teachers who were working only part time or as substitutes.
Our school district has not made a plan yet. THey will within the next 2 weeks. It's open full, open hybrid (students at school 2 days a week, half class size), or all virtual. If they open full, it won't be fun. Masks, distancing, face shields, no recess, no playground, no books.
My younger son just finished 2nd grade and the last 3 months of distance learning was basically a shit show of us trying to help him while working FT from home. I agree that this is a tough age. I think older kids (some 4th, plus 5th-8th) can mostly work independently. My incoming 9th grader will be fine.
But 2nd grade was a mess and 3rd isn't going to be any better.
Edit:
I really think that school districts should consider in person school for the kids that need it most. In our school, that would be:
- disabled students
- children who are English learners
- poor kids
- children of single parents who must work.
My husband and I could muddle on through on distance learning if they give us a curriculum and have us check in periodically. It would royally suck.
But my incoming 3rd grader is reading Harry Potter and can do multiplication (some of it anyway). Shoot, he could take a year or two off and it wouldn't matter. My kid is not the one who is going to suffer here.
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Distance learning is not equitable or fair for all students.
I agree with many of the points you have made and there is certainly a lot of nuance to this issue (or at least there should be, despite the behavior of the dumbasses in charge of this), but would like to point out that our 'old' way of doing school was not fair and equitable for all students either.
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Paying for those ideas is the issue. Public schools don’t have the funding to add additional staff, portable classrooms, etc.
You could get SAHPs to work for free, they know the stakes.
Is that a joke? All the families that I know with a SAHP have at least one child who is not school aged. That's generally why they can't just leave the house and go work somewhere for free 🙄
There are lots of families that could pull it off, actually. Or you could have a daycare in the school. But hey, nevermind, why not just give up. Trying new solutions is for suckers. Got it.
-W
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Everyone needs to come up with a plan to manage distance learning. Even if you send your children back into the building, there is a good chance that the school may shut down. Who will staff or teach the kids when teachers get sick? Most of the substitutes in my building were older, retired teachers. They won’t be taking the jobs now with the risk of getting Covid.
There was a survey done that indicated that up to 20% of teachers may choose to not return to in person classes. How will that impact the schools ability to do hybrid classes that are supposed to be smaller?
I teach in a high school with over 2800 students. A decent number of parents surveyed don’t want their children to have to wear masks. If someone comes into the building with Covid, it will take off. Perhaps the kids won’t get too sick but the staff, some of which are older, and some of which have pre-existing conditions will get sick. Some may get sick enough to be out for weeks.
I’m afraid too many people think that sending kids back to school will be a return to business as usual. It won’t. Prepare yourselves. It’s going to be a bumpy ride.
Unless you can wfh or have an extremely flexible work situation, the only way to prepare to "plan" to leave your job. Yes, we have local retired grandparents in their 70s, but who wants to risk their lives? And even if emergency, back up, on-call nannies existed in any sufficient supply, it would be cost prohibitive for most people.
I understand the difficulty. Families still need to prepare for schools to close again. Not all will close (rural low incidence areas), but some will. If your schools close you need to have a plan. I posted what I did because I think a lot of people are being optimistic and choosing not to see the reality that just because schools may reopen does not mean they will stay open.
I appreciate your perspective, and it's obviously realistic that many districts or schools will have to change course throughout the school year. Earlier upthread I emphasized that I understand this is a tough situation all around but I also want to reiterate an earlier point I made and echo charis' comments -
Distance learning is not equitable or fair for all students. I'll have to go into the office more frequently as the year progresses and I won't be able to help my wife at all. How is she supposed to supervise Zoom learning while our 10 month old is screaming or our 3 year old is trying to pull his older brother into playtime? We have a grand total of zero family members nearby to help with the other two kids. And asking my wife and I to sacrifice every weekend so that we can tagteam 25 hours of homeschool curriculum over 2 or 3 days is just a nonstarter.
I'm not asking you, Cyanne for answers, but I posit this as more of a rhetorical question.
And again, recusing my own situation for a moment, I'll again bring up the situation of single parents who have to work outside the home - what the fuck are they supposed to do?
But on the flip side there's a glaring lack of funding, and worse there are plenty of teachers who would not do well if they were to catch this virus, so how are we supposed to protect them especially when kids often show mild symptoms to this?
Those are questions for the school districts to answer, not us as parents and not the teachers or other school employees. It's an impossible question but I think it's important to understand that I think we can all agree at least within this forum and especially in this thread, none of us are looking to send our kids to school to 'return to normal'. Normal is gone and statewide stay at home orders really can't happen again so they way I see it, we really all have to work together to figure out how to get schools to open.
Now, I will say that my wife and I will absolutely come up with a plan to handle distance learning because we have to, because our son would be a truant if we didn't. Not that truancy in younger students is really going to be enforced if distance learning were to happen, but you get the picture.
Edit: I also forgot to mention that I've heard half sarcastic/half serious responses from other people (not on this forum) "well, maybe you shouldn't have had kids" or "maybe you weren't ready for kids" and to that attitude (in case anyone here secretly holds that opinion), you can go shove it.
It is definitely a difficult situation for all. I didn’t want my posts to come off as unsympathetic. I was once a single parent and almost lost my job because my daughter had the chickenpox and my daycare couldn’t take her. I know it is bad. I posted because most of the conversation I have read on various sites seems to focus on getting back into the classroom without addressing the reality that it is not a fix and there is a good chance of ending up in distance learning anyway.
I wish I had more answers. I also wish there had been more funds allocated to prepare for this fall. I can tell you that my state and district are working on plans to address the inequity. As a special education teacher I am very well aware of the challenges that are present.
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Paying for those ideas is the issue. Public schools don’t have the funding to add additional staff, portable classrooms, etc.
You could get SAHPs to work for free, they know the stakes.
Is that a joke? All the families that I know with a SAHP have at least one child who is not school aged. That's generally why they can't just leave the house and go work somewhere for free 🙄
There are lots of families that could pull it off, actually. But hey, nevermind, why not just give up. Trying new solutions is for suckers. Got it.
-W
Your anecdote is equal to mine. I don't know a single sahp that doesn't have at least one child at home already. So it's not a viable solution. But feel free to suggest volunteer substitute teaching to your sahp friends that don't have any family responsibilities during the school day.
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Are people who are thinking of keeping kids home FIREd, quitting their jobs, or hiring outside help?
I've been full time WFH for over a decade and DH has a somewhat flexible schedule as a professor. His schedule is actually getting weirder in the fall and there may be more night and weekend classes and it will actually allow us more wiggle room rather than less.
I would anticipate that we would run a similar schedule to what we are doing now: DH gets up super early for his deep work and works until my day starts, I am expected at my desk from 9-5 but basically just answer the phone, respond to requests and triage work while DH and I split kids during the day and while he is required to be on campus, and I do my deep work from 9pm-1am or so.
It sucks and I hate it and it feels 100% unsustainable but if the alternative is nerve or lung damage for my kids . . . If news doesn't get better in the next month I want to have mentally prepared myself to keep the kids home.
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The Youngstown City Schools have already announced that they will be online only. I was really surprised- it’s a very high poverty district with many at risk kids.
It’s also a district under state control, so the state must have approved this. I’m pretty sure that there is just no money for those creative solutions.
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Your anecdote is equal to mine. I don't know a single sahp that doesn't have at least one child at home already. So it's not a viable solution. But feel free to suggest volunteer substitute teaching to your sahp friends that don't have any family responsibilities during the school day.
Run a little daycare in the school (many already do this). Boom.
_W
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Distance learning is not equitable or fair for all students.
I agree with many of the points you have made and there is certainly a lot of nuance to this issue (or at least there should be, despite the behavior of the dumbasses in charge of this), but would like to point out that our 'old' way of doing school was not fair and equitable for all students either.
I fully agree with you - this just only sets things back that much further (budget cuts, teacher absenteeism, truancy [among older students]).
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One idea our local school board is considering is to have high school kids (who are more capable of participating in distance learning programs) to stay home, and then utilize the high school spaces in the county to spread out the elementary school children. I don't know if they'll follow through with that, but it's something they've come up with to attempt to mitigate spread and allow for fewer kids in a single classroom. I don't know that they have all the finer details regarding staffing, transportation, meals, etc. worked out, but they're supposed to announce the final plan tomorrow...so we'll see.
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Your anecdote is equal to mine. I don't know a single sahp that doesn't have at least one child at home already. So it's not a viable solution. But feel free to suggest volunteer substitute teaching to your sahp friends that don't have any family responsibilities during the school day.
Run a little daycare in the school (many already do this). Boom.
_W
There are no daycares in any schools around here. Schools are already going to be short of space because they need smaller classes.
If I was a SAHP, I would not be too keen to put myself and my kids at risk so that I could work for free, but hey, what do *I* know? Except that I’ve actually been a SAHP and also a teacher, of course.
Have you ever worked in a school?
All of these suggestions are do-able, but will cost $ and school budgets are being cut.
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I personally think we have enough evidence that kids aren't at any great risk to send them back to school - all the daycares full of essential worker's kids have yet to report an outbreak, and that's many thousands of kids over many months. Obviously opinions on that vary, but our kids will attend if schools are open. But I doubt they'll stay open for long, because nobody appears to have really thought about how to do that.
It baffles me that creative plans haven't been thought of. I mean, just off the top of my head:
Have every SAHP become a substitute teacher, and have vulnerable teachers teach remotely with 1 or 2 of those subs as in-person aides/helpers.
Hold classes outside in nice climates.
Convert gyms/cafeterias into more classroom space to spread kids out, buy some portable trailers as well.
Build bubble-boy enclosures for teachers so they can totally avoid physical contact with the students, but still talk to/see/interact with them.
Hire anyone with vaguely appropriate qualifications who needs a job and crash-train them to teach over the summer, hold classes at churches and libraries and anywhere available to allow social distancing.
There are plenty of much smarter and more creative people than me out there working in education. Yet it seems nobody really made any concerted effort to plan this. And now, well, it's too late.
-W
Just want to say that I think this is an excellent point. We've had a necessary case study for younger kids in similar (if not worse) settings to classroom settings without any big problems I've heard of (please anyone correct me if I'm wrong). It would seem that this situation for whatever reason might not be the worst thing ever.
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Many daycares in our area have been open this whole time with no outbreaks. Folks on this thread keep referring to nerve or lung damage in children. Is this a documented problem or concern? Almost no children in my region have tested positive for covid (presumably some have been asymptomatic?) so I'm not sure how to approach it. I would be grateful if you could share links on this. My friends in medical field have been sending their children to daycare and they don't seem concerned
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The only data that I've seen recently is that over 7,000 kids in Florida contracted the virus recently. With Florida being the biggest hot spot on the planet right now, that's not terribly surprising...but it does show that kids can in fact get it at high rates...and no one knows yet what people who contract the virus and recover will be susceptible to in the long term. Will kids who get it but recover now be more likely to get the flu every year? Pneumonia? Asthma? Cancer? No one knows these answers yet and I'm not willing to risk my son's health with incomplete data until a vaccine is ready.To each their own, but I'm not taking for granted that just because some people believe kids won't have serious long-term repercussions from contracting covid, that it's fine to send him back to school
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There are no daycares in any schools around here. Schools are already going to be short of space because they need smaller classes.
If I was a SAHP, I would not be too keen to put myself and my kids at risk so that I could work for free, but hey, what do *I* know? Except that I’ve actually been a SAHP and also a teacher, of course.
Have you ever worked in a school?
All of these suggestions are do-able, but will cost $ and school budgets are being cut.
If you'd prefer to admit defeat and/or wait for a vaccine (which may or may not come) that's fine. If you truly can't think of a way to open schools and keep people safe, then I'm sorry, that's a bummer. For what it's worth I'm in the schools here basically every day (I'm an unpaid volunteer reading tutor and head classroom parent for a couple of classes) and my wife runs science programs for the district. I am also the parent rep on the safety committee for our elementary school. While I usually defer to the expertise of teachers, I think you may be too defeatist/pessimistic here. That said, if the teachers don't want to come teach - that's pretty much the end of the discussion.
Around here our schools have gymnasiums/cafeterias, art/music/specialist rooms, and conference rooms that, in a pinch, could be used for daycare. We have SAHP and flexible schedule parents who understand the stakes and could be organized to step up.
And again, that's just me spitballing, with roughly 1 minute of thought. With more time, effort, and expertise, there are probably even better solutions.
We don't have the leadership or (at this point) the time, though. Nor does it sound like many people are willing to try.
-W
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Many daycares in our area have been open this whole time with no outbreaks. Folks on this thread keep referring to nerve or lung damage in children. Is this a documented problem or concern? Almost no children in my region have tested positive for covid (presumably some have been asymptomatic?) so I'm not sure how to approach it. I would be grateful if you could share links on this. My friends in medical field have been sending their children to daycare and they don't seem concerned
I think this is another area where it is very state dependent (regarding outbreaks). I have a friend in public health in a state with pretty clear restrictions in place on day care procedures (teachers in masks, parents not allowed inside, etc) and she is very comfortable dropping her kids off, and I posted a link upthread about how daycares in NYC and NJ were able to get through those outbreaks without cases.
But there are starting to be daycare cases in TX (both kids and care providers) and I know more cases in children in FL (but I'm not sure if those are daycare related).
Here is the lung damage report out of Florida:
https://cbs12.com/news/local/doctors-concerned-that-covid-19-may-be-harming-lungs-of-children
And the other places I have been hearing about long term damage are from friends in the UK and Italy. I'm not sure it is a huge problem in children but I'm trying to keep my eyes/ears open for child related news as we get closer to school starting in a month.
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I'm not taking for granted that just because some people believe kids won't have serious long-term repercussions from contracting covid, that it's fine to send him back to school
No one on this thread is taking that for granted and no one believes that it's fine to go back to school. That's the entire reason that we are having this conversation. Not everyone has the option to keep their children home from school, and some will have to quit their jobs if they choose to do so. I get the sense that most people who have decided to keep their kids out of school are already working from home or have a sahp. It's important to acknowledge that it makes the decision a lot easier (though still a very difficult situation).
Thanks for the links above.
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Your anecdote is equal to mine. I don't know a single sahp that doesn't have at least one child at home already. So it's not a viable solution. But feel free to suggest volunteer substitute teaching to your sahp friends that don't have any family responsibilities during the school day.
Run a little daycare in the school (many already do this). Boom.
_W
There are no daycares in any schools around here. Schools are already going to be short of space because they need smaller classes.
If I was a SAHP, I would not be too keen to put myself and my kids at risk so that I could work for free, but hey, what do *I* know? Except that I’ve actually been a SAHP and also a teacher, of course.
Have you ever worked in a school?
All of these suggestions are do-able, but will cost $ and school budgets are being cut.
Our school is full...(the elementary). They won't be able to fully keep 6' between students without splitting classes into different days. There's literally no room for daycare on campus. That is the case in all of our elementary schools.
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Neither myself nor my wife are sahp...and neither one of us works from home...just so you know before you go assuming that I'm coming from a place of comfort with this. It will be extremely difficult for us to manage keeping our son home from school, but we aren't willing to risk the alternative because there are so many unknowns. I don't have "the option" to keep my son home because one of us will be there, so we're going to have to make some difficult decisions that will have huge financial and career implications for one or both of us.
I don't recall stating that anyone else was taking anything for granted specifically, but there are posts above relating anecdotal evidence that daycares have been running without huge outbreaks occurring in children. I related the data from Florida as a counter point. My 7,000 number was actually out of date. The number now is apparently 11,000
https://www.health.harvard.edu/diseases-and-conditions/coronavirus-outbreak-and-kids
https://www.wtxl.com/news/coronavirus/more-than-11-000-children-test-positive-for-coronavirus-in-florida
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Many daycares in our area have been open this whole time with no outbreaks. Folks on this thread keep referring to nerve or lung damage in children. Is this a documented problem or concern? Almost no children in my region have tested positive for covid (presumably some have been asymptomatic?) so I'm not sure how to approach it. I would be grateful if you could share links on this. My friends in medical field have been sending their children to daycare and they don't seem concerned
https://people.com/health/n-c-reports-covid-19-clusters-at-daycares-as-parents-and-providers-weigh-options-amid-pandemic/
https://www.miamiherald.com/news/coronavirus/article243670537.html
https://abc13.com/coronavirus-texas-day-care-cases-covid-19-cares/6259762/
https://www.wweek.com/news/state/2020/06/30/oregon-child-care-facility-reports-covid-19-outbreak-among-first-in-nation/
"Many" is not "all". One of my good friends is a child care provider, and she has been open the whole time but ONLY for essential workers for the first few months. There just haven't been as many children in childcares. School, like work, church, childcare - they are only as safe as their least safe member.
https://www.news-medical.net/news/20200524/Children-with-COVID-19-presenting-with-sudden-severe-lung-disease.aspx
https://cbs12.com/news/local/doctors-concerned-that-covid-19-may-be-harming-lungs-of-children
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Dude, TONS (again, millions) of kids have been in daycare this whole time. If meaningful numbers of them were getting sick, we'd know about it by now.
The issue is the adult teachers/staff, not the kids.
I refuse to take seriously case studies of one 14 year old, or vague "we don't know if this will harm them in the future!" announcements from doctors seriously, because we're already doing this experiment with ALL THOSE DOCTORS KIDS (plus the kids of all the grocery clerks and electricians and on and on).
If rich people like us want to keep their kids out of school and hire nannies/homeschool, that's fine. The kids who most need the schools open are the ones who are already going to be (or have been) exposed anyway because their parents aren't rich. We should be figuring out how to keep the staff safe and getting those kids back in school ASAP.
-W
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We know how to do it - we have neither the facilities nor the funding nor the political will to do it.
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My 10 year old is in public school, and the last few months of online learning were horrible. No 2 way interactive teaching, etc. Here in Oregon, his swim team started practices again in a lake, and I was venting to one of the moms about the terrible online schooling, and she told me about how she works for k12.com who does fully online schooling through public charter schools, and how they have live virtual teaching, and how the district sends the kids computers and textbooks and art supplies etc. So I actually decided to switch my son to fully online school for next year. I'm working from home still. If there is miraculously a vaccine, and the 3 of us get it, then we can return to physical school and work, but before then, we'll be staying at home.
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For any other parents wanting to keep an eye on this, the NYT is keeping a superb page on vaccine progress:
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/science/coronavirus-vaccine-tracker.html
They're tracking what kinds of vaccines are in what testing phases, along with the types, companies, and countries behind them. The good news is that a LOT is in the pipeline right now, and the results from early tests are looking positive.
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So as I keep thinking about this, one thing I am wondering is why a massive expansion of FMLA isn't also being discussed. For the 2020-2021 school year, any parent of a child under 18 can take a year of leave with job protection. If the household income is less than X, the leave will be paid. If household income is over Y, no pay but your job is protected. If you are in between X and Y, you get some pay. Expand the size of employer that this special FMLA applies to substantially. Honestly, given all the safety measures and extra staff and retrofitting that schools are likely going to need, it might be more cost effective and would allow schools to focus more on re-opening primarily for students who really need physical access to school. I suspect that with a year of guaranteed job protection there's a reasonable chunk of parents who would be much more inclined to say actually, I would prefer a year of distance learning.
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Aaaaand DH has been reading up on newly revealed short-term and long-term neurological problems, which appear to be rare but can strike even in mildly symptomatic cases, and now he's dead-set against sending the kids back to class until there's a vaccine. The kids are desperate to get back to regular social interactions, but I'm going to back him up if push comes to shove.
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I am betting the rich white kid schools will have plenty of room to social distance, based on the conversation here! Good news for us, i suppose.
-W
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I am betting the rich white kid schools will have plenty of room to social distance, based on the conversation here! Good news for us, i suppose.
-W
This is actually part of my calculation though. If those of us that can manage it opt for remote learning this year, isn't it better for the teachers and those children that need to be in school as well? If 25% of the class stays home, then you have smaller class sizes and easier social distancing.
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A preview of what to look forward to if the schools do open and depending on what safety protocols they enact:
Yesterday, we got an email from the director of kids' summer day camp. One staff member had tested positive for Covid-19. He/she had not been at the camp since 6/30, but had just gotten the test results back that day.
Per the camp's safety protocols, any campers who had contact with this person (masks were being worn and all contact was outdoors btw), must stay home from camp until the 14 day period beginning on 6/30 has elapsed.
This really only ends up being one day of camp missed since they have been going the past two weeks. There is a daily temp-check for all campers, as well as questions about whether they have symptoms or have come into contact with anyone who tested positive (we have been answering "no" as we obviously didn't know about the staff member until today's afternoon email).
My point ...
Assuming schools open and assuming they enact reasonable safety measures as described above, I suspect the school year will face a lot of fits and starts and kids and teachers having to stay home suddenly as test results come in and quarantine requirements are enforced.
While I desperately want schools to open in person (safely), yesterday really opened my eyes to the chaos and unpredictability that will ensue. And now I think this may actually be worse for working parents than just telling us to prepare to do online only. Sigh.
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Yeah, everyone who keeps their kid at home makes it a little easier (in theory) for the school. My assumption is still that there will be positive tests pretty much immediately, so it will be interesting to see how that gets handled. Our state/district have a reopening plan - but nowhere in it is the re-closing plan/criteria. I assume they just plan to wing it.
-W
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I am betting the rich white kid schools will have plenty of room to social distance, based on the conversation here! Good news for us, i suppose.
-W
Yes, but what about the many poor, non-white schools? Segregation is alive and well in public education.
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I am betting the rich white kid schools will have plenty of room to social distance, based on the conversation here! Good news for us, i suppose.
-W
This is actually part of my calculation though. If those of us that can manage it opt for remote learning this year, isn't it better for the teachers and those children that need to be in school as well? If 25% of the class stays home, then you have smaller class sizes and easier social distancing.
If 25% of the class switches to online learning then wouldn't 25% more teachers be needed for online classes as well? (Hypothetical question) There'd be more physical space in the classrooms but the number of teachers is still an issue. That said, part of my hope with home schooling/eschooling my kid is that it will make things easier for the families that have to send their kids to a brick and mortar school (e.g. a single parent who has to go into work).
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I am betting the rich white kid schools will have plenty of room to social distance, based on the conversation here! Good news for us, i suppose.
-W
Yes, but what about the many poor, non-white schools? Segregation is alive and well in public education.
Yes, that was my point.
-W
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I received a message yesterday that our local school system is planning on full day, regular schedule, in class schools for k-12, although parents can opt out and have online instruction, no hybrid. My county (Population 650,000) now has 300+ new cases per day. This morning I saw that Hong Kong (Population 7 million+) closed schools because all of Hong Kong had 38 new cases in a day. My best friend, in a neighboring state with a terrific virus surge, has been told she must teach in person in her graduate level university courses. I suspect that we will see a huge surge in infections after schools resume; we never had a mask requirement or sufficient closure in my state to get things under control. I think it’s great for schools for reopen where the virus number are low enough, but right now that is not the majority of states.
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I am betting the rich white kid schools will have plenty of room to social distance, based on the conversation here! Good news for us, i suppose.
-W
Yes, but what about the many poor, non-white schools? Segregation is alive and well in public education.
Yes, that was my point.
-W
I knew that. But I think most folks don't like to examine how their education decisions contribute to systemic racial inequality (i.e., I'm woke, black lives matter! etc, but don't make me question my decision to move to a "good" school district).
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I am betting the rich white kid schools will have plenty of room to social distance, based on the conversation here! Good news for us, i suppose.
-W
This is actually part of my calculation though. If those of us that can manage it opt for remote learning this year, isn't it better for the teachers and those children that need to be in school as well? If 25% of the class stays home, then you have smaller class sizes and easier social distancing.
If 25% of the class switches to online learning then wouldn't 25% more teachers be needed for online classes as well? (Hypothetical question) There'd be more physical space in the classrooms but the number of teachers is still an issue. That said, part of my hope with home schooling/eschooling my kid is that it will make things easier for the families that have to send their kids to a brick and mortar school (e.g. a single parent who has to go into work).
In our district online learning in the fall is supposed to look a lot like online learning did in the spring - lots of assignments posted online that need to be done by the end of the week. So I think the amount of teachers stays the same.
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I am betting the rich white kid schools will have plenty of room to social distance, based on the conversation here! Good news for us, i suppose.
-W
This is actually part of my calculation though. If those of us that can manage it opt for remote learning this year, isn't it better for the teachers and those children that need to be in school as well? If 25% of the class stays home, then you have smaller class sizes and easier social distancing.
If 25% of the class switches to online learning then wouldn't 25% more teachers be needed for online classes as well? (Hypothetical question) There'd be more physical space in the classrooms but the number of teachers is still an issue. That said, part of my hope with home schooling/eschooling my kid is that it will make things easier for the families that have to send their kids to a brick and mortar school (e.g. a single parent who has to go into work).
In our district online learning in the fall is supposed to look a lot like online learning did in the spring - lots of assignments posted online that need to be done by the end of the week. So I think the amount of teachers stays the same.
The teachers would almost certainly be doing both. They would have the regular classes and then post an online lecture of the same thing, so it would just be more work for the same number of teachers.
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This whole situation is just miserable. I hired a nanny who was a substitute teacher the night school shut down where I live (in March), and we've had her the whole time. My son was in Kindergarten and my daughter was in pre-school, my husband and I both work, and without her help, it would have been a very different experience. We are looking at school in the fall and have basically said, let's keep the kids home in the fall and see what happens with the schools. If cases spike and teachers/kids get sick, we'll be glad we didn't send them. If not, they can go in January. We are hoping to pair up with another family for the fall to get some more social interaction, but if we can't, they are doing OK with just each other. Honestly, this is a workable solution for us (everyone seems to be doing ok mentally and physically with it), but it is infuriating to me that it has come to this. Every time I read articles about the educational divide between class and race growing larger, I know it's in part because the vast majority of people can't afford to do what I'm doing.
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We just got our district plan last week. Either in person with a ton of restrictions (masks, limited recess, changes to specials to eliminate sharing and contamination, lunch in classroom, etc) or a Virtual Academy, which they say will be more robust than what was rolled out in the spring.
We decided to go with the virtual option (1st and 4th grade). They are giving the higher risk teachers the option to do 100% virtual, so they won't be trying to teach in person and manage the distance students.
A big part of my thinking was that we'll most likely be back in a distance learning situation in the fall (esp. when flu season hits), so we might as well start that way and be prepared. If anyone has advice about a cheap laptop source or recommendation, I need something for my 6yo.
I accept that we have a hell of a lot of privilege to make this choice. My husband and I are both freelance with flexible schedules. We'll also have my mom helping once she retires in the fall, and we couldn't expose her to the kids if they were going to school.
The challenge for me is my almost 4 year old. I'm hoping we can set up a regular grandma preschool schedule for him. I just don't see preschool happening in the fall. The preschool is at the local YMCA and the camp there has already had a few kids with covid19.
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I'm hoping that one upside is fewer common colds and illnesses. Our kids only started going to school a year ago and had been homeschool before that so didn't have the same level of exposure to common communicable diseases. With four kids in school it felt like at least one of them got sick every month - which generally spread through the rest of the family over the next couple of weeks.
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The challenge for me is my almost 4 year old. I'm hoping we can set up a regular grandma preschool schedule for him. I just don't see preschool happening in the fall. The preschool is at the local YMCA and the camp there has already had a few kids with covid19.
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For the learning parts of preschool, Highlights (the magazine) has some pretty good activity books for different ages and they follow teaching standards. I got my daughter the general kindergarten one for this summer/possibly this fall, and she's been having a good time working through it. If she finishes it, they have subject specific ones too, math, reading, critical thinking, etc. You can get them on their website or Amazon. I'm sure there's tons of resources out there for homeschool preschool, but I thought I'd share what's working for us.
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The challenge for me is my almost 4 year old. I'm hoping we can set up a regular grandma preschool schedule for him. I just don't see preschool happening in the fall. The preschool is at the local YMCA and the camp there has already had a few kids with covid19.
Sent from my moto x4 using Tapatalk
For the learning parts of preschool, Highlights (the magazine) has some pretty good activity books for different ages and they follow teaching standards. I got my daughter the general kindergarten one for this summer/possibly this fall, and she's been having a good time working through it. If she finishes it, they have subject specific ones too, math, reading, critical thinking, etc. You can get them on their website or Amazon. I'm sure there's tons of resources out there for homeschool preschool, but I thought I'd share what's working for us.
Thank you! We did Montessori preschool and I volunteered in the classroom, so we copy a lot of the techniques from the school. I appreciate the suggestion for highlights! Have you see Ask Magazine? My kids love it (6 and 9).
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We just got our district plan last week. Either in person with a ton of restrictions (masks, limited recess, changes to specials to eliminate sharing and contamination, lunch in classroom, etc) or a Virtual Academy, which they say will be more robust than what was rolled out in the spring.
We decided to go with the virtual option (1st and 4th grade). They are giving the higher risk teachers the option to do 100% virtual, so they won't be trying to teach in person and manage the distance students.
A big part of my thinking was that we'll most likely be back in a distance learning situation in the fall (esp. when flu season hits), so we might as well start that way and be prepared. If anyone has advice about a cheap laptop source or recommendation, I need something for my 6yo.
I accept that we have a hell of a lot of privilege to make this choice. My husband and I are both freelance with flexible schedules. We'll also have my mom helping once she retires in the fall, and we couldn't expose her to the kids if they were going to school.
The challenge for me is my almost 4 year old. I'm hoping we can set up a regular grandma preschool schedule for him. I just don't see preschool happening in the fall. The preschool is at the local YMCA and the camp there has already had a few kids with covid19.
Sent from my moto x4 using Tapatalk
Do you need a full laptop for your child? My 10 year old was able to do most of his online school requirements this spring on a $60 Fire tablet. We were able to swap him to the laptop for particular assignments that needed more of a drag/drop or lots of typing. But a Bluetooth keyboard and a tablet might work for many requirements.
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The decision to send our kids to school vs keep them home has been absolutely paralyzing, to say the least. Our choice was due on July 10 and literally two hours after I submitted to send mine in-person, I changed my mind again. We were supposed to follow a hybrid model of a couple days in-person and three days virtual, but then it all changed to full in-person or full virtual. I certainly see the benefits of full in-person for dual working families, but I am in no way ready to send my 4th grader, 1st grader, and 4-year-old back full-time. However, knowing that they will be home doing virtual learning while the vast majority of their friends are at school makes me sick.
The pieces that sway me most are that the United States' situation does not look anything like Hong Kong and Belgium where community transmission is low and school is relatively safe. When there is a tiny spike, these areas shut down immediately. The US has wide-spread transmission. My particular state currently has lower numbers at the moment (I say lower but compared to other countries that have proper protocols in place, they are high), but given there were mass gatherings over fourth of July... I'm waiting to see if there is a big uptick in cases.
I also have pediatricians and Covid response doctors in my community refusing to send their children to school. These are parents I know from preschool and my neighborhood and they are telling me I am smart to keep my kids at home. So do I trust the news stories or the actual medical professionals seeing this first hand? I'm going with the latter.
Hopefully everything will go swimmingly in the fall for those who return in-person, cases will stay low and no one will get sick, but I am leery of this. I certainly understand that some children truly need to be in a school setting for safety, nourishment and learning needs, but we are fortunate enough to not be in that situation. Since we also have one at-home parent, it just feels like the best choice for our risk-averse family -- even though it is a very difficult one to make.
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The challenge for me is my almost 4 year old. I'm hoping we can set up a regular grandma preschool schedule for him. I just don't see preschool happening in the fall. The preschool is at the local YMCA and the camp there has already had a few kids with covid19.
Sent from my moto x4 using Tapatalk
For the learning parts of preschool, Highlights (the magazine) has some pretty good activity books for different ages and they follow teaching standards. I got my daughter the general kindergarten one for this summer/possibly this fall, and she's been having a good time working through it. If she finishes it, they have subject specific ones too, math, reading, critical thinking, etc. You can get them on their website or Amazon. I'm sure there's tons of resources out there for homeschool preschool, but I thought I'd share what's working for us.
Thank you! We did Montessori preschool and I volunteered in the classroom, so we copy a lot of the techniques from the school. I appreciate the suggestion for highlights! Have you see Ask Magazine? My kids love it (6 and 9).
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No, I haven't. Thanks for the suggestion:)
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I had planned to teach some continuing education courses this fall as well as take a few. Maybe even a college art course.
Not going to happen. Can't imagine doing that this winter or spring either. Hopefully there will be a proven vaccine in place by next summer.
And we won't have 3-10 million dead from this plus 50 times those numbers of folks with debilitating after-effects.
Given the way certain subsets of our population are behaving, I'm not betting on my country, the USA, getting its act together.
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We just got our district plan last week. Either in person with a ton of restrictions (masks, limited recess, changes to specials to eliminate sharing and contamination, lunch in classroom, etc) or a Virtual Academy, which they say will be more robust than what was rolled out in the spring.
We decided to go with the virtual option (1st and 4th grade). They are giving the higher risk teachers the option to do 100% virtual, so they won't be trying to teach in person and manage the distance students.
A big part of my thinking was that we'll most likely be back in a distance learning situation in the fall (esp. when flu season hits), so we might as well start that way and be prepared. If anyone has advice about a cheap laptop source or recommendation, I need something for my 6yo.
I accept that we have a hell of a lot of privilege to make this choice. My husband and I are both freelance with flexible schedules. We'll also have my mom helping once she retires in the fall, and we couldn't expose her to the kids if they were going to school.
The challenge for me is my almost 4 year old. I'm hoping we can set up a regular grandma preschool schedule for him. I just don't see preschool happening in the fall. The preschool is at the local YMCA and the camp there has already had a few kids with covid19.
Sent from my moto x4 using Tapatalk
Do you need a full laptop for your child? My 10 year old was able to do most of his online school requirements this spring on a $60 Fire tablet. We were able to swap him to the laptop for particular assignments that needed more of a drag/drop or lots of typing. But a Bluetooth keyboard and a tablet might work for many requirements.
The $100 refurb'd Chromebook worked decently for us in the spring.
At this point, I'm sending him back to school. I don't really have much choice. I'm not allowed to work from home. My husband works very part time, but has a host of health issues that mean I can't depend on him to make sure schoolwork gets done. If/when school ends up cancelled I guess I'll have to set up a classroom at my parents house and hope that they can help.
I live in a state where a majority of people have drank the just-a-flu-aid so everyone thinks that this is being blown out of proportion. I'm wondering what's going to happen the first time that a student tests positive. Does the whole class have to quarantine? Will the truancy requirements be waived? Will the teachers be granted extra sick leave?
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I am betting the rich white kid schools will have plenty of room to social distance, based on the conversation here! Good news for us, i suppose.
-W
This is actually part of my calculation though. If those of us that can manage it opt for remote learning this year, isn't it better for the teachers and those children that need to be in school as well? If 25% of the class stays home, then you have smaller class sizes and easier social distancing.
This is actually one of the thoughts that I have had too.
Look, distance / virtual learning for my 7 yo/ 2nd grader for 3 months was a hot mess. We both work full time. It royally sucked. But.
We survived.
65+% of my son's school is on free lunch (this is the elementary school). Almost 50% are English learners and we have a large number who are considered homeless. Some years it's 20%. Those kids NEED TO BE IN SCHOOL. You know what? It's actually easier for the school and safer for everyone if people who CAN do remote learning DO remote learning.
When you've got a K/1st/2nd/3rd grade student, they are NOT doing it themselves - they MUST have a parent basically in the same room during the zoom classes. How many kids (elementary and junior high) just clocked out at the end of the school year? I would hear the teacher reminding a few kids about not turning in their homework, and one of the kid's mom used to be a teacher! Taught at our school for years. If a teacher can't get her daughter to do her homework... Honestly, we all should be focusing on being healthy and moving forward. I've got friends freaking out about their kids getting behind...uh, everyone in the same boat really.
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I’m starting to think about this as well and there are no good answers at all. We just moved with the intent of checking out whether this new location is a good fit for us. An important aspect of that is whether this school and program in particular will be good for our kids. We are enrolled in the school but waitlisted does the program. At best school will only be two days a week. So if we don’t get into the program we want right away then that is two partial days a week in a program we aren’t interested in...
Currently my two oldest are in an immersion preschool/daycare during the week and it is working well. I just recently started thinking of asking them to keep my oldest on the “at-home learning” days so she can have some continuity there and I can continue to have a couple of full days of only taking care of the baby. As with others, distance learning was tough as we finished up kindergarten. The half an hour a day of Google Hangout call was good (language immersion program) but I felt overwhelmed by the amount of assignments. It took a lot of my energy and focus to get some of that done each day and the est is the household suffered as a result. In the end I was mostly doing my own thing with her and only really cares that she learned some math and we started reading.
Over the summer here I am continuing to teach her to read and preschool is going to start academics with her next month. Later this week she has her evaluation session online for a once-a-week language school that will either be an afternoon a week or Saturday mornings. It is a hodgepodge of random little bits of education all over the place but at least something is happening. I really dread another year of distance learning because that was most definitely not fun. If we weren’t trying hard to get our foot into the door of this school and the waitlisted program in particular I would be tempted to do a homeschool year to just be able to do our own thing.
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This is actually one of the thoughts that I have had too.
Look, distance / virtual learning for my 7 yo/ 2nd grader for 3 months was a hot mess. We both work full time. It royally sucked. But.
We survived.
65+% of my son's school is on free lunch (this is the elementary school). Almost 50% are English learners and we have a large number who are considered homeless. Some years it's 20%. Those kids NEED TO BE IN SCHOOL. You know what? It's actually easier for the school and safer for everyone if people who CAN do remote learning DO remote learning.
I heard yesterday that with the new uptick our district might be totally revamping their plans. And it is inline with the "kids need to be in school but it is better if those who can do remote learning."
So apparently they are considered running multiple "bubbles"- one or two teachers from each grade would be dedicated to the kids who really need to be in school the 4 days a week (we are at 4 days at most, no matter what), either because of childcare or learning needs, etc. The other 1-2 teachers would teach two day pods. 10-12 kids on M/T and 10-12 kids on Th/F. My fingers are crossed that they can actually make that happen because I think it would help serve everyone and be safer.
We pay ungodly amounts of property tax (and just voted on yet another levy last year!) so I'm hopeful that the bougie people who are like "but we can't lose Mandarin classes and rowing team" are open to those tax dollars being used to hire more gen-ed teachers to do something that actually makes a difference in educating all of our kiddos this year.
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Our district just announced that they are going for full-time, in person (with an option for remote if you're not comfortable with that).
We'll see how it goes, but my kids are ecstatic.
-W
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Same here...full in-person school for those that choose to and full remote school for those that choose to. The school district is providing devices and mobile hot spots for any that want to do full remote. We can also choose one option and change over to the other option after the first 9-week period. They were considering a hybrid schedule with a few days in-person and a few days remote each week, but scrapped that plan. I'm glad that we can keep our son at home, and know that others who are able can also, but those that rely on school because they are unable to keep their kids home or because they rely on school food programs to help supplement their children's diet can take advantage of that as well. Seems like a win-win...at least until students or teachers begin getting sick...then I'm not sure they have a plan for that
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They already know how to shut down and go full remote, since we already did that once. I mean, it wasn't great, but it's been done.
I don't know if that constitutes a "plan" but I'm sure that's what our district will do if a bunch of students and/or teachers get sick.
-W
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I think the issue will be related to who puts together the programming and "teaches" if the teachers are sick. I haven't seen anything addressed regarding contingency if some of the in-person students get sick in terms of does that put the entire class on remote automatically, who fills in if teachers are ill and can't perform their duties, etc. Obviously full remote is the "plan" but a friend on the school board is concerned that haven't prepared for some scenarios outside of that
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I can’t imagine who is going to be willing to sub this fall.
OTOH, if I knew the right 3 families who were willing to bubble responsibly, I’d be delighted to take over the at home schooling for a few kids.
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I think all our state's schools are required to be able to switch to remote learning immediately. Our schools are making a push for younger grades K-2 to be full time. Grades 3-5 will be 2 days a week. I'm excited to get our Kindergarten to school. She's ready for the socialization and online learning sucks when you can't read.
At least in our school for remote learning, 4ea 3rd grade teachers were distributing/sharing lesson planning, ie one makes the math lesson, one makes the English lesson etc. This team effort should help if one of them has to quarantine.
Our schools in the US were rife with inefficiencies and I'm hopeful this is correcting some of that.
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I registered my son for online school, through k12.com's charter school in Oregon. I'm working from home now, and will be for quite some time. I made the decision because I was thinking about what it would be like when they reopened schools. For example, they have cohorts, so part time in person, part time virtual. Someone at the school gets covid19, they shut down the school for 2 weeks to deep clean. No thanks. I met a mom who teaches virtually, and they said that they have live virtual teaching every day. So I just decided to make the switch over. They will send us a laptop, textbooks, art supplies, science lab materials, and they are experienced with virtual teaching. If at some point in the future, a vaccine is developed, then all 3 of us will get it, and I can go back to work in person, and our son can go back to brick and mortar school. Until that time, I'm embracing the outdoor life, and virtual school and work.
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I know what's happening here, finally!
Our district's board has voted for full-remote. Each kid gets a 3 day orientation in person at the beginning of school to meet their teacher face to face and learn the technology for virtual learning. Apparently the platform is more robust than the end of last year (fingers crossed!) If cases start dramatically declining or there is a vaccine, I imagine they would consider a move back to in-person.
The mental load of wondering what was going to happen has lifted and now I can plan.
I'm thinking about trying to find a tutor for the 1st grader for 2-ish hours a day; the 4th grader demonstrated last spring that he can be pretty independent with the online learning.
Folks that work at the schools that will be furloughed or lose jobs if in-class school doesn't resume after 6 weeks or so.
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I am betting the rich white kid schools will have plenty of room to social distance, based on the conversation here! Good news for us, i suppose.
-W
This is actually part of my calculation though. If those of us that can manage it opt for remote learning this year, isn't it better for the teachers and those children that need to be in school as well? If 25% of the class stays home, then you have smaller class sizes and easier social distancing.
If 25% of the class switches to online learning then wouldn't 25% more teachers be needed for online classes as well? (Hypothetical question) There'd be more physical space in the classrooms but the number of teachers is still an issue. That said, part of my hope with home schooling/eschooling my kid is that it will make things easier for the families that have to send their kids to a brick and mortar school (e.g. a single parent who has to go into work).
In our district online learning in the fall is supposed to look a lot like online learning did in the spring - lots of assignments posted online that need to be done by the end of the week. So I think the amount of teachers stays the same.
The teachers would almost certainly be doing both. They would have the regular classes and then post an online lecture of the same thing, so it would just be more work for the same number of teachers.
Our elementary school is having some teachers handle the in-person classroom learning, and other teachers are assigned to the online classes. We aren't asking each teacher to do both in-person and online. This has an added benefit of retaining full-time teachers who wouldn't be in class due to health concerns. I don't know yet what, if any, the change in class sizes will be from this.
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I am betting the rich white kid schools will have plenty of room to social distance, based on the conversation here! Good news for us, i suppose.
-W
This is actually part of my calculation though. If those of us that can manage it opt for remote learning this year, isn't it better for the teachers and those children that need to be in school as well? If 25% of the class stays home, then you have smaller class sizes and easier social distancing.
If 25% of the class switches to online learning then wouldn't 25% more teachers be needed for online classes as well? (Hypothetical question) There'd be more physical space in the classrooms but the number of teachers is still an issue. That said, part of my hope with home schooling/eschooling my kid is that it will make things easier for the families that have to send their kids to a brick and mortar school (e.g. a single parent who has to go into work).
In our district online learning in the fall is supposed to look a lot like online learning did in the spring - lots of assignments posted online that need to be done by the end of the week. So I think the amount of teachers stays the same.
The teachers would almost certainly be doing both. They would have the regular classes and then post an online lecture of the same thing, so it would just be more work for the same number of teachers.
Our elementary school is having some teachers handle the in-person classroom learning, and other teachers are assigned to the online classes. We aren't asking each teacher to do both in-person and online. This has an added benefit of retaining full-time teachers who wouldn't be in class due to health concerns. I don't know yet what, if any, the change in class sizes will be from this.
That's great. For the experiences in my personal sphere, this would not be the case, but I'm glad it is working out that way for the teachers.
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It is disheartening how teachers and staff are viewed as absolutely disposable.
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It is disheartening how teachers and staff are viewed as absolutely disposable.
I agree. Our teachers were given the choice of in-person teaching or taking FMLA. The entire K-2 elementary staff in my district just submitted a letter to our school board expressing their safety concerns. I don't fully understand why, but I have been told that they are technically not even allowed to write to the school board. This just shows how they worked together to risk their jobs and express many concerns.
As a parent, this paragraph made a lot of sense to me. I think many parents are not fully thinking through what this will look like.
"As educators and experts in early childhood development, we are in agreement that having children in a 'normal school setting' is indisputably what is best for child development and education. However, the setting in which students are being asked to learn and educators are being asked to teach when we return to school is almost unrecognizable as a "normal school setting." Due to the new and necessary health and safety guidelines, our school setting will be, quite literally, the antithesis of the type of setting needed for child development and education."
Our system is requiring desks to be spaced 6 feet, young children to spend the majority of their time at the desk to keep up with social distancing guidelines, they won't be able to collaborate with peers or engage in centers due to social distancing, they can't share items during free play and guided play, and small group guided reading groups and math workshop will become impossible. These are all essential things in a well-developed early childhood curriculum. I know our district is not alone in what this picture actually looks like.
This paragraph stood out for me as well:
"The second rationale that we must consider is the burden placed on parents and caregivers when students are unable to use the physical school building for their learning. This is something for which we deeply emphasize (because many of these teachers have children in school, too) and recognize as a failing of our social constructs. It cannot, however, be the reason that children are sent back to school. Although public schooling has clearly become a means for parents and caregivers to work during the day, this is not its intended purpose."
They also included 60+ questions about safety protocols including (I've paraphrased a few):
"When young children cry the first few days of school, how do we comfort them by adhering to social distancing protocols?"
"When there are bathroom accidents, how do we safely help children change clothes by following social distancing protocols?"
"Children need help opening snacks, lunches, putting on jackets, tying shoes, how do we keep social distance protocols?"
"How do we conduct fire drills, active shooter drills, severe weather drills while following social distance guidelines?"
"Will we need to document each time a child removes his/her face covering so that we can be aware of possible exposure?"
"Are parents aware of what social distancing will look like in the classroom... masks worn all day, children will be sitting in chairs for long periods of time and cannot engage in play too closely, children will have to do more seat work rather than small group work?"
"Will we be getting another printer to make worksheets? Movement choice, group projects will be hard to do under current restraints and more busy work will be necessary."
"Will students be allowed to sing or play instruments?"
"Can lids be installed to cover toilets as they are flushed? Studies show that aerosol droplets from flushing can carry the virus three feet in the air and cover bathroom surfaces."
"What are the options for staff with underlying health issues? Are the only options to return to work and risk dying or lose our job?"
"What about the child whose nose is always runny?"
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Our district's board has voted for full-remote. Each kid gets a 3 day orientation in person at the beginning of school to meet their teacher face to face and learn the technology for virtual learning. Apparently the platform is more robust than the end of last year (fingers crossed!) If cases start dramatically declining or there is a vaccine, I imagine they would consider a move back to in-person.
The mental load of wondering what was going to happen has lifted and now I can plan.
The three day orientation is a really good idea! I agree the mental load is huge chunk of the pre-school covid agita.
We just heard our likely plan this morning. They vote officially next week, but 4/5 school board members have already indicated their support of the plan.
I'm not at all sure how ours will work from a childcare perspective - but I think it is very smart from a health/and educating the kids perspective.
They are planning on having a responsive schedule that is coordinated with our state's alert system. So level 4 (our worst) will have everyone on home learning. In levels levels 2-3, Grades 6-12 will be split up cohorts two days a week w/ three days of home learning - elementaries will stay at four days at school. And level one will have everyone back in school four days a week. They are also offering full time online learning w/ one day a week optional face to face meetings w/ teachers for those that would prefer to stay home.
They are also doing no bussing for highschool and using all the buses for elementary - Jr. high.
This feels designed to encourage those who want their kids in school full time to wear masks and be careful. In our area there seems to be a huge overlap between people who refuse to wear masks and those that are insisting schools be open full time. So they seem to be codifying the "wear masks to get your kids in school full time" thing here.
I am pretty impressed by this plan, but again, have no idea how it will work for those parents that can't work from home.
*ETA - I'm still not sure if I'm sending mine or not. I would definitely send them if the elementaries also did 2-day weeks at the higher alert levels. I'm not thrilled with four days a week in classes of 25-30 kids.
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Retired guy here. My high schoolers are staying home no matter what they decide. One of my son's sports mates gave it to his mother. She ended up in the hospital, one step away from a ventilator. No, thanks.
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Our school district announced 100% online learning for at least the first 9 weeks of school, so the decision has been made.
I am hoping that the online learning will be similar to what it was in the spring, where assignments were posted and the kids learn more or less on their own, with periodic emailing or drop in zoom session if there are questions. I really, REALLY hope it is not 5 hours of zoom classes a day-- that would be a massive pain and waste of time for my kid, who does OK with self-directed learning.
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We had the option of full remote or full in person. That all changed yesterday with it now going full remote.
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Man, the poor kids are so f'd. It's looking like most of the country is going remote only (probably smart) with basically no consideration of how childcare/parents working is actually going to happen.
A lost semester of school is an academic death sentence for a lot of kids. I wish we had competent leadership and the collective willingness to spend money on things that matter. Sigh.
-W
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Man, the poor kids are so f'd. It's looking like most of the country is going remote only (probably smart) with basically no consideration of how childcare/parents working is actually going to happen.
A lost semester of school is an academic death sentence for a lot of kids. I wish we had competent leadership and the collective willingness to spend money on things that matter. Sigh.
-W
Possible solution: an extra year of schooling, for everyone, but especially K-5? 8? Whatever. Ask the teachers, they're the experts.
It won't happen though. The US is too fucked up right now.
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Yep, so California is going to start full remote for all counties who are on the watch list. Which is all but the most rural counties. The state is going to throw a lot of money at it though, for infrastructure, etc.
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Man, the poor kids are so f'd. It's looking like most of the country is going remote only (probably smart) with basically no consideration of how childcare/parents working is actually going to happen.
A lost semester of school is an academic death sentence for a lot of kids. I wish we had competent leadership and the collective willingness to spend money on things that matter. Sigh.
-W
Possible solution: an extra year of schooling, for everyone, but especially K-5? 8? Whatever. Ask the teachers, they're the experts.
It won't happen though. The US is too fucked up right now.
I think it's really tricky on so many levels. As it is, in our school, there are multiple levels in a classroom. It can't be easy to teach that way. Studies have shown, however, that it does help the lower performing students to be in a classroom with higher performing students.
So a few years ago, that meant my son's 4th grade teacher had kids at 1st grade math and 7th grade math levels. My other son's 2nd grade class had students reading 5th grade books and some still learning sight words, like kindergarten and first grade. But nobody wants to hold kids back - except for the rich families. Red shirting is such a thing. And that's because there are advantages.
What is the right answer? I don't know. Grouping kids by level? Not letting them move on until they pass the grade? I mean, in reality - it's not a race (though you'd never get some of the upper middle class families to admit that). Children learn at their own rates, and shouldn't we all be okay with that?
I have no answers. Just questions.
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Nobody knows the answers because there is no magic want to wave.
Grandson’s preK program sent out their plan for fall and it sounded great. Two days later, the school district announced they’d be online only.
Academically - it’s fine. He reads on a 3rd grade level, I’d estimate. But he *is* missing the social interaction and there really is no way to make that happen.
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We pulled our kids at the end of the last school year and put them into full year home school...I couldn’t see anyway the regular school would be able to meet their needs. So far, it’s worked out really great for us. They’ve been working through 2nd and 4th grade this summer, might as well do school when you’re stuck away from everyone anyway, and seem to be liking it.
I don’t work full time and spend most of my time at home anyway. It’s a change, but a good one I think we’ll keep up even when school starts again.
When I first started reading this thread, I nearly choked on my bon-bon when it was suggested that sahps be conscripted to go into schools and teach. Before the pandemic, I was in the schools teaching science labs, helping kids who were behind in reading, and being a volunteer lunch lady/recess aide. But, I don’t see how my choosing to stay home (be retired, work part time, be a home economist, whatever) makes me a available to teach. Maybe if I were unemployed and looking for work...like instead of extending the supplemental unemployment they could offer sub contracts to people who want to make money above and beyond they’re regular unemployment benefits.
Although, from a development/safety perspective, having a revolving door of new adults coming and going in schools as people get sick or quarantined, people get other jobs, class sizes change and move from 2 to 3 to 5 days, could lead to more and different negative outcomes. Uncertainty, fear, and regular change are not good for promoting resiliency or healthy development.
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To be fair, I never said "conscript". I said "recruit". I in no way intended to suggest that anyone be forced to do anything. I still think it's a good idea (and in fact am getting my background check done now).
-W
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Well, good, because they are going to need tons of subs and those are already hard to find.
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Yeah, I'm not sure how it's going to work, since we have an 11 month old at home. Maybe pawn her off on a neighbor if my wife and I both need to go in, I suppose.
-W
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Speaking from my own personal experience, SAHP are busy from sun up to sun down taking care of kids. I’d enjoy the break that a job would bring. But can’t do that because someone has to watch the kids. I think we have millions of people in the same pickle right now.
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Speaking from my own personal experience, SAHP are busy from sun up to sun down taking care of kids. I’d enjoy the break that a job would bring. But can’t do that because someone has to watch the kids. I think we have millions of people in the same pickle right now.
We just finished doing a couple months of pretty half assed distance ed + twoparents WFH with a single 6 year old child who is very smart and able to work better than the average kid with little instruction . . . and even that was a huge work disruption every single day. Basically, every day was 12 - 16 hours working/educating. That's not going to be something we even try to do in September . . . it's just not sustainable and is way too stressful.
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Speaking from my own personal experience, SAHP are busy from sun up to sun down taking care of kids. I’d enjoy the break that a job would bring. But can’t do that because someone has to watch the kids. I think we have millions of people in the same pickle right now.
Meh, easy to solve. 5 parents all take their <school age kids to one parents house, other parents help at school.
That's probably what we'll do if the need for subs is desperate. It's not what I'd prefer, but I'd rather step up than step back.
-W
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I'm just hoping schools open up because that means the virus is not penetrating enough of the population.
NY guideline is that if less than 5% of the pop is infected, schools will open. Right now it's 2%.
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Speaking from my own personal experience, SAHP are busy from sun up to sun down taking care of kids. I’d enjoy the break that a job would bring. But can’t do that because someone has to watch the kids. I think we have millions of people in the same pickle right now.
Meh, easy to solve. 5 parents all take their <school age kids to one parents house, other parents help at school.
That's probably what we'll do if the need for subs is desperate. It's not what I'd prefer, but I'd rather step up than step back.
-W
I organized a babysitting co-op with three other families for several years. It's not that easy breezy even under the best of circumstances to deal with other people's toddlers/preschoolers, their food foibles, the different discipline standards, wiping their bottoms. Also back in the day, any time one of the families was sick, it quickly spread to the rest of us... I'd say that some sort of disease blasted through our families about once every six weeks.
Under the current circumstances, I would not want to have other people's young kids in my home. We have elderly parents whom we don't want to endanger; also I have no desire to acquire a chronic disease. We live in a former Covid hotspot and among the literally HUNDREDS of people I know who have had it, I do know a couple of people whose health is still broken four months later (including somebody in his 30s). Not to mention those who actually died.
I think that at least those who can afford to keep their kids home should do so, to make it safer for kids whose parents have no choice but to send them outside to school.
I just looked into our school's policy on home schooling because distance learning was such a chore last spring. We started out great in March with me teaching our kids stuff they enjoyed like calligraphy (to improve handwriting of fifth grader) and multiplication (for fast learning kindergartner), but once the school system pulled itself together and began pumping out worksheets, it got deadly boring and the kids tuned out. If I'm going to give all this one on one attention to the kids anyway, I may as well customize the lessons to their speed and interests.
Only thing is, for home schooling, they want us to submit a learning plan every quarter... not sure that I can be that organized ahead of time. I feel that if I knew what they were expected to know by the end of the year, I could hit the targets with only a couple hours of instruction a day. Then the kids could play and my husband and I could do our own work.
[edited because I wrote "distance learning" where I meant "home schooling"]
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Speaking from my own personal experience, SAHP are busy from sun up to sun down taking care of kids. I’d enjoy the break that a job would bring. But can’t do that because someone has to watch the kids. I think we have millions of people in the same pickle right now.
Meh, easy to solve. 5 parents all take their <school age kids to one parents house, other parents help at school.
That's probably what we'll do if the need for subs is desperate. It's not what I'd prefer, but I'd rather step up than step back.
-W
I just looked into our school's policy on home schooling because distance learning was such a chore last spring. We started out great in March with me teaching our kids stuff they enjoyed like calligraphy (to improve handwriting of fifth grader) and multiplication (for fast learning kindergartner), but once the school system pulled itself together and began pumping out worksheets, it got deadly boring and the kids tuned out. If I'm going to give all this one on one attention to the kids anyway, I may as well customize the lessons to their speed and interests.
Only thing is, for distance learning, they want us to submit a learning plan every quarter... not sure that I can be that organized ahead of time. I feel that if I knew what they were expected to know by the end of the year, I could hit the targets with only a couple hours of instruction a day. Then the kids could play and my husband and I could do our own work.
This was basically our experience with homeschooling for several years. With only 1 or 2 kids you could pack in as much before lunch as they would get at a regular school going until mid-afternoon. Plus have plenty of breaks for them to run around outside. However, my wife did spend many many hours on curriculum and lesson plans and we changed course a couple of times over several years - finally settling on a classical curriculum.
I'm guessing you're in New York? As I recall it has some of the least homeschool friendly laws. Here in NM the only requirements are the parent/teacher has to have at least a high school education and you have to submit a very simple online form each year by August stating that you will be homeschooling your child. No requirement for submitting lesson plans, no standardized tests, etc.
https://hslda.org/legal It looks like NY and a few other states in the northeast have the most homeschool regulations.
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I just found out that our county's schools will start closed (distance learning) but our kids' small parochial school might be open. Most parents seem happy about that but my wife is super stressed out. She's worried that we don't know much about the virus yet and there may be long term damage we can't predict. But also maybe that it would harm our kids' development / make our kids outcasts if everyone goes back to school and we don't. Our area is densely populated but not one of the areas that's spiking like crazy, but the fear is that we will have a spike in the fall when schools start.
We're considering just doing homeschooling for a year. Wife doesn't want to do the public school distance learning and then all of a sudden the kids are called in (big school, lots of kids, bus ride, so probably more dangerous than the smaller parochial school if it actually goes back). Kids are 1st and Pre-K 4. Wife is SAHM and we have a 1 year old too (which will make things challenging). I am full time WFH; right now pretty much unable to help during working hours but free outside of about a standard 40-45 hours.
I'm not that worried about the "outcast" thing, if the other families are that big of jerks we should just change schools / go public after pandemic is over. But I am wondering if my wife will be putting an unnecessary burden on herself / deprive the kids of social development out of fear, or whether we should just be as prudent as possible if we have the money and time to do so. (We do. Even if I were fired tomorrow, I could probably freelance enough to pay most bills and we could just wait out this whole pandemic not interacting with anyone else with no ill effect other than delay to FIRE.)
Is anyone else considering just doing home schooling until we have more information?
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This was basically our experience with homeschooling for several years. With only 1 or 2 kids you could pack in as much before lunch as they would get at a regular school going until mid-afternoon. Plus have plenty of breaks for them to run around outside. However, my wife did spend many many hours on curriculum and lesson plans and we changed course a couple of times over several years - finally settling on a classical curriculum.
I'm guessing you're in New York? As I recall it has some of the least homeschool friendly laws. Here in NM the only requirements are the parent/teacher has to have at least a high school education and you have to submit a very simple online form each year by August stating that you will be homeschooling your child. No requirement for submitting lesson plans, no standardized tests, etc.
https://hslda.org/legal It looks like NY and a few other states in the northeast have the most homeschool regulations.
Yes, we're in New York. Thanks for the link! I will look it over. I think the best of all worlds would be if we asked the schools if they would base grades/assessments not on daily assignments, but on how the kids hit targets at the end of distance learning. Then my kids will be able to sit in on some Zoom calls just to connect a bit with their friends/teachers, but basically we would do our own thing.
I'm also going to ask if they would give us "to-go" packets of arts and crafts periodically.
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Most parents seem happy about that but my wife is super stressed out. She's worried that we don't know much about the virus yet and there may be long term damage we can't predict. But also maybe that it would harm our kids' development / make our kids outcasts if everyone goes back to school and we don't.
^This is exactly where I am. Our classes are just too big. The unknowns are massive. I'm hoping the huge upticks in child cases in Florida and Texas give us more data soon (though obviously I'd rather children not be sick).
Someone in another thread mentioned that there are concerns that covid may cause infertility.
We live in area with a lot of anti-mask protests and I am very stressed about sending my children into that. But my children desperately need social interaction. I am pretty mad at our leaders for putting us into this situation.
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Speaking from my own personal experience, SAHP are busy from sun up to sun down taking care of kids. I’d enjoy the break that a job would bring. But can’t do that because someone has to watch the kids. I think we have millions of people in the same pickle right now.
Meh, easy to solve. 5 parents all take their <school age kids to one parents house, other parents help at school.
That's probably what we'll do if the need for subs is desperate. It's not what I'd prefer, but I'd rather step up than step back.
-W
I think that presupposes a few things:
1) no younger siblings to also care for (I’ve got a toddler and a baby)
2) an adult has the skill set and temperament to homeschool five kids at once (I sure as hell don’t)
3) you’ve got a house large enough (many people in HCOL areas have families in 2-bed apartments with no outdoor space)
Some people in my sphere are trying to set up something like this to allow parents to get a little uninterrupted work time during the week, so I am sure this would work for some folks also. It just isn’t necessarily a widely-applicable solution.
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Speaking from my own personal experience, SAHP are busy from sun up to sun down taking care of kids. I’d enjoy the break that a job would bring. But can’t do that because someone has to watch the kids. I think we have millions of people in the same pickle right now.
Meh, easy to solve. 5 parents all take their <school age kids to one parents house, other parents help at school.
That's probably what we'll do if the need for subs is desperate. It's not what I'd prefer, but I'd rather step up than step back.
-W
I think that presupposes a few things:
1) no younger siblings to also care for (I’ve got a toddler and a baby)
2) an adult has the skill set and temperament to homeschool five kids at once (I sure as hell don’t)
3) you’ve got a house large enough (many people in HCOL areas have families in 2-bed apartments with no outdoor space)
Some people in my sphere are trying to set up something like this to allow parents to get a little uninterrupted work time during the week, so I am sure this would work for some folks also. It just isn’t necessarily a widely-applicable solution.
I'm not sure you understood me. My proposal had to do with backing up/substituting for teachers who are sick or vulnerable, for SAHPs. Not homeschooling anyone.
Essentially this would mean (for my family) finding someone to watch the baby so we could go sub at school. Luckily we have many friends that could do that if the stakes were high enough, and since we all know they are, there you go.
-W
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I just found out that our county's schools will start closed (distance learning) but our kids' small parochial school might be open. Most parents seem happy about that but my wife is super stressed out. She's worried that we don't know much about the virus yet and there may be long term damage we can't predict. But also maybe that it would harm our kids' development / make our kids outcasts if everyone goes back to school and we don't. Our area is densely populated but not one of the areas that's spiking like crazy, but the fear is that we will have a spike in the fall when schools start.
We're considering just doing homeschooling for a year. Wife doesn't want to do the public school distance learning and then all of a sudden the kids are called in (big school, lots of kids, bus ride, so probably more dangerous than the smaller parochial school if it actually goes back). Kids are 1st and Pre-K 4. Wife is SAHM and we have a 1 year old too (which will make things challenging). I am full time WFH; right now pretty much unable to help during working hours but free outside of about a standard 40-45 hours.
I'm not that worried about the "outcast" thing, if the other families are that big of jerks we should just change schools / go public after pandemic is over. But I am wondering if my wife will be putting an unnecessary burden on herself / deprive the kids of social development out of fear, or whether we should just be as prudent as possible if we have the money and time to do so. (We do. Even if I were fired tomorrow, I could probably freelance enough to pay most bills and we could just wait out this whole pandemic not interacting with anyone else with no ill effect other than delay to FIRE.)
Is anyone else considering just doing home schooling until we have more information?
We are. I only work away from home one day per week (which I can quit if necessary) and freelance from home the rest of the time.... so we're keeping our daughter home from school and I'll do most of her schooling. We're currently planning to try out the public school's distance learning plan, but I've been researching homeschooling curricula and we'll pull her if the distance learning is as bad as it was in the spring.
Our public schools are doing a hybrid plan for "in person" schooling: 2 days in school, 3 days of distance. Between the potential risk to the kids and the instability that will result if there are changes over the course of the year (everyone home for an outbreak, then the hybrid kids back in when it dies down, then maybe back home, etc etc.), sending her to school seems like a terrible idea. Plus, I figure that if everyone who CAN keep their kid at home DOES keep their kid at home, it makes things safer for the kids whose parents can't keep them home full-time as easily.
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I just found out that our county's schools will start closed (distance learning) but our kids' small parochial school might be open. Most parents seem happy about that but my wife is super stressed out. She's worried that we don't know much about the virus yet and there may be long term damage we can't predict. But also maybe that it would harm our kids' development / make our kids outcasts if everyone goes back to school and we don't. Our area is densely populated but not one of the areas that's spiking like crazy, but the fear is that we will have a spike in the fall when schools start.
We're considering just doing homeschooling for a year. Wife doesn't want to do the public school distance learning and then all of a sudden the kids are called in (big school, lots of kids, bus ride, so probably more dangerous than the smaller parochial school if it actually goes back). Kids are 1st and Pre-K 4. Wife is SAHM and we have a 1 year old too (which will make things challenging). I am full time WFH; right now pretty much unable to help during working hours but free outside of about a standard 40-45 hours.
I'm not that worried about the "outcast" thing, if the other families are that big of jerks we should just change schools / go public after pandemic is over. But I am wondering if my wife will be putting an unnecessary burden on herself / deprive the kids of social development out of fear, or whether we should just be as prudent as possible if we have the money and time to do so. (We do. Even if I were fired tomorrow, I could probably freelance enough to pay most bills and we could just wait out this whole pandemic not interacting with anyone else with no ill effect other than delay to FIRE.)
Is anyone else considering just doing home schooling until we have more information?
We are. I only work away from home one day per week (which I can quit if necessary) and freelance from home the rest of the time.... so we're keeping our daughter home from school and I'll do most of her schooling. We're currently planning to try out the public school's distance learning plan, but I've been researching homeschooling curricula and we'll pull her if the distance learning is as bad as it was in the spring.
Our public schools are doing a hybrid plan for "in person" schooling: 2 days in school, 3 days of distance. Between the potential risk to the kids and the instability that will result if there are changes over the course of the year (everyone home for an outbreak, then the hybrid kids back in when it dies down, then maybe back home, etc etc.), sending her to school seems like a terrible idea. Plus, I figure that if everyone who CAN keep their kid at home DOES keep their kid at home, it makes things safer for the kids whose parents can't keep them home full-time as easily.
This is exactly how I feel. My husband and I can keep them home, so we will. Others are not so lucky.
I agreed to the virtual program for our district, although my husband just said that if it's just sitting in front of a screen all day, he'll want to pursue homeschooling. Not something I was ever planning on doing (we moved to this hcol bc of the schools, dammit!).
I just started rebuilding my career after having the 3 kids and was starting to look at full time jobs (also out of panic for health insurance if the ACA goes away). I've been freelancing for years part time, so I'll just have to work around the school schedule. I wouldn't take an in office position right now anyways.
Sent from my moto x4 using Tapatalk
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I just found out that our county's schools will start closed (distance learning) but our kids' small parochial school might be open. Most parents seem happy about that but my wife is super stressed out. She's worried that we don't know much about the virus yet and there may be long term damage we can't predict. But also maybe that it would harm our kids' development / make our kids outcasts if everyone goes back to school and we don't. Our area is densely populated but not one of the areas that's spiking like crazy, but the fear is that we will have a spike in the fall when schools start.
We're considering just doing homeschooling for a year. Wife doesn't want to do the public school distance learning and then all of a sudden the kids are called in (big school, lots of kids, bus ride, so probably more dangerous than the smaller parochial school if it actually goes back). Kids are 1st and Pre-K 4. Wife is SAHM and we have a 1 year old too (which will make things challenging). I am full time WFH; right now pretty much unable to help during working hours but free outside of about a standard 40-45 hours.
I'm not that worried about the "outcast" thing, if the other families are that big of jerks we should just change schools / go public after pandemic is over. But I am wondering if my wife will be putting an unnecessary burden on herself / deprive the kids of social development out of fear, or whether we should just be as prudent as possible if we have the money and time to do so. (We do. Even if I were fired tomorrow, I could probably freelance enough to pay most bills and we could just wait out this whole pandemic not interacting with anyone else with no ill effect other than delay to FIRE.)
Is anyone else considering just doing home schooling until we have more information?
We are. I only work away from home one day per week (which I can quit if necessary) and freelance from home the rest of the time.... so we're keeping our daughter home from school and I'll do most of her schooling. We're currently planning to try out the public school's distance learning plan, but I've been researching homeschooling curricula and we'll pull her if the distance learning is as bad as it was in the spring.
Our public schools are doing a hybrid plan for "in person" schooling: 2 days in school, 3 days of distance. Between the potential risk to the kids and the instability that will result if there are changes over the course of the year (everyone home for an outbreak, then the hybrid kids back in when it dies down, then maybe back home, etc etc.), sending her to school seems like a terrible idea. Plus, I figure that if everyone who CAN keep their kid at home DOES keep their kid at home, it makes things safer for the kids whose parents can't keep them home full-time as easily.
This is exactly how I feel. My husband and I can keep them home, so we will. Others are not so lucky.
I agreed to the virtual program for our district, although my husband just said that if it's just sitting in front of a screen all day, he'll want to pursue homeschooling. Not something I was ever planning on doing (we moved to this hcol bc of the schools, dammit!).
I just started rebuilding my career after having the 3 kids and was starting to look at full time jobs (also out of panic for health insurance if the ACA goes away). I've been freelancing for years part time, so I'll just have to work around the school schedule. I wouldn't take an in office position right now anyways.
Sent from my moto x4 using Tapatalk
We are also keeping our 5th grader at home. The school system is providing a device and hotspot for any families that need it. We live in an area that isn't currently served by any of the major internet service providers, so we will be taking them up on the offer for hardware. My wife is planning to take off 2 afternoons per week, and I will take one afternoon per week, and use that time to help our son navigate the remote learning curriculum. It's going to be difficult, but the peace of mind knowing he won't be exposed is enough to make it work. Plus, like others, we figure since we can keep him home, that will help those who have no choice but to send their kids to in-person classes. I think the data I saw locally was that around 60% were sending kids to in-person school and 40% were keeping their kids home. Hopefully that will be a good enough balance to help everyone get through this until a vaccine is available.
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Speaking from my own personal experience, SAHP are busy from sun up to sun down taking care of kids. I’d enjoy the break that a job would bring. But can’t do that because someone has to watch the kids. I think we have millions of people in the same pickle right now.
We just finished doing a couple months of pretty half assed distance ed + twoparents WFH with a single 6 year old child who is very smart and able to work better than the average kid with little instruction . . . and even that was a huge work disruption every single day. Basically, every day was 12 - 16 hours working/educating. That's not going to be something we even try to do in September . . . it's just not sustainable and is way too stressful.
Yup...I just don't know what it's going to look like. Although today (no school), not so bad because I'm locked out of the vpn...
Although, from a development/safety perspective, having a revolving door of new adults coming and going in schools as people get sick or quarantined, people get other jobs, class sizes change and move from 2 to 3 to 5 days, could lead to more and different negative outcomes. Uncertainty, fear, and regular change are not good for promoting resiliency or healthy development.
When my son was in 3rd grade, one of the teachers (not his) went out on mat leave. Now, you'd think the district could have assigned a permanent sub for this. Because you know, this is known in advance. They didn't. It was a hot mess. A revolving door all year of new subs. Those kids came out of 3rd grade not knowing their times tables...
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When my son was in 3rd grade, one of the teachers (not his) went out on mat leave. Now, you'd think the district could have assigned a permanent sub for this. Because you know, this is known in advance. They didn't. It was a hot mess. A revolving door all year of new subs. Those kids came out of 3rd grade not knowing their times tables...
I distinctly remember being in 5th grade and not knowing all of my times tables. 7s and 8s seemed designed by the devil to be impossible to remember.
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Speaking from my own personal experience, SAHP are busy from sun up to sun down taking care of kids. I’d enjoy the break that a job would bring. But can’t do that because someone has to watch the kids. I think we have millions of people in the same pickle right now.
We just finished doing a couple months of pretty half assed distance ed + twoparents WFH with a single 6 year old child who is very smart and able to work better than the average kid with little instruction . . . and even that was a huge work disruption every single day. Basically, every day was 12 - 16 hours working/educating. That's not going to be something we even try to do in September . . . it's just not sustainable and is way too stressful.
Yup...I just don't know what it's going to look like. Although today (no school), not so bad because I'm locked out of the vpn...
Although, from a development/safety perspective, having a revolving door of new adults coming and going in schools as people get sick or quarantined, people get other jobs, class sizes change and move from 2 to 3 to 5 days, could lead to more and different negative outcomes. Uncertainty, fear, and regular change are not good for promoting resiliency or healthy development.
When my son was in 3rd grade, one of the teachers (not his) went out on mat leave. Now, you'd think the district could have assigned a permanent sub for this. Because you know, this is known in advance. They didn't. It was a hot mess. A revolving door all year of new subs. Those kids came out of 3rd grade not knowing their times tables...
My son's Pre-K teacher went out on maternity leave in February of that school year. They had two different subs who split the week because they couldn't/didn't want to pay either one of them for being full time.
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Kiddo goes to a charter school but they are following the lead of the major public school district in the area. I expect the private schools to do the same. It's partially a liability thing on top of a health thing I would imagine.
With younger kiddos there is something about the peer pressure that gets kids to pay attention and follow the rules so much better at school than at home. I remember in the preschool years stopping mid day and seeming 20 kids asleep. I have so much trouble getting one down! I can't imagine that working for distance learning.
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I've just started the process to enroll my two oldest in an actual online school. I believe that online learning is not as good as in-person, but also that an online-only school probably can do a better job of teaching online than a regular public school. I've experienced what the local schools here are capable of providing online and...underwhelmed does not even begin. More time was spent trying to figure out what was supposed to be done, how it was supposed to be done, and trying to actually get to it (many "assignments" were just videos telling you how to login to a completely different site, and if that was down or not working quite right...). Many youtube videos said they couldn't load because they were restricted (probably something like not being allowed to be embedded, I dunno, but the best a particular teacher could offer was "well it's not required for that specific assignment"). It's just...ugh.
Youngest is too young for the online school, so we'll probably sign him up for an umbrella school just to get around the insane requirements for "real" homeschooling. My mom is a retired teacher, so we're lucky in that regard.
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Can you expand on this "umbrella school"?
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Can you expand on this "umbrella school"?
It's technically a private school, and you're a satellite location of that school. So, it puts an umbrella over you. You're not homeschooling your children; your children are enrolled in a school, and you're teaching your children on the school's behalf.
I think they're generally religious based, though there may be exceptions. Some require there to be religious instruction (how it'd be enforced, don't ask me), but others don't care. The one I've used in the past is Home Life Academy.
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Can you expand on this "umbrella school"?
A school run by the umbrella corporation. They promise this time there will be no zombies and I, for one, think we can take them at their word on this.
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The closer we get to school opening the more nervous I get. Our county is doing pretty good with the virus (holding steady at about 3 cases per 100,000 a day) and surrounding counties are similar or better. Our daughter's school is planning to open 5 days a week with lots of precautions outlined (masking, distancing, cleaning), but I don't know how well they'll hold especially for kindergartners. They're also going to have a "Virtual Academy" which they're going to send out more information on in the next week. I didn't do a good job of following the activities that her preschool sent us this spring, but I'm hoping this time will be more structured, which might make it easier. I worry about her being socially isolated from kids her own age and she was really excited to go, but I just am worried it's not worth the risk. I'm not too worried about her academically, even if she basically misses this year, since she's on the young side for kindergarten. I wish I could just trust that since the government says we can reopen schools that it's safe, but I'm just not sure. I just want to do what's best for her and our community and it feels so hard to know what that is.
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We just got our plans for the fall. The virtual academy is intended to mimic the 5 hours in school. It's so much screen time. My husband is already pushing removing the kids from the district and homeschooling. I'm on the side of trying it and seeing how much work it actually is before we bail. We have a 1st grader and 4th grader. If we lose the busy work part of the school day, I could see them completing the requirements in fewer hours and not being tied to a screen all day.
Our district held a town hall call yesterday that I missed, but a friend said a parent asked about disclosure if someone tested positive for Covid19. The district plans to only disclose if the other person has been 6 ft or less from your child. Which confirms we are making the correct decision not to send them back in. It's ludicrous. So kid A has Covid and was 6 ft from kid B and kid B was 6 ft from my kid, but I am not given a heads up? Plus the 6ft thing is highly dependent on the sick person wearing a mask, washing hands, airflow in the room, and limiting exposure (not being in a room all day).
Ugh. This whole thing sucks all around.
Someone recommended kids fire tablets - did anyone use those for virtual schooling? I'm curious if they'll work with Schoology, zoom, and Microsoft teams before I buy.
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About two weeks ago, our district formally outlined its plans:
Option 1 - In person
Under this option, students would attend school during normal hours assuming our county stays in (PA) the 'green' or 'yellow' phase. Under normal circumstances, classrooms will be organized so that 6' is between students. All students must wear a mask unless 6' away and stationary and/or eating. Other precautions such as bus seating, etc. will be followed. If our county goes to 'red' or 'lockdown', or if there's an outbreak in the school (not just one case) all in-person students will learn virtually - each student will be provided a relevant device (depending on grade level) and will be online with their teacher and classmates during normal school hours. Parents will only have to provide internet and will have to collect meals if they require them.
Option 2 - Virtual
Selecting this option, students will be 100% virtual the entire semester, taught by a 3rd party that's occasionally audited by the district. They will video chat with their teacher once and will never meet the other students, most of whom will be from the Northeast. There is no guarantee their teacher even lives in PA. They will be assigned roughly 2-5 hours of online and offline work a day that has to be 100% supervised by parents. Devices and meals will be provided by the district. If students select this option, they cannot elect to go into the classroom mid-year.
Option 3 - You're on your own (aka Homeschool, here's all the stuff you need to inform the state).
So it's a no-brainer which option we chose. My wife was growing to be more on the fence about the whole thing until we really talked through what Option 2 would mean for our Kindergartner - we would have to entirely supervise his every move since he really can't read or write yet and our middle son is currently about to be a threenager and is beating the shit out of our oldest right now. 100% chance the device the school provides would be broken within a week. I think the worst part about our virtual option would be that there's no classroom, teacher, or classmates at all for him. It's essentially a cyber charter school but with more work for the parent.
Yesterday, we had a follow up virtual doctor's appointment with the pulmonologist (the chief pulmonologist for the 4th best hospital in the state) for our middle son's asthma and narrowed airway, and at the end of the appointment he (out of curiosity) asked what we're planning on doing for school. He told us that he would be sending his son to kindergarten in-person as well, primarily because socialization (even in its neutered form currently) is so vitally important for kid's development at this age.
I don't name-drop to try to invalidate anyone's concerns, just that it was the biggest sigh of relief for my wife to hear that a medical professional who has been dealing with respiratory illness his whole career feels so strongly about in-person school.
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About two weeks ago, our district formally outlined its plans:
Option 1 - In person
Under this option, students would attend school during normal ho4urs assuming our county stays in (PA) the 'green' or 'yellow' phase. Under normal circumstances, classrooms will be organized so that 6' is between students. All students must wear a mask unless 6' away and stationary and/or eating. Other precautions such as bus seating, etc. will be followed. If our county goes to 'red' or 'lockdown', or if there's an outbreak in the school (not just one case) all in-person students will learn virtually - each student will be provided a relevant device (depending on grade level) and will be online with their teacher and classmates during normal school hours. Parents will only have to provide internet and will have to collect meals if they require them.
Option 2 - Virtual
Selecting this option, students will be 100% virtual the entire semester, taught by a 3rd party that's occasionally audited by the district. They will video chat with their teacher once and will never meet the other students, most of whom will be from the Northeast. There is no guarantee their teacher even lives in PA. They will be assigned roughly 2-5 hours of online and offline work a day that has to be 100% supervised by parents. Devices and meals will be provided by the district. If students select this option, they cannot elect to go into the classroom mid-year.
Option 3 - You're on your own (aka Homeschool, here's all the stuff you need to inform the state).
So it's a no-brainer which option we chose. My wife was growing to be more on the fence about the whole thing until we really talked through what Option 2 would mean for our Kindergartner - we would have to entirely supervise his every move since he really can't read or write yet and our middle son is currently about to be a threenager and is beating the shit out of our oldest right now. 100% chance the device the school provides would be broken within a week. I think the worst part about our virtual option would be that there's no classroom, teacher, or classmates at all for him. It's essentially a cyber charter school but with more work for the parent.
Yesterday, we had a follow up virtual doctor's appointment with the pulmonologist (the chief pulmonologist for the 4th best hospital in the state) for our middle son's asthma and narrowed airway, and at the end of the appointment he (out of curiosity) asked what we're planning on doing for school. He told us that he would be sending his son to kindergarten in-person as well, primarily because socialization (even in its neutered form currently) is so vitally important for kid's development at this age.
I don't name-drop to try to invalidate anyone's concerns, just that it was the biggest sigh of relief for my wife to hear that a medical professional who has been dealing with respiratory illness his whole career feels so strongly about in-person school.
How did the school district address feasibility of option 2 (virtual) where both parents work (out of the home every day)? FWIW, if given the option, we will send our daughter to in person school in sept, she has infrequent asthma, and i am a medical scientist who works with, and understands, infectious viruses.
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We are at 3 per 100k in my area, so doing ok. But looks like our district is trying to do 2 days in person and 3 days remote learning. I was hoping for more in school days for my kids since neither of us have a wfh option currently. I understand a cautious opening though.
Private schools are on a tear because they're all promising normal school hours.
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The closer we get to school opening the more nervous I get. Our county is doing pretty good with the virus (holding steady at about 3 cases per 100,000 a day) and surrounding counties are similar or better. Our daughter's school is planning to open 5 days a week with lots of precautions outlined (masking, distancing, cleaning), but I don't know how well they'll hold especially for kindergartners. They're also going to have a "Virtual Academy" which they're going to send out more information on in the next week. I didn't do a good job of following the activities that her preschool sent us this spring, but I'm hoping this time will be more structured, which might make it easier. I worry about her being socially isolated from kids her own age and she was really excited to go, but I just am worried it's not worth the risk. I'm not too worried about her academically, even if she basically misses this year, since she's on the young side for kindergarten. I wish I could just trust that since the government says we can reopen schools that it's safe, but I'm just not sure. I just want to do what's best for her and our community and it feels so hard to know what that is.
This is interesting. 3 per day is a 14-day case rate of 42 per 100,000.
My state (CA) requires the county to be <25 for 14 days straight before you can go back to in person school
(Or <100 with new case positive rate at <8%, which is an easier metric I think).
Our county case rate is >300 (14 days per 100,000)
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About two weeks ago, our district formally outlined its plans:
Option 1 - In person
Under this option, students would attend school during normal ho4urs assuming our county stays in (PA) the 'green' or 'yellow' phase. Under normal circumstances, classrooms will be organized so that 6' is between students. All students must wear a mask unless 6' away and stationary and/or eating. Other precautions such as bus seating, etc. will be followed. If our county goes to 'red' or 'lockdown', or if there's an outbreak in the school (not just one case) all in-person students will learn virtually - each student will be provided a relevant device (depending on grade level) and will be online with their teacher and classmates during normal school hours. Parents will only have to provide internet and will have to collect meals if they require them.
Option 2 - Virtual
Selecting this option, students will be 100% virtual the entire semester, taught by a 3rd party that's occasionally audited by the district. They will video chat with their teacher once and will never meet the other students, most of whom will be from the Northeast. There is no guarantee their teacher even lives in PA. They will be assigned roughly 2-5 hours of online and offline work a day that has to be 100% supervised by parents. Devices and meals will be provided by the district. If students select this option, they cannot elect to go into the classroom mid-year.
Option 3 - You're on your own (aka Homeschool, here's all the stuff you need to inform the state).
So it's a no-brainer which option we chose. My wife was growing to be more on the fence about the whole thing until we really talked through what Option 2 would mean for our Kindergartner - we would have to entirely supervise his every move since he really can't read or write yet and our middle son is currently about to be a threenager and is beating the shit out of our oldest right now. 100% chance the device the school provides would be broken within a week. I think the worst part about our virtual option would be that there's no classroom, teacher, or classmates at all for him. It's essentially a cyber charter school but with more work for the parent.
Yesterday, we had a follow up virtual doctor's appointment with the pulmonologist (the chief pulmonologist for the 4th best hospital in the state) for our middle son's asthma and narrowed airway, and at the end of the appointment he (out of curiosity) asked what we're planning on doing for school. He told us that he would be sending his son to kindergarten in-person as well, primarily because socialization (even in its neutered form currently) is so vitally important for kid's development at this age.
I don't name-drop to try to invalidate anyone's concerns, just that it was the biggest sigh of relief for my wife to hear that a medical professional who has been dealing with respiratory illness his whole career feels so strongly about in-person school.
How did the school district address feasibility of option 2 (virtual) where both parents work (out of the home every day)? FWIW, if given the option, we will send our daughter to in person school in sept, she has infrequent asthma, and i am a medical scientist who works with, and understands, infectious viruses.
Option 2 is not on a set schedule. Students (well, mostly parents at the K level), from what I understand, log in daily and are required to do both online and offline work. It can be accomplished at any point during the day since you are only in a virtual classroom. Blegh.
I will add to my post that the one thing which discourages me about Option 1 for our district is that if we were to go back to lockdown, students would be expected to be online for the full day. For older students, this isn't so much of an issue but for K-1 or 2, having those kids in front of the screen all day isn't going to work very well - especially to your (and my previously in this thread) question of how it's expected that parents who can't WFH can supervise the learning.
I also appreciate you highlighting your credentials - this is a difficult time for any parent, and there have been plenty of people here and elsewhere citing advice and anecdotes from medical and education professionals stating that those professionals won't be sending their kids to in-person school. I don't mean to start an argument over whose opinion holds more sway, instead I want to thank you for letting others know that there are those who are well aware of the ins and outs of this disease (and other diseases) who believe in-person school is still important. Not necessarily for all grades and families but at least for those that would benefit the most.
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As I mentioned earlier, we chose to pull and homeschool at the end of last school year. To be fair, this is a choice we’d been considering even before the virus, so it works with our family. We have been enrolled in a charter (which is available through our district but obviously homeschool options and structure vary greatly by state) and procured all of our supplies back in May/June, chose curriculum, and just kinda jumped in.
For everyone who is posting that you will want to wait and see what happens and that homeschooling is a possibility, please be aware that there are TONS of families who are finding out what their district plans, having a moment of panic, and pulling their kids! I’m not saying this because I think you should, too. But, homeschool supports are filling up and, more importantly, companies that provide homeschool materials are now back ordering and pushing out delivery dates.
I’ve had a few friends concerned that Homeschool is “starting” (in quotes cause homeschool starts when you want it to start) and they don’t have materials or can’t get what they want in time. People call me (and they should not cause I’m a total newbie) to ask questions and then the places I send them for more information are no longer available because they are full!
So, please, if you think this is something you may do, research what Is available in your state, what curriculums you think may work best, and what you would want it to look like now. I’m all about being prepared and home school (not some weird computer based zoom school provided by your regular school) takes some time and energy to get prepared for...even more than it normally would due to the overwhelming demand.
I just want to put that out there so no one puts their kids in school or virtual school, decides it’s not for the best, and wants to homeschool only to have difficulty finding materials or navigating the system!
Also, as an actual to goodness professional who has spent years studying and working and specializes in child development/dysfunction/trauma, there is *nothing* that regular school provides in terms of socialization that will cause most children who are not sent to regular school to fall behind developmentally. The exceptions being kids who have actual issues and are provided professional supports for social and emotional reasons by the school and kids who are pulled from school to be placed in isolated and neglectful circumstances. In fact, there is some evidence that kids who are homeschooled and/or placed in settings that are more varied (classes with varying ages) fare better, long term.
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Are many people on this thread really considering homeschooling? I'd have to quit my job or hire someone else to conduct the homeschooling. So I'm surprised that tons of families are going to suddenly decide to homeschool right before school starts.
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Are many people on this thread really considering homeschooling? I'd have to quit my job or hire someone else to conduct the homeschooling. So I'm surprised that tons of families are going to suddenly decide to homeschool right before school starts.
We would consider it, but we both work remotely now anyways (and I'm part time). Only if the virtual academy offered by the district became more trouble then it was worth or harmful for the kids would I really consider it. My oldest was already interested in homeschooling (absolutely hates the waiting parts of school and busywork) but I'm not interested in running a homeschool.
We have neighbors who homeschool, so I'm not worried about ordering anything at this point. My brother-in-law is a teacher and creating resources for his kids, and we could probably tap into those, too.
It's hard on every one making decisions with such little information and all these things can change so quickly (especially if all schools have to close because of an outbreak).
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Are many people on this thread really considering homeschooling? I'd have to quit my job or hire someone else to conduct the homeschooling. So I'm surprised that tons of families are going to suddenly decide to homeschool right before school starts.
In our district, homeschool would be far more flexible than the virtual school that would be provided and far less screen time. I know lots of friends who have homeschooling for a year as an idea if virtual school doesn’t work for their more kinetic, hands on learners. Since it doesn’t have to be done during school hours and only really requires a couple hours a day, it isn’t as much of a time suck as people imagine. In our district, the part time class option would require kids to be present for live zooms or turn in assignments at certain times...for homeschool it can be done whenever I want it to be.
I’m a part time worker, primarily stay at home parent. Which is why this was an easy decision for us. Would I ever want to deal with any of this and two full time jobs! Absolutely not. It’s an impossible ask no matter which choice you go with.
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Are many people on this thread really considering homeschooling? I'd have to quit my job or hire someone else to conduct the homeschooling. So I'm surprised that tons of families are going to suddenly decide to homeschool right before school starts.
In our district, homeschool would be far more flexible than the virtual school that would be provided and far less screen time. I know lots of friends who have homeschooling for a year as an idea if virtual school doesn’t work for their more kinetic, hands on learners. Since it doesn’t have to be done during school hours and only really requires a couple hours a day, it isn’t as much of a time suck as people imagine. In our district, the part time class option would require kids to be present for live zooms or turn in assignments at certain times...for homeschool it can be done whenever I want it to be.
I’m a part time worker, primarily stay at home parent. Which is why this was an easy decision for us. Would I ever want to deal with any of this and two full time jobs! Absolutely not. It’s an impossible ask no matter which choice you go with.
Ah, we aren't required to do all virtual school here, and even when we did it in the spring, you could choose some to no screen time. We did some, by necessity to get work done. The most common set up will be a hybrid week with some days in school and some remote days. We'll likely have to hire someone on the off days. Apparently we are in the minority on this forum with two working out of the home parents. I would love to homeschool at this point, but this is the situation.
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Are many people on this thread really considering homeschooling? I'd have to quit my job or hire someone else to conduct the homeschooling. So I'm surprised that tons of families are going to suddenly decide to homeschool right before school starts.
In our district, homeschool would be far more flexible than the virtual school that would be provided and far less screen time. I know lots of friends who have homeschooling for a year as an idea if virtual school doesn’t work for their more kinetic, hands on learners. Since it doesn’t have to be done during school hours and only really requires a couple hours a day, it isn’t as much of a time suck as people imagine. In our district, the part time class option would require kids to be present for live zooms or turn in assignments at certain times...for homeschool it can be done whenever I want it to be.
I’m a part time worker, primarily stay at home parent. Which is why this was an easy decision for us. Would I ever want to deal with any of this and two full time jobs! Absolutely not. It’s an impossible ask no matter which choice you go with.
Ah, we aren't required to do all virtual school here, and even when we did it in the spring, you could choose some to no screen time. We did some, by necessity to get work done. The most common set up will be a hybrid week with some days in school and some remote days. We'll likely have to hire someone on the off days. Apparently we are in the minority on this forum with two working out of the home parents. I would love to homeschool at this point, but this is the situation.
There's also a lot of selection bias on who clicks on and contributes to a thread. The majority of respondents are people with young children who would need a lot of support with actually accomplishing something digitally. My wife is a HS teacher and many of her students and families are fine with virtual learning and leaving the student home alone to do so while they both go work.
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There's also a lot of selection bias on who clicks on and contributes to a thread. The majority of respondents are people with young children who would need a lot of support with actually accomplishing something digitally. My wife is a HS teacher and many of her students and families are fine with virtual learning and leaving the student home alone to do so while they both go work.
This seems to be the group with the biggest concern in my school district as well (our family included) - the local FB group regarding fall schooling has about 200 parents of K-3rd graders and 50 parents of all the other grades combined. I understand why they've given us the options they have, but each option is sub-par enough that it is really hard to make a decision.
At the elementary level we have basically been offered full time (4 days), full classes, no masks (age 9 and younger), best effort social distancing or subbing out to a virtual charter which is an entirely computerized program with no actual adult interaction and a heavy "parent led" component. They have committed to shutting the schools down and going teacher-led virtual if our county reaches the highest warning level but you only get that if you are sending them to school in the first place.
They also haven't yet answered questions to how choosing the virtual program works with IEPs, 504s, and Gifted. We have to give the school our answer by August 1 and are still waiting on answers to things that impact our family.
The COVID numbers are creeping up in our county and at the HS level they've had to pause athletic practices twice this month because of positive COVID tests. I wish they would push our start back a bit or something. I know there are no perfect solutions but all of our choices feel particularly crappy.
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Agreed. If you have children that can't legally be left alone (nevermind whether it's appropriate or if they will will even engage in remote learning if left alone), none of those options will work unless there is a parent at home.
And younger students on a hybrid schedule will still have to go to daycare, babysitters, or be watched by probably more vulnerable family members such as grandparents on their non-school days.
It really doesn't seem anymore more beneficial to reducing the spread than having elementary students in the same class group on a daily basis, including to the teachers who are exposed two or more groups of students who moving about the community on off days.
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There's also a lot of selection bias on who clicks on and contributes to a thread. The majority of respondents are people with young children who would need a lot of support with actually accomplishing something digitally. My wife is a HS teacher and many of her students and families are fine with virtual learning and leaving the student home alone to do so while they both go work.
This seems to be the group with the biggest concern in my school district as well (our family included) - the local FB group regarding fall schooling has about 200 parents of K-3rd graders and 50 parents of all the other grades combined. I understand why they've given us the options they have, but each option is sub-par enough that it is really hard to make a decision.
At the elementary level we have basically been offered full time (4 days), full classes, no masks (age 9 and younger), best effort social distancing or subbing out to a virtual charter which is an entirely computerized program with no actual adult interaction and a heavy "parent led" component. They have committed to shutting the schools down and going teacher-led virtual if our county reaches the highest warning level but you only get that if you are sending them to school in the first place.
They also haven't yet answered questions to how choosing the virtual program works with IEPs, 504s, and Gifted. We have to give the school our answer by August 1 and are still waiting on answers to things that impact our family.
The COVID numbers are creeping up in our county and at the HS level they've had to pause athletic practices twice this month because of positive COVID tests. I wish they would push our start back a bit or something. I know there are no perfect solutions but all of our choices feel particularly crappy.
Your whole post sounds exactly how our experience has been. I think the last part is something I've failed to express more here, but I really wish school weren't starting so soon. I get that there's whole industries that revolve around school start dates and logistically, pushing school back to October would be tricky, but I think it would give parents and districts 4 or 5 more precious weeks of being able to figure out what to do.
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pushing school back to October would be tricky, but I think it would give parents and districts 4 or 5 more precious weeks of being able to figure out what to do.
At this point, in my state (Florida) I feel like pushing the start date back will accomplish absolutely nothing. The population has shown through their actions over the summer, generally, Floridians feel that personal freedom to not wear masks is more important than everyone sacrificing a little bit for a few weeks to get infection numbers down. I'm nostalgic for what our numbers looked like in May, in April, in freaking March when schools were closed in the first place. Four or five weeks is not going to improve things here, unfortunately. It won't magically provide technology and internet access for students that don't have it (or at least not any better than the district is already trying to accommodate with the resources they are already able to provide to students). It won't help teachers in my area that are being asked to teach students in brick and mortar classrooms and digitally at the same time. I thought there were going to be two groups of teachers, some teaching in classrooms and others teaching online classes, but a meeting earlier this week made it clear that they will be expected to manage both at the same time.
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Are many people on this thread really considering homeschooling? I'd have to quit my job or hire someone else to conduct the homeschooling. So I'm surprised that tons of families are going to suddenly decide to homeschool right before school starts.
I'm not, but I'm not sure what virtual learning is going to look like.
They haven't announced, but it sounds like children will be expected to get active teaching for 230 minutes a day. That's nearly 4 hours on a screen.
I have an 8 yo in 3rd grade. He CANNOT be on a screen, by himself, for 4 hours. Most children 3rd and under cannot do this. That means one of us needs to sit with him, and then add it homework. Honestly, if this is the case, homeschooling would take LESS of our time, and then he can just play/ watch TV/ do whatever the rest of the time.
(We both work FT, currently from home.)
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Agreed. If you have children that can't legally be left alone (nevermind whether it's appropriate or if they will will even engage in remote learning if left alone), none of those options will work unless there is a parent at home.
And younger students on a hybrid schedule will still have to go to daycare, babysitters, or be watched by probably more vulnerable family members such as grandparents on their non-school days.
It really doesn't seem anymore more beneficial to reducing the spread than having elementary students in the same class group on a daily basis, including to the teachers who are exposed two or more groups of students who moving about the community on off days.
It really depends on how the school district handles it.
On a hybrid schedule vs full time, for example: my 3rd grader would be in a classroom of 12 students instead of 24 (reducing the exposure to others, PLUS all their family members. You are only as safe as your weakest family member.)
That means the classroom would be set up to allow for 6' of space, which increases safety.
Approximately 50-70% of the students would NOT need outside care (depends on the class really).
That means approximately 5 of the 12 students would be in other care/ day care.
Our district is working on ways to make this happen in a safe manner (working with partners). This may involve keeping students with their same cohort on the "off" days. Also, likely to be set up to involve distancing and masking.
The details matter. The details aren't out yet, of course.
In any event, I expect in our district, we will go from fully virtual to hybrid to in person. In that order. So there will be practice in the fully virtual before going to hybrid.
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We have decided to start homeschooling our 4th and 6th graders. My DW and I also have a 4 year old. DW is full-time at-home parent, I can be home about 1/2 time. We had thought about homeschooling prepandemic, but we're in a very good public school system - so this isn't a completely new thought, but it is new in practice. My local public school started today, we didn't start "formal" homeschooling today.
We signed on under an umbrella school that qualifies in our state, but we only have to report grades and attendance to them (I guess whatever grades we assign) and they provide the official report to the state. We have some friends who are Radical Unschoolers - we weren't comfortable with that, so we purchased the corresponding curriculums/resources from Oak Meadow. It's a long-time homeschooling company that is secular. Both children enjoy learning and especially reading and projects. So we'll see how it goes.
Local school was offering either in-person (which turned out to be 2 days a week at school, 3 days at home) or a virtual option (but with in-person assessments several times per year)and state assessments, etc). We wanted the flexibility to travel (when safe) and wanted to give the "real" homeschool option a try for this year- so we decided against the virtual option. Had open, honest conversations with the kiddos and they were on-board. It helps that they are each others best friends.
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pushing school back to October would be tricky, but I think it would give parents and districts 4 or 5 more precious weeks of being able to figure out what to do.
At this point, in my state (Florida) I feel like pushing the start date back will accomplish absolutely nothing. The population has shown through their actions over the summer, generally, Floridians feel that personal freedom to not wear masks is more important than everyone sacrificing a little bit for a few weeks to get infection numbers down. I'm nostalgic for what our numbers looked like in May, in April, in freaking March when schools were closed in the first place. Four or five weeks is not going to improve things here, unfortunately. It won't magically provide technology and internet access for students that don't have it (or at least not any better than the district is already trying to accommodate with the resources they are already able to provide to students). It won't help teachers in my area that are being asked to teach students in brick and mortar classrooms and digitally at the same time. I thought there were going to be two groups of teachers, some teaching in classrooms and others teaching online classes, but a meeting earlier this week made it clear that they will be expected to manage both at the same time.
That's really frustrating. Our district posted that many, many, many families asked why they (the district) weren't going to have the teachers teach in the classrooms as well as the virtual students and their response was a very eloquent "You're fucking nuts if you expect that teachers should be asked to do that. No."
That's the other merit to the third party, I suppose. The teachers know that they have to prepare a single curriculum (with contingencies for virtual learning) vs. preparing a whole myriad of plans.
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Our governor just announced a county must be at a 15% positivity testing rate and 10% absenteeism, or a 20% positivity rate, before they can consider more than 50% of classes online.
So that also assumes tests are even available. My son was again exposed at daycare (and had a 104 degree fever last night), and the state testing site has 0 appointments available. Our pediatrician thinks the risk to my 1 and 3 year old at daycare is small, but this is the second time he's had a teacher with a positive test. (Last time the daycare closed for two weeks- of course, we still paid, this time due to state ruling, they won't. He has to be out for 72 hours due to the fever though.) Last time his fever was coincidental to the teacher's positive test, and I assume this one is as well, but it will be difficult to even find out since we might not be able to get a test. (My husband works outside the home- so knowing if someone in the house is positive is important, as he'd then stay home.)
Our state does not have a mask mandate. We are still unsure if the governor will allow schools to have them.
This is going to be a disaster. Even if the kids don't get sick in large numbers, will the staff and teachers be safe?
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Manatee County Florida's Reopening Video (https://www.facebook.com/WeManatee/videos/342088740151256/?story_fbid=3560947623926580&id=170985789589464&d=null&vh=e)
Manatee County had a positivity rate of 7.9% on 7/29 and has had an average positivity rate of 8.8% over the last fourteen days. As of 7/29 in that county there are 190 cases in kids age 0-4, 522 in ages 5-14, and 1,308 in ages 15-24. (citation: pages 82 and 83 (http://ww11.doh.state.fl.us/comm/_partners/covid19_report_archive/county_reports_latest.pdf))
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As of today, we're officially going blended. Two days in school, three days virtually. Big ass trump tally this afternoon with no mask to be seen probably means we'll be fully virtual before it's all said and done.
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For all you folks sending your kids back to school:
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My son will be doing 5 day preschool starting after Labor Day. So far, the only change I'm contemplating is not paying the whole year's tuition upfront like I did the past two years. If schools open for a month and then shut down again, I'd rather not be in a position where I have to hope for a refund.
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Agreed. If you have children that can't legally be left alone (nevermind whether it's appropriate or if they will will even engage in remote learning if left alone), none of those options will work unless there is a parent at home.
And younger students on a hybrid schedule will still have to go to daycare, babysitters, or be watched by probably more vulnerable family members such as grandparents on their non-school days.
It really doesn't seem anymore more beneficial to reducing the spread than having elementary students in the same class group on a daily basis, including to the teachers who are exposed two or more groups of students who moving about the community on off days.
All of this needs to be emphasized to administrators who seem to be overlooking these points when they make decisions. Kids have to go somewhere so parents can work and people can catch it anywhere. They're just ignoring what won't be blatantly in their faces to make decisions that they can claim make people safer. It's not safer for kids or teachers, it's going to bankrupt families and kids aren't going to learn as much. Two thumbs up!!
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pushing school back to October would be tricky, but I think it would give parents and districts 4 or 5 more precious weeks of being able to figure out what to do.
At this point, in my state (Florida) I feel like pushing the start date back will accomplish absolutely nothing. The population has shown through their actions over the summer, generally, Floridians feel that personal freedom to not wear masks is more important than everyone sacrificing a little bit for a few weeks to get infection numbers down. I'm nostalgic for what our numbers looked like in May, in April, in freaking March when schools were closed in the first place. Four or five weeks is not going to improve things here, unfortunately. It won't magically provide technology and internet access for students that don't have it (or at least not any better than the district is already trying to accommodate with the resources they are already able to provide to students). It won't help teachers in my area that are being asked to teach students in brick and mortar classrooms and digitally at the same time. I thought there were going to be two groups of teachers, some teaching in classrooms and others teaching online classes, but a meeting earlier this week made it clear that they will be expected to manage both at the same time.
Barring a vaccine - which will not be approved and widely distributed in the next month - waiting a few weeks or even months probably won't change anything. Most of us have spent the last few months in a holding pattern waiting for things to get better or change. At this point we just have to move forward as best we can. Most people can't just sit and work from home for the next 3, 6, 12 months waiting for a vaccine. Even if the government started dumping even more helicopter money there's still going to be people interacting daily to keep basic utilities online, food production and distribution, medical services, etc. Everyone of those interactions is a potential way to spread the virus.
Our private school is limited to 25% of the building capacity by the state. They've just finished an expansion with a new building over the last several months so there should be enough room to spread the 80-100 K-8 students out to meet that requirement. We homeschooled our older kids for several years but it's just not feasible long-term with another baby and young child at home for my wife to homeschool 4 kids in 1st through 6th grade. The other thing is that with such a small enrollment, it would not take that many families choosing to drop out before the school would be forced to shut down. So in a couple of weeks our four kids will be back in school five days a week.
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Are many people on this thread really considering homeschooling? I'd have to quit my job or hire someone else to conduct the homeschooling. So I'm surprised that tons of families are going to suddenly decide to homeschool right before school starts.
I am planning to homeschool my kindergartener until in-person school resumes, plus keep my 3-year-old home. I work full time (currently from home), but my job is allowing me to spend 10 work hours per week caring for children, and also to flex my hours, so long as I get them done between 6a-6p.
So my plan is roughly:
6-9: Work. Kids watch TV and play independently
9-12: "School"
12-1: Lunch, put kids down for nap/quiet time
1-4: Work. Kids do quiet time, and then have free time until DH gets home at ~3:00, at which point he takes over.
My kindergartener is ahead academically (can read, add, subtract), and super self-motivated (like she does workbooks for fun) so I think it will go fine, and that we can get by with mostly play-based learning. I'm actually a little more worried about teaching the 3-year-old - she's much more wild and less motivated to do any structured learning.
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Are many people on this thread really considering homeschooling? I'd have to quit my job or hire someone else to conduct the homeschooling. So I'm surprised that tons of families are going to suddenly decide to homeschool right before school starts.
I am planning to homeschool my kindergartener until in-person school resumes, plus keep my 3-year-old home. I work full time (currently from home), but my job is allowing me to spend 10 work hours per week caring for children, and also to flex my hours, so long as I get them done between 6a-6p.
So my plan is roughly:
6-9: Work. Kids watch TV and play independently
9-12: "School"
12-1: Lunch, put kids down for nap/quiet time
1-4: Work. Kids do quiet time, and then have free time until DH gets home at ~3:00, at which point he takes over.
My kindergartener is ahead academically (can read, add, subtract), and super self-motivated (like she does workbooks for fun) so I think it will go fine, and that we can get by with mostly play-based learning. I'm actually a little more worried about teaching the 3-year-old - she's much more wild and less motivated to do any structured learning.
Are you worried about teaching the 3-year old in a couple of years or right now? Right now she should be fine just playing. There's 12+ years of school ahead, no need to start now. You can always incorporate things around the house like teaching shapes and colors by having her "help" sort containers or blocks or whatever you have around.
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Structured learning for a 3 year old is arguably *harmful*. So no need to fret about that.
-W
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Are many people on this thread really considering homeschooling? I'd have to quit my job or hire someone else to conduct the homeschooling. So I'm surprised that tons of families are going to suddenly decide to homeschool right before school starts.
I am planning to homeschool my kindergartener until in-person school resumes, plus keep my 3-year-old home. I work full time (currently from home), but my job is allowing me to spend 10 work hours per week caring for children, and also to flex my hours, so long as I get them done between 6a-6p.
So my plan is roughly:
6-9: Work. Kids watch TV and play independently
9-12: "School"
12-1: Lunch, put kids down for nap/quiet time
1-4: Work. Kids do quiet time, and then have free time until DH gets home at ~3:00, at which point he takes over.
My kindergartener is ahead academically (can read, add, subtract), and super self-motivated (like she does workbooks for fun) so I think it will go fine, and that we can get by with mostly play-based learning. I'm actually a little more worried about teaching the 3-year-old - she's much more wild and less motivated to do any structured learning.
Are you worried about teaching the 3-year old in a couple of years or right now? Right now she should be fine just playing. There's 12+ years of school ahead, no need to start now. You can always incorporate things around the house like teaching shapes and colors by having her "help" sort containers or blocks or whatever you have around.
My older daughter learned a lot of things at daycare as a 3-year-old - identifying letters, writing her name, naming the days of the week, identifying shapes, etc. - so I guess I've been feeling like I should be teaching my 3-year-old those things. But you're right that she will be fine just playing.
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Ugh - we had to decide and we decided to sign up for the virtual. There was enough of an outcry about the rapidly changing covid situation and lack of info about the virtual option that the school has now committed to a three day trial period where you can switch from virtual to in person. We still hadn't heard back about IEP or Gifted but figure we have three days to change our minds once school starts or once we have more info on what can be accommodated.
It feels like kicking the can down the road, but I have several family members who work at Indiana schools (the first to go back) and they are all talking about what a disaster the first few days have been. I didn't feel like I could commit to face to face instruction when there is no option to go remote once you've committed.
I am still sort of in shock that everything seems to be proceeding as usual? Schools are opening, our neighbors threw a huge party over the weekend, restaurants are full, no one is wearing masks even though there is a mask mandate (though to be fair we aren't venturing out into stores or anything - so maybe people just don't wear them in our little downtown neighborhood). Our family is still holing up in our house and I'm feeling a bit like I'm imagining a pandemic?
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Our district just voted tonight to start everyone after Labor Day virtually until November (Southeastern PA). At least one other in the area has also shifted to virtual through the fall and the largest district in the area was voting tonight on a fall plan (probably hybrid ). I feel terrible for everyone having to scramble to figure out how to handle working and virtual schooling, but our county's rates of Covid are going up again and even the schools that do open will probably be closing pretty quickly in the fall.
Everything thats happening is further exacerbating the income equality in our town. There are those who can afford tutors and home instruction (quickly forming pods with other families) and those that are just struggling to get by. I had hoped by choosing virtual schooling (previous plan was an option between in person or virtual), we'd be making space for in person for the kids and families who needed it most.
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I am still sort of in shock that everything seems to be proceeding as usual? Schools are opening, our neighbors threw a huge party over the weekend, restaurants are full, no one is wearing masks even though there is a mask mandate (though to be fair we aren't venturing out into stores or anything - so maybe people just don't wear them in our little downtown neighborhood). Our family is still holing up in our house and I'm feeling a bit like I'm imagining a pandemic?
I completely relate to this statement. Sometimes, it feels like we're the only family in our area who still thinks we should be concerned. Our neighbors just returned from a week at a big mega-campground in Myrtle Beach (with time spent in restaurants, water parks, and all that stuff) and my mind is just completely blown.
Our school is still offering a hybrid schedule of 2 days in-person and 3 days virtual. We signed our 3rd-grader up for fully remote instruction, but I get the impression that we are in the distinct minority in doing so.
We're going to be moving to another state in the next few months. The district we'll be moving to will also offer a remote option.... but I suspect our move will involve spending at least a month or two in a short-term rental, which may or may not be in the same county as the house we'll ultimately end up buying. (Husband's new job is basically right on the county line and both counties have virtual options.) Surely this is the best possible year to have a weird school situation, since everyone else will also be dealing with crazy-weirdness, but I'm trying to envision how it will all work out. Treat our short-term rental as a vacation (if possible) and keep daughter enrolled in her current school until we actually buy a house in the new location? (I mean, if it's remote, does it really matter? Will they find out if we close on the sale of our house a few days before buying a new one and send the school police after us?) Commit to one county or the other for both rental and purchase, so we can cleanly move from the current district's remote learning to a new district's remote learning? Skip the whole virtual thing completely and just homeschool her until next year? In the long run, I doubt it matters... but I'm not sure what's the most feasible. We haven't moved since she started school, so this whole short-term-rental-without-bouncing-schools-too-much is kind of mind blowing!!
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Ok, so we formally un-enrolled DS from pre-K. I think there are others who need to go to work that are desperate for spots so I think everything will work out there. I am sad for my son that he doesn't get to go, but we'll just make the best of it as a family.
The first grader is more fraught. Our local situation ended up making national news: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/05/us/schools-reopening-private-public.html (https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/05/us/schools-reopening-private-public.html)
There's some politics here, because many think the County wanted to shut down private schools in order to keep up public enrollment and get more state funding. So a lot of people think the County's decision was about politics and not health (since the schools were following CDC guidelines). But both the governor and Trump have kids in private schools here (not mine), so it's all political. (Aisde: our particular school does not have tons of resources (we spend less per student than the public schools) but it is a small school so that helps with social distancing. Of course there are other schools here here with big $$ tuition and donors so it may be accurate for the political analysis the NYT is doing even though not for every individual school).
But I and especially DW were not actually thrilled to find the schools were opening and I think DW is leaning towards pulling our daughter from the school. I think the County's attempt to delay opening was partly political but also it would give us more time to figure out what is happening elsewhere. We'resort of floored at how many people are just cheering on the private schools restarting. I think it's the fact that they were told they couldn't then they won a political battle that's clouding people's judgement. But I don't know. Sometimes, it's hard to figure out whose the crazy one.
Our big fear is not about initially catching the virus but there could be long term health issues (we have a baby, what if he has a mild case but later it turns out it's going to damage his heart or lung capacity and cause significant long term problems). It seems unlikely, but we just don't know, and we're very hesitant to just gamble when we technically don't need to since my wife can homeschool.
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The first grader is more fraught. Our local situation ended up making national news: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/05/us/schools-reopening-private-public.html (https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/05/us/schools-reopening-private-public.html)
There's some politics here, because many think the County wanted to shut down private schools in order to keep up public enrollment and get more state funding. So a lot of people think the County's decision was about politics and not health (since the schools were following CDC guidelines). But both the governor and Trump have kids in private schools here (not mine), so it's all political. (Aisde: our particular school does not have tons of resources (we spend less per student than the public schools) but it is a small school so that helps with social distancing. Of course there are other schools here here with big $$ tuition and donors so it may be accurate for the political analysis the NYT is doing even though not for every individual school).
I've always been confused by this idea. Yes the funding of schools is generally tied to enrollment, but if 10% of kids attending public schools suddenly started homeschooling or going to private schools would funding for public schools actually drop 10%? Or would the say $10,000 of funding per student attending public schools just change to $11,000? I seriously doubt any local or state government is going to drop property/sales/income taxes if school enrollment decreases. If kids move from one district to another or within a district I could see the money following them, but if they leave the system that money is still budgeted by the state/county/city for education. They're sure as hell not giving it back to the taxpayers.
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The first grader is more fraught. Our local situation ended up making national news: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/05/us/schools-reopening-private-public.html (https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/05/us/schools-reopening-private-public.html)
There's some politics here, because many think the County wanted to shut down private schools in order to keep up public enrollment and get more state funding. So a lot of people think the County's decision was about politics and not health (since the schools were following CDC guidelines). But both the governor and Trump have kids in private schools here (not mine), so it's all political. (Aisde: our particular school does not have tons of resources (we spend less per student than the public schools) but it is a small school so that helps with social distancing. Of course there are other schools here here with big $$ tuition and donors so it may be accurate for the political analysis the NYT is doing even though not for every individual school).
I've always been confused by this idea. Yes there funding of schools is generally tied to enrollment, but if 10% of kids attending public schools suddenly started homeschooling or going to private schools would funding for public schools actually drop 10%? Or would the say $10,000 of funding per student attending public schools just change to $11,000? I seriously doubt any local or state government is going to drop property/sales/income taxes if school enrollment decreases. If kids move from one district to another or within a district I could see the money following them, but if they leave the system that money is still budgeted by the state/county/city for education. They're sure as hell not giving it back to the taxpayers.
I believe that some of our money goes to the state, and then state allocates that to various counties based on things like number of students enrolled in public school as of a certain date (I think it is right around October 1). So if a bunch of people decide to use private or homeschool, that money will go to another county instead of mine. And a different teacher's union. You are right that it's not going back to taxpayers either way.
Public employee unions are very powerful where I live, so I am not at all surprised at the suggestion that a local politician would do something to appease the union. But I am sure the governor had his own political and personal reasons to oppose the county. They are all politicians, so they politik.
This is a really tricky situation because in prior years our school has been struggling with enrollment (its the little run down cheap school next to the church, not these heavy hitter ones profiled in the article) and now there are waiting lists out the door, but no virtual option. So we'll have to see if we can unenroll but still get a spot next year. Or pay tuition but not send our kid?? Plus explaining to our daughter why the school is starting but she isn't going. Ugh.
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I've always been confused by this idea. Yes there funding of schools is generally tied to enrollment, but if 10% of kids attending public schools suddenly started homeschooling or going to private schools would funding for public schools actually drop 10%? Or would the say $10,000 of funding per student attending public schools just change to $11,000? I seriously doubt any local or state government is going to drop property/sales/income taxes if school enrollment decreases. If kids move from one district to another or within a district I could see the money following them, but if they leave the system that money is still budgeted by the state/county/city for education. They're sure as hell not giving it back to the taxpayers.
In UT, the funding is literally per pupil. If you have 100 pupils and get $10k each, that's a million bucks that year. If you only have 50, you get $500k. The state collects all the property taxes and then redistributes it, so local property tax increases don't directly fund local schools.
Funding for facilities and infrastructure is separate, but teacher salaries have to be paid out of the per-pupil funding. So a sudden drop in students, in the current system, would be a big problem.
-W
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The first grader is more fraught. Our local situation ended up making national news: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/05/us/schools-reopening-private-public.html (https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/05/us/schools-reopening-private-public.html)
There's some politics here, because many think the County wanted to shut down private schools in order to keep up public enrollment and get more state funding. So a lot of people think the County's decision was about politics and not health (since the schools were following CDC guidelines). But both the governor and Trump have kids in private schools here (not mine), so it's all political. (Aisde: our particular school does not have tons of resources (we spend less per student than the public schools) but it is a small school so that helps with social distancing. Of course there are other schools here here with big $$ tuition and donors so it may be accurate for the political analysis the NYT is doing even though not for every individual school).
I've always been confused by this idea. Yes the funding of schools is generally tied to enrollment, but if 10% of kids attending public schools suddenly started homeschooling or going to private schools would funding for public schools actually drop 10%? Or would the say $10,000 of funding per student attending public schools just change to $11,000? I seriously doubt any local or state government is going to drop property/sales/income taxes if school enrollment decreases. If kids move from one district to another or within a district I could see the money following them, but if they leave the system that money is still budgeted by the state/county/city for education. They're sure as hell not giving it back to the taxpayers.
It's location dependent. In California, it depends.
CA has set a "floor" for funding per pupil (elementary, JH, HS are different #s).
A "basic aid" district is one where the property taxes are taken, a percentage is given to the school district, and that total number exceeds the "floor" per pupil. So, fewer students does not change the funding.
If you aren't basic aid, then CA has to beef up your funding. That means you get the minimum.
Our district is NOT a basic aid district. It's complicated, because our district has elementary, JH and High school. BUT our JH and HS pull in students from 3 other elementary districts. The OTHER elementary districts are basic aid, but our larger district as a whole is not.
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Ok, so we formally un-enrolled DS from pre-K. I think there are others who need to go to work that are desperate for spots so I think everything will work out there. I am sad for my son that he doesn't get to go, but we'll just make the best of it as a family.
The first grader is more fraught. Our local situation ended up making national news: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/05/us/schools-reopening-private-public.html (https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/05/us/schools-reopening-private-public.html)
There's some politics here, because many think the County wanted to shut down private schools in order to keep up public enrollment and get more state funding. So a lot of people think the County's decision was about politics and not health (since the schools were following CDC guidelines). But both the governor and Trump have kids in private schools here (not mine), so it's all political.
So the County double-downed yesterday, reissuing their order with a citation to a different state statute. https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/coronavirus-dc-virginia-maryland/2020/08/05/73ad9d7c-d4c7-11ea-9c3b-dfc394c03988_story.html (https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/coronavirus-dc-virginia-maryland/2020/08/05/73ad9d7c-d4c7-11ea-9c3b-dfc394c03988_story.html)
I assume this is their way of saying "so, sue us."
We are personally in favor of this because it's causing the schools to be more cautious. Many that said they were opening are voluntarily switching to October. We e-mailed our principal asking about distance options but haven't heard back yet.
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So the governor AGAIN overturned the county, and this time the county backed down. So this means private schools can go in person again.
Ugh. Still waiting to hear from school. Don't know what to do.
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School is now offering on school or online.
So we will pay for the online for DD in order to remain part of the school and in the event things get better rather than worse we can switch to in person.
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School is now offering on school or online.
So we will pay for the online for DD in order to remain part of the school and in the event things get better rather than worse we can switch to in person.
This is basically what we're doing. I can't tell you how much I hope cases stay low after school opens.
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School is now offering on school or online.
So we will pay for the online for DD in order to remain part of the school and in the event things get better rather than worse we can switch to in person.
This is basically what we're doing. I can't tell you how much I hope cases stay low after school opens.
I'm not optimistic. In fact, a lot of the parents I know who are going in person aren't either. They have older kids and think some real teacher time is just so critical. So they think "well he'll get a few weeks with the teacher then it's going to be lockdowns again."
I was just reading an article about how it's probably unlikely the coronavirus vaccine is going to be 100% effective, at first it might be as low as 5-60% effective (https://www.cnbc.com/2020/08/07/coronavirus-vaccine-dr-fauci-says-chances-of-it-being-highly-effective-is-not-great.html (https://www.cnbc.com/2020/08/07/coronavirus-vaccine-dr-fauci-says-chances-of-it-being-highly-effective-is-not-great.html)), and of course there are going to be a lot of people who don't want to get the vaccine (not me), which I think means this is going to be more a long term crisis that we just need to adapt to. But I'm happy we'll get a month of safety to see how things go first. For better or worse, we're learning every day with this virus.
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School is now offering on school or online.
So we will pay for the online for DD in order to remain part of the school and in the event things get better rather than worse we can switch to in person.
This is basically what we're doing. I can't tell you how much I hope cases stay low after school opens.
I'm not optimistic. In fact, a lot of the parents I know who are going in person aren't either. They have older kids and think some real teacher time is just so critical. So they think "well he'll get a few weeks with the teacher then it's going to be lockdowns again."
I was just reading an article about how it's probably unlikely the coronavirus vaccine is going to be 100% effective, at first it might be as low as 5-60% effective (https://www.cnbc.com/2020/08/07/coronavirus-vaccine-dr-fauci-says-chances-of-it-being-highly-effective-is-not-great.html (https://www.cnbc.com/2020/08/07/coronavirus-vaccine-dr-fauci-says-chances-of-it-being-highly-effective-is-not-great.html)), and of course there are going to be a lot of people who don't want to get the vaccine (not me), which I think means this is going to be more a long term crisis that we just need to adapt to. But I'm happy we'll get a month of safety to see how things go first. For better or worse, we're learning every day with this virus.
That's interesting. Not just the effectiveness of the vaccinne being lowerr, but coupled with that if it is different and changes like the flu, it seems like we could have a virus that is here to stay. Whether that means everyone just lives with it (my first thought) or we maintian some sort of continual distancing/being masked/testing and quarantining situation, I think it's probably a good idea to get mentally prepared for it to be around indefinitely.
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Hopefully we will get better at treating it and the vaccine may reduce rate of spread. Also the virus may attenuate (weaken) over time. But there may be semi-permanent changes such as increased social distancing that have cultural implications.