Schools reopening or not

[travelpager]

We have four kids in school and our rule in the precovid world was that there was no screentime during the week and I also had YouTube locked down on our router. Weekends they could play. When our school went online in March that routine had to go out the window.

I can relate to this. Or I could, until first one school and then the other segued into Google Classroom as a way to receive and upload assignments. Since middle school, neither kid can complete an assignment without internet access ... literally. It's maddening. Assignments involve virtual textbooks, video assignments, etc., and that was well before Covid19.

Today I have 2 kids in 2 different high schools. Each school will start the academic school year on the same day, Aug 19 (versus public school start date of Sept 8), but has otherwise taken different approaches. The smaller, parochial school (grades 9-12) will open for in-room instruction; a family nevertheless may opt for remote learning (min. commitment of one grading quarter). Today we rec'd pages of policy and protocol with flow charts (attached one - sorry it's hard to read) AND the form on which families must now commit to one option or the other by Aug 10. Happened to talk to Kid1's counselor this morning and, based on anecdotal knowledge, she predicts that about one-third will opt for remote learning. Kid2 attends a larger (K-12) private school that surveyed families last spring, drafted Plans A - E, then surveyed families again. The first week in July, that school announced that the start date would not change but all classes would be remote instruction (only) at least through Labor Day.

Both schools handled online instruction well enough last spring. Kid2's school never does ANYTHING halfway and clearly invested time this summer retooling instruction/curriculum. Kid2, a social kid who plays sports despite a history of asthma, does not like the current situation at all. I get that. Life is full of disappointments, many of which are generally preferable to death/lifelong impairment. Kid1, a "different learner" who does well in school but prefers machines to most humans, is on cloud 9 because I can't "force him to do people stuff" and "team/group assignments should never have left Hell in the first place" (he's being funny - we're not religious like that). As things stand right now (school plans + local infection/hospitalization rates + mayor/county health district declaring that existing resources cannot handle the spike that would follow classroom instruction throughout the nation's 6th largest school district + my dad just tested positive for one antibody and awaits further test results), both my kids will be home. If nothing else, I figure that, political will be d*mned, by Labor Day the numbers will have spiked high enough to disappoint the more determined optimists (current batting average is NOT GREAT) and resumption/continuation of in-person classes will be even less tenable.

Finally, let me say that I would be FIRST (okay, maybe nineteenth) in line to protest the redistribution of funds from public schools to private schools. So much variation in schools and resources. Beyond the "official" public school supply lists for the district grade levels, most students are asked to bring two rolls of toilet paper (!!) and I can't find a teacher who has never spent out-of-pocket or maintained a "wish list" of items that were provided when I was in (public) school. Meanwhile, one of the schools described in the previous paragraph boasts an endowment larger than some small colleges and the less said about tuition, the better. I know for a fact that some families with kids in that school's elementary grades have organized their kids into groups who will share/meet with a tutor/proctor/helper who may or may not be a teacher attempting to supplement a household income recently decimated by a spouse's loss of employment or business. I am friends with the decisionmakers in some of those families and have never seen any of their account balances, dividend checks or investment returns (property tax expenses are public records in Texas, but what of the condo/2d home in Colorado/Bahamas?) but none of us should enjoy another night's sleep if we knowingly encourage the diversion of funds from public school districts to subsidize these endeavors or private school initiatives. My words don't mean much, but I'd better NOT hear that PrivateSchoolPaul accepted a DIME robbed from PublicSchoolPeter.

 

[TravelTime]

Pandemic Pods, an interesting idea for learning.

@Cornell The article talks about the learning divide. I guess this is becoming a debate. Maybe families can invite someone from a less advantaged background to participate in their learning pod. Just a thought.

But many parents fear learning pods will only further segregate low-income children and families from the best education possible.

“What most families do is, they start from a place of self-interest. They say, ‘all right, I’ve got to figure out what’s best for my family, got to figure out what’s best for my child.’ And the families who have greater sets of resources usually use those resources to hoard educational opportunities,” Dr. L’Heureux Lewis-McCoy, a sociologist who studies educational inequality at New York University, told The Times. “The truth of the matter is, we’re staring down the barrel at something that is going to divide and widen the gaps between kids.”

Read more here: https://www.sacbee.com/news/coronavirus/article244687542.html?#storylink=cpy

 

[bbodb1]

Turning back now to address issues we will all have to deal with when school opens soon, in my district, administration is proving itself to be very good at sound bytes and not so good at addressing actual issues related to exceeding classroom capacity (surpassing social distancing requirements). Despite the continued pleas from the CDC to ensure social distancing, our district (for the moment) appears to have no plan or intent to reduce class sizes this year. When asked, the district's response to a question about their efforts to maintain social distancing was as follows:

...Social distancing will be observed as much as possible during the school day.

Nothing else.

Our district has had 5 months to prepare for the opening coming later this month.
There has been no increase in staff numbers.
There are no plans to make use of open space in buildings.
The district's plan is pretty much to continue on as they did before, except for enacting a few measures to restrict student movement throughout the buildings.

We won't be in school very long this year either it appears.

 

[Cornell]

I just attended our local school board meeting. Huge turnout , so overflow crowd was placed in a theater , which was supposed to have audio and video simulcast. They couldn't get the technology to work. AND this week, our districts servers went down for 2 days. And we are supposed to feel confident with virtual learning & somehow things will be different this fall?

The irony is amazing. I'm sure the IT crowd is on thin ice right now as public speaker after speaker ripped on the technology issues at the meeting.

 

[geekette]

I just attended our local school board meeting. Huge turnout , so overflow crowd was placed in a theater , which was supposed to have audio and video simulcast. They couldn't get the technology to work. AND this week, our districts servers went down for 2 days. And we are supposed to feel confident with virtual learning & somehow things will be different this fall?

The irony is amazing. I'm sure the IT crowd is on thin ice right now as public speaker after speaker ripped on the technology issues at the meeting.

IT is always an easy target. What were they given to work with? Old overloaded servers with a lot more people on them at once than ever expected? Incompatible piece parts? Even the best home builder would have a problem building a shack from nothing but duct tape.

My bet is that appropriate investments were not made in tech and it's just easier to blame the people trying to use duct tape and chewing gum to get it rolling.

I can't tell you how many times people blamed IT when they simply lacked knowledge of how to run their PowerPoint...

 

[Cornell]

@geekette I have no idea. Not my problem. But this gives me zero confidence that virtual school is going to work this fall. We are supposed to be one of the most "cutting edge" districts in the nation.

 

[bogey21]

Clearly every parent has to fend for themselves. The first step is to understand the competence of the local School Board and the direction they are heading. If not satisfied, it has to be go to Plan B whatever that turns out to be...

George

 

[bbodb1]

IT is always an easy target. What were they given to work with? Old overloaded servers with a lot more people on them at once than ever expected? Incompatible piece parts? Even the best home builder would have a problem building a shack from nothing but duct tape.

My bet is that appropriate investments were not made in tech and it's just easier to blame the people trying to use duct tape and chewing gum to get it rolling.

In general, school districts hate making investments in technology that is not directly seen in the classroom because the district loses the ability to show it off. Server infrastructure within a school district is often woefully neglected and the personnel a school district can attract and retain in the long term is another limiting factor. All of this is to say, you usually are not getting the best or latest of the technology world when it comes to a public school district. Here is a slightly different example:

A school district invests in Chromebooks for their students. This becomes eye candy for the district because students touch the Chromebooks everyday and the district puffs its collective chest out to proclaim how modern the district is. But in the process to purchase these Chromebooks, school districts either fail to properly estimate the wear and tear the students will inflict on the Chromebooks or desire to purchase the minimally required unit to meet current application or website needs in order to save money today.

When decisions are made using these factors as primary guiding forces, the district has further shortened the expected useful life of these units. School districts in our area expect staff workstations to be viable for about 7 years and with that in mind have a rolling schedule of replacement within their budgets. As many districts began purchasing Chromebooks, they initially used the same expectations for the effective life time for these units as well. Under no circumstances will a Chromebook last through 7 years of student use - not to mention how out of date the Chromebook will be in a much shorter time frame (likely about 3 years).

Many districts in our area are indeed using Chromebooks - old, outdated (in terms of hardware, ports, and processing capability), and well worn (maybe even abused) units.

The problem with unit abuse has not been dealt with properly at our school - administration is loathe to financially charge the parents / guardians of the little angels who intentionally damage units so you can image how quickly this becomes a problem.

I know that story is not directly reflective of the I.T. department, but too many purchasing and strategic decisions made by school districts place I.T. in a position of failure before the decision can even be implemented.

If you know of a district that the above does not accurately describe, that is a strong sign of a forward thinking district.

I can't tell you how many times people blamed IT when they simply lacked knowledge of how to run their PowerPoint...

Or any of a hundred (or more) things you would expect college graduates since the 90's to be proficient users of.... but the reality is they are teachers first and if they have a complete grasp of their content area and can effectively teach that knowledge, that's really all one can ask.

 

[Cornell]

Clearly every parent has to fend for themselves. The first step is to understand the competence of the local School Board and the direction they are heading. If not satisfied, it has to be go to Plan B whatever that turns out to be...

George

I've already made my decision about my kid for the year. But I spoke at the school board meeting today b/c I'm very concerned by all of the kids. It was cathartic to look them each in the eye to give them my opinion. I am sure my words don't matter to them, but I know I tried .

 

[bbodb1]

I've already made my decision about my kid for the year. But I spoke at the school board meeting today b/c I'm very concerned by all of the kids. It was cathartic to look them each in the eye to give them my opinion. I am sure my words don't matter to them, but I know I tried .

But you did more than many will do - it is how government is supposed to work!

 

[travelpager]

Most importantly, besides the academics, these kids were missing out on social emotional skills. Let the kids be kids and listen to the pediatricians.

Agreed. Fwiw, I asked my pediatrician for her opinion. She answered that she will keep her asthmatic high schooler home and, of her 8 partners, the 5 who have school-age kids (mostly 8-15 y o, incl 1 on autism spectrum) with 60/40 public/private school, each has determined that the virus-associated risks outweigh health benefits at this time where we live. *Consistent with one of your points, this group is better able to "make do" than many others.* MY point is that, asked specifically about my kids, my pediatrician recommended to avoid groups (10+) of non-household members ("Lord, deliver us from these teens who have just '1 or 2' friends over," she said) at least until the city gets its act together on test availability & result turnaround time. She said, "The first month [of in-person school] will be a Grand Experiment. Body temps aren't the end-all measure and some of these schools don't even have a nurse. I'm going to watch what’s coming into clinic. If I see 5 grandmas bringing grandkids sent from school and 1 maybe 2 of those kids test positive, I'll be happily surprised. I say wait it out."

 

[Brett]

This Georgia elementary school just opened - then closed in two days

https://www.tribuneledgernews.com/l...cle_a0ac7bf2-d695-11ea-b1f9-7fbae1ea1b02.html

 

[travelpager]

This Georgia elementary school just opened - then closed in two days

https://www.tribuneledgernews.com/l...cle_a0ac7bf2-d695-11ea-b1f9-7fbae1ea1b02.html

w o m p , w o m p

 

[DeniseM]

In California, your county has to be below an 8%, C19 infection rate to have kids on campus. Our rolling 14 day rate is 25% - seriously. Our schools will start with online instruction, and move to in-person instruction, if and when the county gets their rates down for 14 consecutive days.

I don't know if it can be done, because our local elected officials are less than enthusiastic about supporting preventitive measures. Example: Recently, our chief of police had a big destination wedding to a woman employeed in city government and many of the local movers and shakers attended - no social distancing or masks.

Most districts are requiring teachers to work on campus, which means that teachers are still exposed to a lot of other people with shared bathrooms, offices, meetings, etc. Also - those teachers' own children are at home because their schools are closed, so they don't have childcare. There are a lot of teachers over 50, and with co-morbidities, so this is of grave concern. Some districts are allowing teachers with children who are 12 or under to work from home.

 

[geekette]

....Or any of a hundred (or more) things you would expect college graduates since the 90's to be proficient users of.... but the reality is they are teachers first and if they have a complete grasp of their content area and can effectively teach that knowledge, that's really all one can ask.

I Completely Agree. My goal was always for tech to be a helpful tool and not the big scary burden between professional and performing their profession. Things should just work, ideally. I don't like people being stuck as troubleshooting is not their area of expertise, and it is incredibly frustrating for them. My gut feel is they probably get little to no training, making it a ridiculous burden to figure it out themselves. The sudden school closures were a pretty dramatic dump onto teachers.

I hope that this pandemic brings a lot higher salaries and respect to teachers. I don't know why it's not a better paid profession, given how critically important it is.

 

[TravelTime]

I just attended our local school board meeting. Huge turnout , so overflow crowd was placed in a theater , which was supposed to have audio and video simulcast. They couldn't get the technology to work. AND this week, our districts servers went down for 2 days. And we are supposed to feel confident with virtual learning & somehow things will be different this fall?

The irony is amazing. I'm sure the IT crowd is on thin ice right now as public speaker after speaker ripped on the technology issues at the meeting.

Did they do the meeting in person for this big group of people? That would be ironic since they are not allowing classes to be in person.

 

[cman]

I want our schools reopened. But this is not the way to do it. https://www.buzzfeednews.com/articl...eorgia-school-reopening-photo-paulding-county

 

[Cornell]

@TravelTime Hi Laura! No, the in person meeting was in a large room with everyone carefully socially distancing. Chairs set up 6' apart . Because of this, this is why they needed overflow in the theater.

The more I reflect on this meeting, the more angry I've become. The reasons that they are using to keep the schools closed are so ridiculous. Just weak leadership.

What I'm really upset about now is this....Every time I push back on a "school person" , whether that's a teacher, board member, administrator and ask "How will this fall be any different than last spring?" , the answer I get is "Attendance will be taken online and the kids have to keep their cameras on". That's it? Really? There has been zero effort or training in to figuring out how to adapt these curriculums and methods to a virtual setting. You can't just use your traditional in-class methods and expect that they will work in a virtual setting.

My rant is done. I'm so glad I've chosen to go a different route.

 

[Cornell]

One more thing....Many of the public school districts here are now using their schools for things like "Smart Start Camps" or "Virtual Learning Camps". FAMILIES HAVE TO PAY FOR THIS. School staff will be in the building so kids are supervised while they do their virtual learning from the school buildings.

"School staff will provide supervision, help facilitate and supervise remote learning activities, provide snacks and movement breaks, social-emotional learning opportunities, and support students with homework".

We have truly entered the twilight zone.

 

[Luanne]

In a survey sent out to parents in the Santa Fe School District over half are saying they would prefer online learning for the entire school year.

 

[bbodb1]

In a survey sent out to parents in the Santa Fe School District over half are saying they would prefer online learning for the entire school year.

That is very interesting.

 

[Cornell]

In a survey sent out to parents in the Santa Fe School District over half are saying they would prefer online learning for the entire school year.

Not according to this. 1/3 only want fully remote learning.

https://www.santafenewmexican.com/news/coronavirus/sfps-survey-teachers-want-to-teach-remotely-parents-split-on-options-for-2020-21/article_4450b6f0-c51c-11ea-84da-578167b80a5b.html

 

[Luanne]

Not according to this. 1/3 only want fully remote learning.

https://www.santafenewmexican.com/news/coronavirus/sfps-survey-teachers-want-to-teach-remotely-parents-split-on-options-for-2020-21/article_4450b6f0-c51c-11ea-84da-578167b80a5b.html

That article was dated July 13. Another survey was sent out after that on July 29. I am going by an article in the Santa Fe New Mexican today. You need to stay current.

And I apologize. I stated that more than half responded they wanted online for the school year. As of today, it's 50%.

https://www.santafenewmexican.com/n...cle_385300c0-d76d-11ea-a6b6-97d4988be69d.html

 

[bbodb1]

nm.

 

[Pathways]

One more thing on my school rant -- in IL the state board of education requires 4 years of PE. What an absolute waste of time for kids to be doing PE via Zoom calls. Now that my kid is moving to the IUHS, that PE requirement is gone and she can spend her time focused on academic learning.

First day in a while I have had time to read lounge threads.

You/yours will have a great experience with IUHS. Two of mine took senior classes there while attending their local HS as a junior so they could graduate a year early. Great instructors and help available. Ignore the naysayers.

All my kids left HS early to start their military training so they could be on campus at college with their original classmates from HS. (They used the military benefits to pay for all their college)

My oldest was in HS sports, so attended his senior year until the state championships in his sport, and then left for basic training the following week. In searching for my old IU High School emails, I found the letter he wrote to one of his teachers and classmates that he 'abandoned'. Thought you might enjoy. (Personal stuff deleted)


Mr XXX and Class

Greetings from Sheppard AFB, Texas

The past twelve weeks have held the longest, most
horrific, and yet the most rewarding moments in my
entire life. I have been through so much that it feels
as though years have passed since I have seen the
familiar landscape of Indiana.
The first week at basic training was the most alone I
have felt in my life, even with the forty eight other
trainees next to me at every moment. I happened to be
the youngest person by a year and most of the people I
met were married and had children. I have trained with
people from around the world: a father from Guam to an
LA police officer and so many in between,
I have learned values I wouldn't have ever learned
without the pain of training. I know now that I
have taken for granted so many things and have a whole
new appreciation for family and the civilian world.
Your life flashes in front of your eyes many times
when you're stuck in a world without a way to talk to
anyone you know, without any of the things you’re used
to, and no news from the outside world. You're doing
what someone wants you to do, when they want you to do
it, and how they want you to do it.
But it was worth it!
I was awarded an “Honor Graduate*” ribbon at
graduation and am now halfway through training to
become a Munitions System Apprentice. My training
continues in xxxxxxx, IN starting the first week in
July, and I’ll be done and back in xxxxxxxx the first
week in August, in time to relax a couple of weeks
before starting at Indiana University.
I have been granted leave for the weekend of high school
graduation, so I hope to see most of you and I hope
all of you are having a successful final semester of
high school!

Sincerely,

Airman First Class xxxxxxx xxxxxx