In your area do you think there will be face to face school (K12 and or college) in the Fall?

[mommyoffive]

I haven't heard this talked about much in my area.  My kids are online public school students, so I don't have much knowledge of what places are saying about this.  All my friends kids go to a public school who haven't even cancelled the rest of the year yet.  But I am hearing things about schools not going back to brick an mortar next year.   Is that true?  Have you heard anything in your neck of the woods? 

[Tap]

I  think that most school districts will close to the end of the year. I think by fall, they will be back in class. The idea with closing schools isn't to prevent everyone from getting it, but to slow down the rate. By then there will be 6 months of 'flattening the curve".  I wouldn't be surprised if the kids are asked to wipe desks/work stations before/after use. The airborne particulates will be impossible to contain unless they use masks, but I could see it being required during certain parts of the year when there are big upticks in cases. 

 

[prairiewindmomma]

In our area I think we will have rolling closures. We will be open in the fall, I think and then have some crisis in winter.

[Laura Corin]

The university where I work is closed through the summer. There haven't been any announcements about September.

It may come down to money. If overseas students don't want to come, then they will keep everything online. They are likely to lose massive amounts of money through this period of closure - they are refunding all the accommodation for this semester and won't make any money during the summer conference season. I can imagine losing my job.

[Matryoshka]

I've been wondering the same thing.  Dd was on a waitlist for an apartment for the fall, with two roommates all lined up.  They want them to sign a lease now.  One of her roommates is South African and is now back there and isn't even sure if she'll be able to return for the fall.  We're waiting to sign the lease, needless to say!  But at some point we'll likely have to make a decision... ugggh.

[Ali in OR]

We are just starting to hear that dd's CA university has cancelled summer programs and it sounds like fall is up in the air right now. They aren't doing housing assignments and other things that usually happen now for fall quarter. I have no good feel for the public school situation. I think we're going to do very poorly at online school, so I think they will try to go back to B&M at least to start. We have big equity issues for online school; I think there's a fair number of students we'll just never hear from for the rest of this year.

[Pen]

Our state flagship U already announced online education for fall.  I don’t know if that includes all programs like the medical school, but I think it does include all undergraduates. 

I think K12 still hopes to have brick and mortar school open, but I am doubtful that will be possible. 

[mommyoffive]

2 minutes ago, Pen said:

Our state flagship U already announced online education for fall.  I don’t know if that includes all programs like the medical school, but I think it does include all undergraduates. 

I think K12 still hopes to have brick and mortar school open, but I am doubtful that will be possible. 

 

Oh wow. What state is that? 

[Kassia]

3 minutes ago, Pen said:

Our state flagship U already announced online education for fall.  I don’t know if that includes all programs like the medical school, but I think it does include all undergraduates. 

 

 

Just now, mommyoffive said:

 

Oh wow. What state is that? 

 

I'd like to know what state, too.  I am very concerned about this.  😞  I have heard that universities are thinking about it, but haven't seen any announce it yet.  

[Pen]

6 minutes ago, mommyoffive said:

 

Oh wow. What state is that? 

 

U of Oregon.   I heard it on radio yet don’t see it on their website, so maybe it was an error. Or a trial balloon to gauge community readiness that got walked back.   Or one of these little precursor statements to get people mentally ready in advance of real announcements. 

[RootAnn]

My area will wait until the last minute to decide. At least, that's how it has gone so far (K-12). They only closed the local school because the governor mandated it.

The College campus nearby buckled only because of parental pressure and at the last minute. A lot of people on the Chat Board were unhappy that Liberty U let any students that wanted to come back do so (until recently). That is actually the case currently near me. It is not just hardship cases that are still in the dorms -- they did not force the kids to move out. But there are less than 900 students total and maybe half of those live on campus. (They did incentivize move out by giving 60% refunds if you moved out right away.)

It sounds like summer classes will either be online or cancelled at DD's U. No word yet on the fall. I hope they will be in person, but I assume they are telling professors to prepare for live online classes or being furloughed from their jobs.

[mommyoffive]

42 minutes ago, Seasider too said:

I think that it will vary by region and by type of school.

Small private elementary and secondary schools should be allowed to meet; this type of organization has the greatest ability to enforce compliance to whatever measures necessary for student health and accomplishing educational goals. Smaller student numbers would make any sudden changes easier to navigate (ie online during flu season).

Public schools, maybe secondary and elementary levels, in areas where there are "neighborhood" school set ups, might resume classroom time in the fall. However, high schools in our greater metro area have become huge institutions. Much harder to gain compliance for all kinds of reasons.

Universities... I can easily see them doing all next year online, both fall and winter semesters. Simply too much liability in maintaining dormitory and food services until a vaccine is available.

Trade schools have me wondering. IME they usually involve smaller numbers of students, but in hands-on learning situations. Hard to say what might happen there. Anything related to the medical services profession should be in full swing, but I have to wonder how many will want to go into that field after reading some of the tales coming out of hospitals these days.

My fear is that the governor will require any private and parochial school to comply with whatever is mandated for the public school system, in the interests of leveling student opportunities.

 

I agree with you on that.  I wonder the background of what is going on in that area.   How insurance for these universities are handling this new situation.    Some of my kids were supposed to be going to dance intensives this summer that are housed in dorms (sometimes on college campuses).   I am wondering all the colleges are just going to say no to that kind of thing right now. 

[Spryte]

Our schools are closed till the end of the year, as of Mar 23.  No announcements for the fall, but our state is SIP till June 10th.  I Would be shocked to see normal back to school everywhere here.  My mother’s surgeon told us yesterday that they don’t expect us to peak till end of May/beginning of June.  I can’t imagine life just restarting in August when kids go back to school here.  
 

I could see rolling closures, maybe, or county by county decisions.  My particular area - unlikely to restart on time, I think.

But - I really have no idea!

[Corraleno]

I think schools and colleges are likely to reopen for fall. All the models I've seen show peaks well before August, so by September we should be seeing much lower numbers, plus we should have plenty of medical equipment and PPE by then, a much better idea about effective treatments, testing available to everyone, better capacity for contact tracing, etc. I think we'll continue with things like hand washing, mask wearing, and generally the kind of precautions people should take even if it were just a really bad year for flu — and maybe flu deaths will go down as a result, further reducing stress on the medical system. Plus I think most schools & colleges learned enough from this semester to have a contingency plan for fall courses if they have to suspend them again. But I don't think the country can afford to continue full SIP until December, we will have to get back to something like normal-with-extra-precautions before then.

Edited April 3, 2020 by Corraleno

[athena1277]

I think that barring anything unexpected, K-12 schools will start back normally in the fall.  Too many kids are falling behind academically not to at least try.   
 

I’m not sure about universities.  I think the close quarters of dorm living will make them hesitate if there are still any concerns.  However, most of them are better set up for distance learning, so they will be able to “open” in some form.  Honestly, my question about universities is what all this is going to do to costs.  My oldest is a junior and cost is a big factor in where she ends up going to school.

[Hilltopmom]

We need to sign a lease for ds for his summer/next school year apartment. I really hope schools go back. As a special Ed teacher  in a rural area- this piecemeal online classes thing is not working.

[Shellydon]

I think everything here will be open.  Peak illness is projected to be April 25 with numbers of cases drastically falling by May 20 with numbers being near 0 by June 20. I can't imagine schools not reopening. 

[sassenach]

2 hours ago, Seasider too said:

I think that it will vary by region and by type of school.

Small private elementary and secondary schools should be allowed to meet; this type of organization has the greatest ability to enforce compliance to whatever measures necessary for student health and accomplishing educational goals. Smaller student numbers would make any sudden changes easier to navigate (ie online during flu season).

Public schools, maybe secondary and elementary levels, in areas where there are "neighborhood" school set ups, might resume classroom time in the fall. However, high schools in our greater metro area have become huge institutions. Much harder to gain compliance for all kinds of reasons.

Universities... I can easily see them doing all next year online, both fall and winter semesters. Simply too much liability in maintaining dormitory and food services until a vaccine is available.

Trade schools have me wondering. IME they usually involve smaller numbers of students, but in hands-on learning situations. Hard to say what might happen there. Anything related to the medical services profession should be in full swing, but I have to wonder how many will want to go into that field after reading some of the tales coming out of hospitals these days.

My fear is that the governor will require any private and parochial school to comply with whatever is mandated for the public school system, in the interests of leveling student opportunities.

I know some people have said 12-18 months at the earliest, but from what I am reading that is waaaaayyyy optimistic. Like, 2-4 years is much more likely. I cannot imagine things staying closed that long. I think that as a society, at some point, we will have to take the calculated risk of gathering again.

[mommyoffive]

8 minutes ago, Shellydon said:

I think everything here will be open.  Peak illness is projected to be April 25 with numbers of cases drastically falling by May 20 with numbers being near 0 by June 20. I can't imagine schools not reopening. 

 

IS that for your area or everywhere?  

I ask because when they started this in our state they told everyone that April 15th was going to be the peak.  I was just reading something today that said for our state the peak is now going to be April 23-May 23rd.  

[Farrar]

Mayor just said our peak may be as late as July.

I don't think most schools will be back in come fall. 

[mom2scouts]

3 hours ago, Laura Corin said:

The university where I work is closed through the summer. There haven't been any announcements about September.

It may come down to money. If overseas students don't want to come, then they will keep everything online. They are likely to lose massive amounts of money through this period of closure - they are refunding all the accommodation for this semester and won't make any money during the summer conference season. I can imagine losing my job.

I live in a university community. This will further devastate our city if the university doesn't open in the fall because the businesses depend on students. Losing international students would be bad too. Our university is refunding the remainder of room and board and that's costing millions.

I think schools will open and I know the universities are doing anything they can to get students in the fall. I just hope we don't send all the students back and then have a second wave of infections.

[Wheres Toto]

I've been seeing the peak dates move back.  I think NY's peak day is now the end of April/early May now.   I don't think there's any sign that things are leveling off yet.

[Ailaena]

If K-12 schools don’t go back to B&M in the fall, does that mean there will be a massive amount of young kids home alone all day?   How can that even work logistically when so many people work out of the home?  Does that mean people won’t go back to work, either?   Then we don’t have to worry about them being home alone, I guess, since they’ll be homeless.

with so many cuts in so many areas, people who able to work remotely right now will be at risk of losing their job, making round two of people laid off.  It boggles my mind when I start thinking about it.

I would think that as long as day cares are still operational, elementary schools can be operational as they can mostly stay with one teacher (put off specials for a while, eat in classroom, etc) and can learn to maintain a high level of hygiene.  

Still have to solve the problem with athletes...   There are places here that are still having practice for individual, elite-level athletes, but I’m concerned people will push too hard to get kids back into competition shape.

[Shellydon]

1 hour ago, mommyoffive said:

 

IS that for your area or everywhere?  

I ask because when they started this in our state they told everyone that April 15th was going to be the peak.  I was just reading something today that said for our state the peak is now going to be April 23-May 23rd.  

My area.

[Kanin]

2 hours ago, Hilltopmom said:

We need to sign a lease for ds for his summer/next school year apartment. I really hope schools go back. As a special Ed teacher  in a rural area- this piecemeal online classes thing is not working.

Me too. I'm heartbroken for my dyslexic kids that are missing 3 months of instruction. I'm trying via video, but... 😞

[Frances]

9 hours ago, Pen said:

 

U of Oregon.   I heard it on radio yet don’t see it on their website, so maybe it was an error. Or a trial balloon to gauge community readiness that got walked back.   Or one of these little precursor statements to get people mentally ready in advance of real announcements. 

But U of O doesn’t have a medical school.

[mathnerd]

7 hours ago, athena1277 said:

Too many kids are falling behind academically not to at least try.   

This is the reason that I think that public schools will reopen in Fall. I have heard of a proposal to shut down early for this academic year and to restart Fall session earlier to make up for lost ground. Nothing has been decided - in my county, schools are closed until May and the peak of the epidemic is expected in April. So, we will have to see how this goes.

[gardenmom5]

school starts here in September - so I think we will by then.  we'll see.

[Tanaqui]

I doubt they'll be able to keep elementary closed past summer. However... I wouldn't at all be surprised if they split it and either don't have in-school middle and high school for the first quarter or the first two quarters, or if they only run those schools a couple days a week.

[Pen]

2 hours ago, Frances said:

But U of O doesn’t have a medical school.

 

OHSU 😊

 

(“OHSU was established as a freestanding academic health sciences university in 1974 when the Oregon Legislature mandated the combination of the University of Oregon Medical School, University of Oregon School of Dentistry, and University of Oregon School of Nursing. “) 

Edited April 4, 2020 by Pen

[slackermom]

I think that there will be some modified back to school in the fall here. Probably something with more staggered part time schedules, to reduce crowding, allowing for some social distancing. 

My child's former high school could probably manage something like M/W for grades 9 and 11,  and T/T for grades 10 and 12. They already do block scheduling with the teachers split teaching those grade combos. They also normally do 1/2 days on Fridays for professional development, and it would make sense to carry on with those regular teacher meetings, virtual or otherwise.

It would be harder to manage it this way for younger elementary students, but I still expect to see some sort of hybrid of b&m and at home this fall for K-12.

I have a harder time believing we are prepared to have more than 100,000 college students return to our city from all over the country and beyond until we are more solidly over the spread of this. 

[Carrie12345]

I have no idea what *will happen around here, but I’d really like to find a way to get permission to have kindship-foster placements enrolled in cyber school. Maybe that’s pie in the sky, but one can try! And that’s not a homeschool superiority thing. All things being equal, they could use the structure and we could use the uninterrupted time that public school would bring. But nothing is likely to be equal until herd immunity.

I want to talk kid #2 into an online semester. I’m not ready to cross that bridge yet. 

[Familia]

Our children who are still at university need that in person education - online is offering nothing near the collaborative environment they are used to experiencing.  These are small schools, though.  With large state universities, I can see that a shift to online education may work better.  Or, not.  Wouldn’t the loss of room & board devastate universities?  Buildings cannot sit empty.  Kitchens cannot go unused.  Facilities will begin to deteriorate.  As much as living in spaces wears on them, sitting empty does enormous harm.  Even thinking amount the possibility of them not opening makes me think of all the damaging sociological effects of this pandemic.  Effects we cannot even imagine.

Reading this thread is depressing me.  

Edited April 4, 2020 by Familia

[Tanaqui]

University offers a heck of a lot more benefits than just the education. Indeed, unless you need a specific degree for a career I'd say that the education part is minimal compared to the real advantage - socializing and networking with other people. Schools know that. They're not going to be online-only forever.

[catz]

4 hours ago, Familia said:

Our children who are still at university need that in person education - online is offering nothing near the collaborative environment they are used to experiencing.  These are small schools, though.  With large state universities, I can see that a shift to online education may work better.  Or, not.  Wouldn’t the loss of room & board devastate universities?  Buildings cannot sit empty.  Kitchens cannot go unused.  Facilities will begin to deteriorate.  As much as living in spaces wears on them, sitting empty does enormous harm.  Even thinking amount the possibility of them not opening makes me think of all the damaging sociological effects of this pandemic.  Effects we cannot even imagine.

Reading this thread is depressing me.  

My kid is at a large state university and this is very disappointing for us too.  He is a music/comp sci major.  Obviously though his profs are wonderful and working hard, it's definitely not the same as being on campus.  And he was collaborating much more in the comp sci stuff on campus.  Anyway - I wouldn't assume those at larger schools aren't suffering with this change too.  

I HOPE they can be back in the fall, but I know profs locally have been told to be prepared to be online if necessary.   This is super depressing to me too.  

[Familia]

1 hour ago, FuzzyCatz said:

My kid is at a large state university and this is very disappointing for us too.  He is a music/comp sci major.  Obviously though his profs are wonderful and working hard, it's definitely not the same as being on campus.  And he was collaborating much more in the comp sci stuff on campus.  Anyway - I wouldn't assume those at larger schools aren't suffering with this change too.  

I HOPE they can be back in the fall, but I know profs locally have been told to be prepared to be online if necessary.   This is super depressing to me too.  

Yes, I definitely shouldn’t assume anything with larger schools, especially since in-person interaction is such a vital part of the college experience everywhere.  Not just social, but the interactions that makes them learn to collaborate, practice leadership skills, and present ideas.  Particularly sad thinking of the performing arts.  

ETA, I posted b/f I read what @Tanaqui wrote.  I agree completely.

Edited April 4, 2020 by Familia

[SKL]

I think we will be back, but who knows ....

[mathnerd]

I did not want to clutter up the MasterThread on covid, so, I am posting this here. Bill Gates addresses the issue (things going back to normal) and what needs to be done and how it needs to be done in order for us to get back to a situation close to China where people are going back to work. It is a long interview, but Bill makes a lot of sense and I hope that his initiative to bootstrap the production of vaccines will make our country get a head start when the right solutions are identified.

 

[lewelma]

We have already begun discussing a gap year for ds.  MIT is crazy expensive, NZ's borders are locked, and the online classes run from midnight to 8am here.  DS can get online education through edX for free, why would I pay an gazillion dollars for it? 

[mathnerd]

1 hour ago, lewelma said:

We have already begun discussing a gap year for ds.  MIT is crazy expensive, NZ's borders are locked, and the online classes run from midnight to 8am here.  DS can get online education through edX for free, why would I pay an gazillion dollars for it? 

Many people around me are saying the same thing with regards to expensive colleges and private prep schools that will not open in Fall. It is a good question.

[lewelma]

1 minute ago, mathnerd said:

Many people around me are saying the same thing with regards to expensive colleges and private prep schools that will not open in Fall. It is a good question.

I am even willing to pay a hefty donation for ds's gap year - like 5K or even 10K. I want to support the Institute, but online classes in the middle of the night are seriously not a good option for us. 

[mathnerd]

2 minutes ago, lewelma said:

I am even willing to pay a hefty donation for ds's gap year - like 5K or even 10K. I want to support the Institute, but online classes in the middle of the night are seriously not a good option for us. 

Some people I know with kids in colleges are not willing to send their kids into a dorm situation even if the colleges open. Because they want some reassurance that there are viable vaccines and treatment options with no shortages of ventilators/tests/drugs/hospital beds/medical staff/TP/food supply etc before their kid sets out alone to a university to live by themselves in a crazy world where states are going into lockdowns, no flights out and there is talk of state borders closing.

[Arcadia]

https://www.chronicle.com/article/How-Is-Covid-19-Changing/248316
“Amid school closures and lockdowns, many high-school seniors are switching up their immediate plans, the survey found. Of the 17 percent of respondents who didn’t think they would end up enrolling full time at a four-year college, a majority expected either to take a gap year (35 percent) or enroll part time in a bachelor’s program (35 percent). Seven percent indicated that they would attend a community college, and 6 percent said they would work full time.

Just 20 percent of students were confident that they would attend their first-choice college. “While we know there is always flux this time of year as students are getting their admissions notifications,” Goebel said, “it surprised us that more weren’t expecting to enroll at their first choice.””

[Murphy101]

I don’t think so. I’m thinking this will go until September and possibly later.  I had hoped a few weeks ago, the worst would be over by July. Now I don’t think so based on how things are going in most other countries. I don’t think any of them that were hit 3 months ago are returning to normal yet. Given that our country is more than 10x the size of many countries in both geography and population, I don’t think it is reasonable to expect us to get through it faster even if we manage to handle it better somehow.

[prairiewindmomma]

4 hours ago, Arcadia said:

https://www.chronicle.com/article/How-Is-Covid-19-Changing/248316
“Amid school closures and lockdowns, many high-school seniors are switching up their immediate plans, the survey found. Of the 17 percent of respondents who didn’t think they would end up enrolling full time at a four-year college, a majority expected either to take a gap year (35 percent) or enroll part time in a bachelor’s program (35 percent). Seven percent indicated that they would attend a community college, and 6 percent said they would work full time.

Just 20 percent of students were confident that they would attend their first-choice college. “While we know there is always flux this time of year as students are getting their admissions notifications,” Goebel said, “it surprised us that more weren’t expecting to enroll at their first choice.””

Ds is graduating this year and most of his peers are all staying local this next year. This was not their plan in January. They are not willing to plunk down dorm deposits, etc in the current climate.

Many of them have older siblings who all had to leave pricey dorms cross country on 24-48 hrs notice.

[Selkie]

If college isn't back to normal by fall, my dd17 said she wants to take a gap year and work for our family businesses. My boys are both college sophomores and I don't know what they will do. They're supposed to register for fall classes soon, and have talked about choosing classes that are more conducive to online learning.

[G5052]

I'm an online-only professor with a large community community college. Of course our programs (70,000+ students) are all online now. My college REALLY wants to offer face-to-face classes in the fall, but the online meetings we've had indicate that they know that may or may not be possible. It's just such an unknown, crazy time. They are focusing on the summer right now. 

They are planning to be entirely online this summer. It's a bit of an issue because not every face-to-face professor wants to teach that way. So they are going through all of their offerings professor-by-professor. I've already agreed of course because I teach only online. Not an adjustment for me at all. They are working on better proctoring arrangements and such. 

My own college kids don't mind online learning because they did a fair amount of that in high school, but some of their professors really aren't into it. It's a bit worrisome, but they are busy going to online class sessions, writing papers, and taking tests. Some learning is going on. 

[73349]

Our schools have the policy of not letting children handle cleaning products; the thought of six-year-olds (especially those with asthma, etc.) all managing disinfecting wipes safely and effectively does not sound realistic. I don't even know if all the classrooms have windows that open. And I'm not sure if masks could be provided, but there's no way they could be used at breakfast and lunch in any case. Certainly the buildings were not designed for mass hand-washing; IMO there should be large trough sinks at least outside the cafeterias for use by 10+ kids at a time no matter what is or isn't known to be going around.

So it seems we need to be well over the hump for fall classes to start and keep from just needing to shut down again.

[prairiewindmomma]

I pulled my girls from elementary school a month ago in part because there was no real ways being made to wash hands, clean desks, or distance children. If one kid got sick in the room, everyone was sick within a few days just because they share everything. Even pencils are group classroom pencils. Kids rotate between desks throughout the day. 36 kids in a classroom...everyone is nearly shoulder to shoulder and with the desk pods behind them. 

[J-rap]

I honestly do not think anyone can possibly know at this time.