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Thoughts on summer / fall


BlsdMama
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1 minute ago, CuriousMomof3 said:

I think that part of containing the virus in schools, is going to be strategies that prevent the virus from passing from one classroom to the next.  So, things like special education and ELL teachers pulling from multiple classrooms at one time, specials classes where kids move from room to room and teacher to teacher, and lunch rooms are going to be looked at closely.  I also think we're going to see changes in room arrangement, so that students are each using one desk, and one chair, kids  aren't directly facing each other, and fewer materials are shared.  

I also think that cleaning routines are going to need to change, whether or not the students eat in the classroom. 

I wonder how they'll address the fact that all of the kids are then going to cram onto busses together 🤷‍♂️

The vast majority of public school kids around here ride the bus to and from school, two to three kids per seat. That will be a problem for sure. 

In the two high school classrooms I've been in recently, one of them could probably move things around so that desks were a few inches apart rather than touching back to front. The other has no extra room at all, desks are so crowded that I was constantly bumping up against them when walking around. I don't even think that aisle widths were up to fire code. 

Neither classroom shared too many materials, but books were passed out at the beginning of class and returned after class (so everyone was touching them). You could have one person collect and distribute books, but the books themselves will touch each other in storage, not sure if that's a big issue or not. 

I certainly hope cleaning routines change. In addition to dirty classrooms being just plain nasty, I can't believe that admins are too short sighted to see that a lack of cleanliness leads to sickness,  which leads to missed days of school. Leaving aside the fact that students will fall behind, a negative in the long run for passing and graduation rates, schools are also graded on absenteeism. Vents blowing dirt and dust into the classroom is in no one's best interest. 

 

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On 4/10/2020 at 7:26 PM, BarbecueMom said:

I can't see how they can allow wind instrument groups at all unless they come up with a vaccine.  I was a trumpet player/college major and there is so much spit everywhere.  Horn spit, trombone spit, woodwind spit, angry conductor spit.  A band room is a disgusting germ cesspool in the best of times.

ETA:  Swapping spit happened plenty too.  That's how I got a husband out of high school band, lol.

Lol I got a husband out if high school band too.

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As I sit typing this, my Music Major son is engaged in an online voice lesson with one of his professors. All of his music classes have continued online. He is not going to have his conducting debut in May as was planned, but we are learning flexibility and taking it one day at a time.  My daughter who is graduating college this semester is in an online class with her Screen Writing professor right now. She has very little hope that she will get a job this summer since she wants to work in episodic television. So she will continue to tutor and work on her screenplays and bide her time. Does she want to move out? Absolutely but we are learning patience.  And my youngest daughter is graduating high school in May. No graduation and she will go to local community college next year. Colleges in my state are already talking about online learning in the fall and she can do that just as well at the local CC which is excellent. My older kids have had amazing experiences there.  We are learning to be grateful. Grateful that we are healthy so far (even my son who is a Type 1 diabetic and therefore at risk). Grateful that we are together even though we are beginning to bug each other. Grateful that all of us who have jobs are still getting some money from those jobs. It's not perfect. It sucks and it's scary. I choose not to focus on that. I choose to look at what I can control. I'm enjoying time with my husband and kids since we are usually too busy to spend time together. I'm trying to deep clean my house (failing miserably) I'm trying to breathe and enjoy the sunset. I'm enjoying the cleanest air I've seen in decades. Life is going to happen how ever it's going to happen. I can't fix it, and I can't control it all. I can just be steady and real. Don't know where all this came from but It just sort of flowed out of my fingers. Thanks for letting me get it out. 

Stay safe everyone. EVerything's going to be alright....eventually.

Edited by PerfectFifth
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One thing I can see being an issue with specialist classes is that materials are shared. When I taught early childhood music, with kids young enough to mouth instruments, etc, we cleaned everything after classes, but we also had enough materials to do a full day's classes without having to reuse them for more than one child. When I taught Orff in public schools, with older kids, I usually had a few kids help me clean everything at the end of the school year, but that was it. The only instruments issued to one child for the whole year were the recorders.  Mallets, hand percussion, all that was used by every child in the school throughout the year. The same is true with PE equipment, non-consumable art supplies, and computer labs.  If you go room to room, it is even more likely instruments will be used for more kids, because while I could have 12 Orff instruments in my classroom, so each instrument is used by maybe 2 students in a class period, and 12 a day, I might only be able to fit 4 on my cart, meaning that each of those instruments would be used by 6 students to give everyone a turn in a single class period. 

 

If you go to singing and recorder, the two things that are easiest to do room to room, aerosolizing viruses would be a concern.

 

I honestly don't know how to manage in a school setting. If our preschool reopens, I will probably do one class a day, rather than doing all my classes on one day, so I have time to clean instruments, and not use some of the wood instruments that are not Clorox wipes friendly. My load was never below 25 class sections a week while teaching in a public K-8. There would be no way to clean everything. Having been that specialist, and having taught specialists, the safest thing would be to not have specialist music classes in elementary at all-but I can't see that going over well for either kids or classroom teachers, both of whom definitely need that break in their day. 

Edited by dmmetler
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14 minutes ago, dmmetler said:

One thing I can see being an issue with specialist classes is that materials are shared. When I taught early childhood music, with kids young enough to mouth instruments, etc, we cleaned everything after classes, but we also had enough materials to do a full day's classes without having to reuse them for more than one child. When I taught Orff in public schools, with older kids, I usually had a few kids help me clean everything at the end of the school year, but that was it. The only instruments issued to one child for the whole year were the recorders.  Mallets, hand percussion, all that was used by every child in the school throughout the year. The same is true with PE equipment, non-consumable art supplies, and computer labs.  If you go room to room, it is even more likely instruments will be used for more kids, because while I could have 12 Orff instruments in my classroom, so each instrument is used by maybe 2 students in a class period, and 12 a day, I might only be able to fit 4 on my cart, meaning that each of those instruments would be used by 6 students to give everyone a turn in a single class period. 

 

If you go to singing and recorder, the two things that are easiest to do room to room, aerosolizing viruses would be a concern.

 

I honestly don't know how to manage in a school setting. If our preschool reopens, I will probably do one class a day, rather than doing all my classes on one day, so I have time to clean instruments, and not use some of the wood instruments that are not Clorox wipes friendly. My load was never below 25 class sections a week while teaching in a public K-8. There would be no way to clean everything. Having been that specialist, and having taught specialists, the safest thing would be to not have specialist music classes in elementary at all-but I can't see that going over well for either kids or classroom teachers, both of whom definitely need that break in their day. 

I'm a music teacher in a Catholic school. I teach TK-8th grade. I've been thinking of exactly these things. Right now I'm teaching online, and even though it has it's own stress, going back into the classroom and reworking my whole curriculum feels worse. Sigh....keep calm and keep real. My new mantra 

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On 4/10/2020 at 4:20 PM, Laura Corin said:

The university where I work is assuming a combination of online and in person classes. Online for overseas students who can't make it back. Also possibly for classes with big enrollment where we don't have a large enough room for social distancing. So they are suspecting that there will be limited opening.

Does your uni have dorms? I envision schools having classes but not opening dorms. So a live class that’s broadcast. My local LAC reopened admissions, with a scholarship offer, for local kids.

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2 hours ago, madteaparty said:

Does your uni have dorms? I envision schools having classes but not opening dorms. So a live class that’s broadcast. My local LAC reopened admissions, with a scholarship offer, for local kids.

There are very few local kids. It's a big university in a small town - major local employer. Almost all of the students rent university or private accommodation.

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On 4/10/2020 at 5:48 PM, SKL said:

I could see them canceling things like band, sports, and choir just for this year.  That would suck, but it would not be the end of the world.  Hopefully they could give kids a pass on having to take gym and maybe arts.  Or figure out a way to do some of that remotely.

 

My daughter is a 3rd grader and REALLY upset not to be seeing her classmates. Right now art (specifically Lunchtime with Mo) is the highlight of her day. Most days she sits down, she'll spend twice the time of the episode just drawing, working with the things he talks about. It calms her down and gives her a tangible thing to show off at the end.

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22 hours ago, CuriousMomof3 said:

Ideally, I don't think we're going to see 100% of kids back at school in the fall.  I think that there are going to be significant numbers of families choosing to self-isolate, either because the child is high risk, or they have another high risk family.  I think that schools systems are going to have to deal with that by having some kind of robust online learning option.  On top of that, I think you'll have more families choosing to drive their kids to school, because the buses will be seen as risky.  Putting those things together, I think you'll see a significant drop in bus ridership.  I think that kids on buses will still be closer than 6 feet apart, but add in masks, and possibly rules about only sharing a seat with someone in your own class, and safety will improve.  

I also think that we're going to see other strategies for reducing congestion, in classrooms and in transition times.  So, perhaps high schools will go to an alternating day schedule, or a morning/afternoon schedule with students attending 1/2 time and working online the other half.  Elementary schools might come up with staggered arrival and departure times, allowing for 2 bus runs.   

Of course, this is all speculation.   I don't know for sure.  

 

Bolding by me: like so many things, I guess a lot of this is going to shake out according to socio-economic status. I can't imagine a significant number of parents in our public school district voluntarily self-isolating or driving the kids to school (bc they aren't able to do so, not necessarily bc they aren't willing). 

More robust online and hybrid options could definitely help if they fund devices and internet for students. Lots of the kids would need more supervision and assistance than is the norm for our district's current online schools, but I think that can actually be affordable if you think it through and shift things around. 

For working families, maybe smaller learning centers staffed by non-teachers, but utilizing online teachers? 

I think most districts won't be able to do staggered bus runs without big changes in scheduling, because one bus services multiple schools, with start times for high school vs elementary already being staggered. They could possibly start supervised walking groups for some of the schools; the distance is often less of a challenge than busy roads and safety issues. 

Just musing . . . 

 

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So, I've been chatting with friends locally, almost all of whom have their kids in public school.  I'm one of the few who will be keeping their kids at home in the fall. Most, even the SAHMs (there are a few here, not many), are anxious to get their kids back in school and their lives back to normal.  I don't think they've really grasped the new reality yet of life post-lock down but pre-vaccine.

If I were sending my kids to school, I just don't see the point of driving them versus sending them on the bus. The reality is that they are crammed in with other students like sardines through most of their day. I can see the local elementary doing a few things: having students meet in classrooms before the gym before the formal start of school, eating in classrooms, having specials teachers come to them, not switching desks, but the reality is that there are 30+ kids crammed into each classroom.  I don't see them being able to effectively solve that at all.  Mixing with 30 other students rather than 700 is better, but the reality is that each of those students also networks with a wide number of people---parents (who work and mix with a lot of people), siblings, caregivers, etc.  There is just no good way to solve this.

My Danish friend has her kids back in school this week. They have split the classrooms and are going partial days, with all kinds of other rules in place. Students aren't allowed to touch each other, etc.  They are doing this so parents can go back to work. They have easy access to testing, though, and the ability to stay home if ill.  We just have very different societal parameters. Once society resumes here, parents will go back to having limited/no sick leave, little or no access to sick childcare, etc.

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17 minutes ago, prairiewindmomma said:

So, I've been chatting with friends locally, almost all of whom have their kids in public school.  I'm one of the few who will be keeping their kids at home in the fall. Most, even the SAHMs (there are a few here, not many), are anxious to get their kids back in school and their lives back to normal.  I don't think they've really grasped the new reality yet of life post-lock down but pre-vaccine.

If I were sending my kids to school, I just don't see the point of driving them versus sending them on the bus. The reality is that they are crammed in with other students like sardines through most of their day. I can see the local elementary doing a few things: having students meet in classrooms before the gym before the formal start of school, eating in classrooms, having specials teachers come to them, not switching desks, but the reality is that there are 30+ kids crammed into each classroom.  I don't see them being able to effectively solve that at all.  Mixing with 30 other students rather than 700 is better, but the reality is that each of those students also networks with a wide number of people---parents (who work and mix with a lot of people), siblings, caregivers, etc.  There is just no good way to solve this.

My Danish friend has her kids back in school this week. They have split the classrooms and are going partial days, with all kinds of other rules in place. Students aren't allowed to touch each other, etc.  They are doing this so parents can go back to work. They have easy access to testing, though, and the ability to stay home if ill.  We just have very different societal parameters. Once society resumes here, parents will go back to having limited/no sick leave, little or no access to sick childcare, etc.

I think many North Americans cannot imagine the impact of a strong safety net and a communitarian society. The reality in countries like Denmark or New Zealand can never, ever be realized here or in other countries where independent “liberty” is valued above all else. 

Edited by MEmama
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I just got an email from one of my kids' June summer camp hosts.  (The Natural History Museum.)  They are rescheduling June camps to the second half of July.  They say they are committed to providing this service.  I agreed to the late July schedule.  We'll see if it holds up.

As it is a very pro-science organization and it's Junior Medical Camp, I am sure they will have appropriate protocols in place depending on whatever is considered advisable at that time.

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7 minutes ago, rebcoola said:

I wonder if it would be possible to offer some sort of incentive for families to use online schooling.  I.E. signup for K-12 get a stipend. 

The Oregon teacher's union actively fought to close enrollment to Oregon's already established and accredited charter schools. 

https://www.wsj.com/articles/oregons-coronavirus-education-lockdown-11585697080

The essential details, for those who don't want to read the WSJ link.... In early March, the Oregon Department of Education and the governor signaled that they were not going to close schools, despite community spread.  Some parents wanted to keep their kids home, and switched enrollments from their brick and mortar to charter schools.  The funding dollars moved with them.  The Oregon teacher's union pushed the governor to close enrollment to the online schools, which they did. The union also pushed the governor to order online schools closed even though they have the ability to provide all services online. The governor did so.  Contemplate how really ridiculous that is. 

As it is, all seniors, Oregon wide, will receive pass-fail grades even if they had earned As in their online charter school classes. It's being done in the name of equity, but it's completely ridiculous.

The saga goes on.....the governor originally declared that only supplemental learning would happen---that no new teaching would occur based on pressure from the teacher's union. The governor eventually reversed position, but it has been a complete train wreck.  Online learning for everyone started yesterday, nearly a month after closure.  

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I don't agree with incentives for online public school.  The one kid I know who used that failed to learn anything since his parents weren't involved.  Too many parents either won't or can't provide the right structure or supervision at home.

I would agree with making it easy for parents to choose online school without penalty,  as kids should not be penalized for being medically fragile or whatever.  If they have some kind of diagnosis, then maybe this could be considered a covered medical expense or something to make it more accessible.  There will still be kids who are not served well by it though.

Seeing my kids' situation with online "school at home," it's no substitute for in-person instruction unless the kid is great at self-teaching.. 

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You all are probably right about online school I just don't see public schools opening up as they were.  I also don't see many people just deciding to keep kids home.  Our school district is very pro parent partnership programs they make the school district money.  They get full government funding for each kids and only spend half of it on our programs.

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Another summer camp (run by a private school) just sent me an email saying they are currently planning to keep all their summer programs as scheduled.  My kids are registered for a late August camp with them, so hopefully it will be a go.

In the email, they say a lot about how much the kids will need to get back into a routine, be with other kids, express themselves with the arts, etc.  It seems schools and other organizations are expecting things to be largely back to normal before summer ends.  And I really hope so too.

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DD is registered for a camp in June and they just sent an email with their revised refund policies. Basically it sounds like they're not going to cancel unless they have to, either by law, or because it's just too unsafe. 

I really do not expect her June camp to happen, but I am cautiously optimistic (in denial?) that her group could move to one of the August dates and be able to. We'll see.

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I know this sounds crazy, but this whole episode seems to me like an opportunity to step back and really assess what we are doing with public K-12 education. To really think deeply about whether some of the trappings/routines are really the best we can offer or if it’s just the way we’ve always done it. Harness the change in the air. 
 

1. MidAug through MidMay school. This is a vestige of a bygone (pre HVAC, and when mom or grandparent at home was more common) era. Working families would arguably be better served if the summer break became several-weeks-long quarterly breaks over the year. Childcare easier to obtain/budget while trips would still be possible for those who can afford it. 

2. Gigantic fancy school buildings that are still overfull. At some point we lost sight of what a school building needs to be. We made them so fancy and expensive, we couldn’t afford the needed square footage. Maybe we could rethink small neighborhood schools, like 20 or less per grade small. This would scale down to the point where bussing isn’t even needed in a ton of urban and suburban areas. Some would be so close to each other that they could presumably share a central playground, ball fields, meals delivered to classrooms. 
 

I don’t know. I’m talking out of my hat. I have a tendency to question the way things have “always” been done, distrust economy of scale having the last say, etc. I’m a homeschooler after all. 

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12 minutes ago, SamanthaCarter said:

I know this sounds crazy, but this whole episode seems to me like an opportunity to step back and really assess what we are doing with public K-12 education. To really think deeply about whether some of the trappings/routines are really the best we can offer or if it’s just the way we’ve always done it. Harness the change in the air. 
 

1. MidAug through MidMay school. This is a vestige of a bygone (pre HVAC, and when mom or grandparent at home was more common) era. Working families would arguably be better served if the summer break became several-weeks-long quarterly breaks over the year. Childcare easier to obtain/budget while trips would still be possible for those who can afford it. 

2. Gigantic fancy school buildings that are still overfull. At some point we lost sight of what a school building needs to be. We made them so fancy and expensive, we couldn’t afford the needed square footage. Maybe we could rethink small neighborhood schools, like 20 or less per grade small. This would scale down to the point where bussing isn’t even needed in a ton of urban and suburban areas. Some would be so close to each other that they could presumably share a central playground, ball fields, meals delivered to classrooms. 
 

I don’t know. I’m talking out of my hat. I have a tendency to question the way things have “always” been done, distrust economy of scale having the last say, etc. I’m a homeschooler after all. 

I wish. Whenever I get to look at how other countries do school, I get floored by the bizarre things we've come to see as normal in the US.

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I'm watching my school board meetings online. A lot of districts have moved online---you might find it insightful to look up your local district.  For my local district, it's really wild.  You see all kinds of political agendas going on, and because most citizens don't follow the school board meetings closely, all kinds of craziness is able to move forward.

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18 minutes ago, SamanthaCarter said:



2. Gigantic fancy school buildings that are still overfull. At some point we lost sight of what a school building needs to be. We made them so fancy and expensive, we couldn’t afford the needed square footage. Maybe we could rethink small neighborhood schools, like 20 or less per grade small. This would scale down to the point where bussing isn’t even needed in a ton of urban and suburban areas
 

My nearest K-8 school has to use portable classrooms because there were too many kids. During the Great Recession, teachers were layoff and class size went from 20 to 30. Class limit was suspended.

People are also getting tired of paying for school bonds/measures and seeing funds misused or nothing seems to be done. 

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48 minutes ago, rebcoola said:

Denial is real.  US track and field cancelled Nationals but our track team is sure we'll just be a few weeks delayed and going forward with all local meets.  

What was the original date for T&R Nationals? US Fencing just postponed theirs from first week of July to early August, but they don't have firm dates yet. It's the largest fencing competition in the world, with 10,000 attendees, and I really don't see how they're going to pull that off, even in August. ☹️

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California https://abc7news.com/education/when-will-ca-schools-reopen-newsom-has-some-ideas/6103783/

“Although he didn't give an exact date on when schools would reopen, he did give some ideas on what could look like when that day comes.

"We need to get our kids educated. We need to deal with their mental health and parent's mental health. It's hard to educate your kids and then take care of everybody else," said Gov. Newsom.

The new vision of school will include social distancing within the school.

"They can come in as cohorts in the morning and some in the afternoon. We have to work of course with our union and others in management to figure something like that out," said Gov. Newsom.”

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54 minutes ago, Corraleno said:

What was the original date for T&R Nationals? US Fencing just postponed theirs from first week of July to early August, but they don't have firm dates yet. It's the largest fencing competition in the world, with 10,000 attendees, and I really don't see how they're going to pull that off, even in August. ☹️

End of June so no surprise really.  

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I think a lot of people around me are spinning false hope. I keep telling my kids that things will probably be cancelled and not to get their hopes up for things but then the people in charge put on an optimistic face and my kids just get mad at me. I guess I’ve decided to stop trying to temper their expectations and just be optimistic with them. I guess that is what they want but it goes against my nature.

Ds has a de course set to start the second week of May that supposedly still is in person. Dd has a recital supposedly happening in July. Ds has a big week long conference at a state university scheduled in July and another one in August.

I really would be thrilled to think we could get back in fall to close to normal and kids could go to school and colleges would be in person. But it just seems unlikely and the things my kids are into can’t be adapted to social distancing guidelines much. 
 

I think our state will be among the early openers, however, I cannot see our governor going first. I think he will follow surrounding red states, not lead the way. 
 

 

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6 hours ago, Ordinary Shoes said:

Even if school is only a half day, most parents work and need childcare for all day. Afterschool costs money. Will schools make parents pay for afterschool in the time when their kids used to be in school? How do you enforce social distancing in a crowded afterschool environment without making it more expensive? 

If afterschool gets too expensive, parents will opt out and have their kids go home by themselves. 

I don’t know a good answer to that question, but I’d think it’d be a small step up from no school or online school for those families.  

I wonder if perhaps the next couple of months will convince people to move back toward neighbor to neighbor help.  For example, if I have 2 kids who are required to go to school in the fall for half days, I might consider taking my friend’s 2 kids for the afternoon (Or morning, whatever) if she has classes/work.

The bottom line is that there ISN’T going to be a perfect solution for every family in every area. While states and districts really need to be working hard to find the best solution possible, “normal” school isn’t going to BE the best solution. It might happen anyway, but many areas are likely to pay a huge price for that.  Every option will have drawbacks. There’s no getting around it.

For my personal situation, I’d really like to be permitted to take an online option. My previous expectation was to have two bonus kids in PS all day, where they’d get more structure, any services they needed, and give me homeschool time with the other kids.  But, if there were to be few to no services, limited peer interaction, and a relatively short amount of structure/routine with just a half day of academics, it really doesn’t feel worth the risk. Especially if I were to consider driving 25 minutes each way twice a day to avoid crowded buses. (Our district already has major bussing issues. I hold no hope for creating more space). But a full day of school, complete with lunch, gym, music, art, etc. genuinely scares me now, particularly when considering the K-2 crowd, which I already consider to be filthy goober germ bombs, bless their hearts.

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8 hours ago, Sk8ermaiden said:

Annnd summer swim league was just canceled. This summer is going to suck so hard. 

I have prepared my boys for this and I hope ours is cancelled too.  My boys haven’t missed a summer swim meet in the 8 years they’ve been swimming.  I will not let them go back this summer even if the league decides to have it and that would be hard on them.  There is no chance for social distanicng at a summer swim practice and meets 🤪.

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8 hours ago, kdsuomi said:

Even with half going in the morning and half in the afternoon, most schools won't have room to put kids six feet apart from each other. Not to mention, the education so many receive is bad enough with a full day at school. If they lose this year (which they already have) and then go to half days for next year, that will be so much education lost, and it will only make the educational disparities even larger. How do you physically distance recess? 

I don't know, I personally think that for the little ones they spend way too much time on academics already. 90 minutes for language arts for 1st graders isn't appropriate, so maybe with less time they will be more efficient? And older kids, maybe they can use part of that time for working on their own, research, etc? More a university model?

My state already has a very robust online option. In fact all kids here are required to take at least one class virutally, to save money or something. Right now, that is not what the regular teachers/schools are using during this time, since it was a midyear shift, etc. But I predict a move to way more students using it in the fall. 

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22 minutes ago, Ktgrok said:

I don't know, I personally think that for the little ones they spend way too much time on academics already. 90 minutes for language arts for 1st graders isn't appropriate, so maybe with less time they will be more efficient? And older kids, maybe they can use part of that time for working on their own, research, etc? More a university model?

My state already has a very robust online option. In fact all kids here are required to take at least one class virutally, to save money or something. Right now, that is not what the regular teachers/schools are using during this time, since it was a midyear shift, etc. But I predict a move to way more students using it in the fall. 

 

90 minutes is the norm here. I long term sub, mostly at one school. The typical use of time for K-3:

9-9:15: Teacher reads story, discuss or mini lesson 

9:15-10:15: Rotations

     1- teacher table: guided reading/word study

      2- independent: varies: to self, read to buddy, listen to reading, reading games, spelling practice (magnets, chalk, etc), etc. 

    3- paraeducator table: various activities, sometimes used to teach games for independent time.... in 2nd/3rd, we only had paras twice a week so there would be 2 independent rotations.

Between rotations,  there would be some kind of movement activity.  The way it's done here is very developmentally appropriate.  I've left a position where I was expected to teach in a developmentally inappropriate way. 

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2 hours ago, QueenCat said:

 

90 minutes is the norm here. I long term sub, mostly at one school. The typical use of time for K-3:

9-9:15: Teacher reads story, discuss or mini lesson 

9:15-10:15: Rotations

     1- teacher table: guided reading/word study

      2- independent: varies: to self, read to buddy, listen to reading, reading games, spelling practice (magnets, chalk, etc), etc. 

    3- paraeducator table: various activities, sometimes used to teach games for independent time.... in 2nd/3rd, we only had paras twice a week so there would be 2 independent rotations.

Between rotations,  there would be some kind of movement activity.  The way it's done here is very developmentally appropriate.  I've left a position where I was expected to teach in a developmentally inappropriate way. 

This is key. It can be developmentally appropriate or not. Our local school got rid of recess because it interfered with a 120 minute language block. (!!!) But then they'd show the kids movies at the end of the day because they were so fried. And they didn't bother making sure the movies were age appropriate (Shrek for kindergarteners?). Thankfully, with epic community work, the principal who instituted the change was let go after a year, but she now works at another school within the system.

Emily

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The community college my DS15 attended had the classes moved to bigger classrooms if possible two weeks before shelter in place started. I think what might happen for Fall is that for credit classes that are doing badly online would get priority to the larger classrooms on campus, while those classes that are doing okay online would stay online for Fall quarter. The campus does have quite a few large classrooms unused while DS15 was in class, so facilities management would have to optimize the large classrooms and lecture halls unused slots.

Another way might be to hybrid those twice/thrice a week in person class to have a day on campus and the rest online. So students can use the larger classrooms and lecture halls to spread out. 

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13 hours ago, Ordinary Shoes said:

Look at how all of the schools cancelled mandatory standardized testing. Maybe after going one year with standardized testing will make everyone realize what a waste of time it is. 

Also now that kids are doing all of their school at home, I think parents are finally realizing how much busywork there is. 

Let's hope the standardized testing goes away, or at least gets greatly reduced. NWEA, for example, makes a ton of money from schools across the country, and as far as I can tell, the data isn't useful in the slightest. 

As far as busywork, YES! My students are seeing that if they buckle down and just do their assignments, they can be done in an hour or two. There is a lot of sitting around in classrooms, waiting for other kids to talk, share ideas, etc. which is of course valuable in certain situations, but there is definitely a lot that can be changed.

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3 minutes ago, Mainer said:

Let's hope the standardized testing goes away, or at least gets greatly reduced. NWEA, for example, makes a ton of money from schools across the country, and as far as I can tell, the data isn't useful in the slightest. 

As far as busywork, YES! My students are seeing that if they buckle down and just do their assignments, they can be done in an hour or two. There is a lot of sitting around in classrooms, waiting for other kids to talk, share ideas, etc. which is of course valuable in certain situations, but there is definitely a lot that can be changed.

My son (15-year-old freshman) cried like a baby the day his school started online classes when he saw all the busy-work he had to do. I spent a while convincing him that if he'd just stop crying and do the stupid work, he'd finish it in an hour (specifically, a month's work of music theory assignments from band similar to what he assigns his beginning piano students). He has two classes that aren't just giving them busy work. Which means five classes are giving out silly assignments to check the box. And he knows it. And it kills him. All the negatives of school (busy work, someone else deciding what to study, having to show up at a certain time, etc) with none of the positives (peer interaction, competition, extra-curriculars).

Emily

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16 minutes ago, Mainer said:

Let's hope the standardized testing goes away, or at least gets greatly reduced. NWEA, for example, makes a ton of money from schools across the country, and as far as I can tell, the data isn't useful in the slightest. 

As far as busywork, YES! My students are seeing that if they buckle down and just do their assignments, they can be done in an hour or two. There is a lot of sitting around in classrooms, waiting for other kids to talk, share ideas, etc. which is of course valuable in certain situations, but there is definitely a lot that can be changed.

Wow. My junior has a ton of work. None of his classes have any busy work in regular times and certainly not now. He’s having to essentially teach himself 4 AP classes plus do the assignments and his honours classes. He is pretty overwhelmed. In a way it’s good that he has so much work, because what else is there to do? But yeah, it’s demanding. 
 

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2 hours ago, EmilyGF said:

Which means five classes are giving out silly assignments to check the box. And he knows it. And it kills him. All the negatives of school (busy work, someone else deciding what to study, having to show up at a certain time, etc) with none of the positives (peer interaction, competition, extra-curriculars).

Ugh. That stinks!

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2 hours ago, MEmama said:

Wow. My junior has a ton of work. None of his classes have any busy work in regular times and certainly not now. He’s having to essentially teach himself 4 AP classes plus do the assignments and his honours classes. He is pretty overwhelmed. In a way it’s good that he has so much work, because what else is there to do? But yeah, it’s demanding. 

Wow. That sounds very difficult. Busy is good... overwhelmed is not! Poor guy.

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We might not go back to normal for another 2 years

DeWine's assessment was underscored by researchers from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health who published findings Tuesday that projected the US may have to endure social distancing measures -- such as stay-at-home orders and school closures -- until 2022, unless a vaccine becomes available.

"Intermittent distancing may be required into 2022 unless critical care capacity is increased substantially or a treatment or vaccine becomes available," they wrote in their report.

Those findings directly contradict research cited by the White House that suggests the pandemic could stop by this summer.

 

 

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/us-coronavirus-highest-number-of-deaths-in-a-day-recorded-after-several-days-of-a-downward-trend/ar-BB12Em0n?ocid=spartandhp

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2 hours ago, kdsuomi said:

There's no way schools can work efficiently enough to cover a full day worth of curriculum in half a day when they still have a group of children to teach. The only thing they'd be able to do is take away any play time they would, and should, have. Those with means will still be able to cover the gap with paid services and those without will fall behind even more. 

Are we going to tell children that they can't ask questions because they have to get through six hours of work in three?

Well, no, but “a full day worth of curriculum” is for normal times.
If you took out lunch/recess, art/music/gym/etc., and other classroom shuffling (I know our elementary switched rooms for subjects years ago, and I think they still do), then it’s more like trying to get through 4 or fewer hours of work in 3.  Absolutely not ideal by any means, but not halving the traditional grade-level academic material expectations.

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3 hours ago, Arcadia said:

The community college my DS15 attended had the classes moved to bigger classrooms if possible two weeks before shelter in place started. I think what might happen for Fall is that for credit classes that are doing badly online would get priority to the larger classrooms on campus, while those classes that are doing okay online would stay online for Fall quarter. The campus does have quite a few large classrooms unused while DS15 was in class, so facilities management would have to optimize the large classrooms and lecture halls unused slots.

Another way might be to hybrid those twice/thrice a week in person class to have a day on campus and the rest online. So students can use the larger classrooms and lecture halls to spread out. 

The latter is what DD's college is going to for most classes. I also noticed that the classes she was looking at  had size limits such that if they only come once a week they would be in compliance with groups of 10 or less. 

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2 hours ago, kdsuomi said:

There's no way schools can work efficiently enough to cover a full day worth of curriculum in half a day when they still have a group of children to teach. The only thing they'd be able to do is take away any play time they would, and should, have. Those with means will still be able to cover the gap with paid services and those without will fall behind even more. 

Are we going to tell children that they can't ask questions because they have to get through six hours of work in three?

Well, I don't think elementary kids should have 6 hours of work anyway 🙂

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In public schools here, I foresee school starting where classes will be held in shifts: with 10 kids spaced out well and starting early, leaving after a 3 hour shift of school and the next 10 kids coming in after that etc. What I don't foresee is how on earth they are going to coordinate lunches in shifts, multiple teaching sessions of the same content by teachers (10 kids per session), sharing computers, desks, toilets and washing areas in a sanitary fashion, aftercare when the child gets school done and gets dismissed or before-care when a child is waiting for later shifts, bus scheduling etc. Then, I tell myself that all the local PS admins are legendary for their high 6 figure salaries and the same goes for the highly compensated School Superintendents who hire fancy consulting companies to make policies, so, they can earn their salaries while figuring this out.

As for denial, my state's largest musicianship exam which includes a written test and an audition is informing hundreds of students that the event has been rescheduled for late May. Typically, we go to a local university campus and use their music department's lecture hall to take the written tests and the audition with a judge happens in classrooms in the music department with pianos and other instrument belonging to the university. My child has already given up on it: he refuses to do an online audition and he refuses to go to an university room and play on a piano because he does not want to touch a piano that someone before him used because he is concerned about asymptomatic carriers or even someone sneezing on it. So, we will give up on the event even though we paid for it and spent close to one year preparing repertoire and theory for it. 

 

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I think here, for breakfast and lunch they will bring packaged foods into the classrooms on carts.  
 

They do similar here and there (for field trips etc).  
 

Indoor recess is already common here for months of the year, the teachers have cupboards full of games.  
 

For some other things — I think things will be wiped down, but nobody will officially worry about breathing the air.  To wipe down desks and computer mouse and keyboard I think would be easy enough.  
 

I don’t think they would run the buses twice for an am and a pm session on the same day.  Maybe assigned days.

I hope they will just have regular school, though, and find out kids are not silent spreaders.  
 

But I think kids could be taught to wipe down certain things after use.  My kids have had teachers where every child wipes their own desk and chair with a Clorox wipe at the end of the day, during the winter.  Edit:  they have also had teachers who have kids take a pump of hand sanitizer as they enter the classroom every time they come in (after PE, after lunch, etc).  

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1 hour ago, mathnerd said:

In public schools here, I foresee school starting where classes will be held in shifts: with 10 kids spaced out well and starting early, leaving after a 3 hour shift of school and the next 10 kids coming in after that etc. What I don't foresee is how on earth they are going to coordinate lunches in shifts, multiple teaching sessions of the same content by teachers (10 kids per session), sharing computers, desks, toilets and washing areas in a sanitary fashion, aftercare when the child gets school done and gets dismissed or before-care when a child is waiting for later shifts, bus scheduling etc. Then, I tell myself that all the local PS admins are legendary for their high 6 figure salaries and the same goes for the highly compensated School Superintendents who hire fancy consulting companies to make policies, so, they can earn their salaries while figuring this out.

As for denial, my state's largest musicianship exam which includes a written test and an audition is informing hundreds of students that the event has been rescheduled for late May. Typically, we go to a local university campus and use their music department's lecture hall to take the written tests and the audition with a judge happens in classrooms in the music department with pianos and other instrument belonging to the university. My child has already given up on it: he refuses to do an online audition and he refuses to go to an university room and play on a piano because he does not want to touch a piano that someone before him used because he is concerned about asymptomatic carriers or even someone sneezing on it. So, we will give up on the event even though we paid for it and spent close to one year preparing repertoire and theory for it. 

 

 

I currently teach public school (middle school), so I've been thinking about this a lot. I think my ideal would be to split the kids but come for a full day. Sort of University-school style. Half the kids come Monday for a full day, the other half comes Tuesday. Everyone stays home Wednesday so staff can deep clean. Maybe some Zoom lessons can happen on Wednesdays, plus all professional development, IEP meetings, and team meetings. Repeat for Thursday/Friday. Remote learning/independent work happens on the 3 days kids aren't in school.

Seeing the kids twice a week in person, I think we could assign enough meaningful work (both online and internet-free) for kids to make some progress. My husband and I did a similar alternating schedule with our FMLA leave when we adopted our daughter - I saw my kids, introduced new topics, did collaborative work, then left independent work to do with the sub. It worked surprisingly well, especially because they knew they'd be held accountable for the work the next time we met. Obviously expecting the work to be done at home means less will happen, but at least it's something. Communities and school districts would have to have a plan in place for childcare on students' off-days (this would be a great place for YMCAs, churches, city parks and recs to step in, especially if rec sports and youth group aren't happening.) Districts would need to coordinate between schools to make sure siblings come on the same days (big counties that run track-in/track-out schedules might have some ideas for this). 

Buses could run their normal routes with half-capacity. Kids could eat a normal meal schedule on school days and take home bag food at the end of the day for the following days off. No sports. Probably no afterschool clubs. Unfortunately, probably no band or choir. Maybe some form of music-appreciation/history/theory class. Or keyboarding/uke/percussion/non-spit music. Our band kids have been working on Incredibox for remote learning and loving it. Gym becomes health with workouts assigned for non-school days. No browsing library shelves - search for books with the online catalog and have them delivered to classrooms. 

100% remote option would need to be running concurrently - families might need it all year, others may need to go remote for a few weeks at a time if we're doing exposure tracking. High-risk teachers can be used to monitor/coordinate/manage online learning. Attendance policies will have to shift.

Gloves, masks, frequent cleaning strongly encouraged. Lunch outside as often as possible; spread out in the cafeteria when not possible. Plus a million small changes (no classroom pencil bucket, extra handwashing stations, rearranging furniture to physically space students out). Just last night I was thinking about how much I talk at the beginning of the year - introductions, going over procedures, explaining work... I need to go ahead and pre-record those directions so I can play them for my classes instead of physically speaking in front of them.

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