Thoughts on summer / fall

[Kanin]

2 hours ago, MEmama said:

Yeah, lots of busy work for the younger grades. 😞. I must have misread or just pretended I knew the age of your kids! Lol. 

Lol! I was in elementary school in the 80s, and I thought there was a lot of busy work *THEN!* My first memory of school was thinking how boring and a waste of time everything was.

[mommyoffive]

2 hours 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 am sorry.  I hope they figure out a different solution for that exam.  

[katilac]

2 hours ago, kdsuomi said:

That is not an "education" I would want for an entire group of children. 

But they may have to get something in place for fall, ideal or not. Some education is better than no education. You posted about those with means covering gaps left by this imperfect education, and that's certainly true (as it already is), but wouldn't that gap be even wider if they don't do half days or some other imperfect effort at education? 

I do think there is a fair amount of wiggle room in the full day that isn't need in a half day, and that you can get hecka done on fundamental s skills in 3 hours. It may not be ideal to focus on fundamental skills only, but little about the situation is ideal. 

Here's a typical six hours of elementary school versus what might be changed for half-days: 

• 50 minutes for morning recess plus lunch and lunch recess - change to 15 minutes 
• 10 minutes of homeroom, 20 minutes of admin and wrapping up - would love to trim but schools have a ferocious amount of logistics, 30 minutes 
• 20 to 30 minutes of silent sustained reading - SSR done at home
• 30 minutes of specials like PE, music, library, art - no specials 
• 180 minutes, broken down in various ways, on language arts - this is too much time to begin with imo; I think it should be shortened anyways, and then some of the writing and brainstorming and revising can be done at home, keep a full 60 minutes 
• 60 minutes of math -  60 minutes 
• 40 minutes of social studies or science - may have to cut if there are only 3 hours to work with, or do short intros with assignments at home

So my idea of a 3-hour elementary schedule would include 60 minutes for language arts, 60 minutes for math, 30 minutes for admin, 15 minutes for recess or wiggle breaks, and 15 minutes at teacher's discretion. Things do move much faster with substantially fewer students, so I think all the core skills could be covered very well. Nature abhors a vacuum, so tasks expand to fill the time allotted for them. I don't think young students need 45 minutes daily for writing, and these long periods of time lead to lots of chatter and dawdling. Some of the chatter and questions are actually useful and/or teaching moments, sure, but imo it's not terrible (in the educational sense) to cut that language arts time way, way down. 

idk what the kids then do for the rest of the day, but that's a different problem 

Edited April 15, 2020 by katilac
mixing my messages

[katilac]

2 hours ago, Ktgrok said:

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

This is worth both quoting and liking 

[Guest]

I have no idea how schools will proceed but I know one thing: some people I know are *currently* losing their minds over kids being home. (Even at least one former homeschooler - losing their minds because the kids are home.) It’s puzzling. I don’t understand the thinking of those demanding everything “go back to normal.” Are they thinking the virus is just gonna stop being a problem because they are over it? Do they just not believe or understand that people will get sick - many thousands - and some will die, too? 

 

[Guest]

4 minutes ago, Happymomof1 said:

No, they do not.  Because, I know people think we waited too long and we did for some places.  But many of the places because of the social distancing, they just don't understand.  I was arguing with someone today on the Disney board.  Because it infects 1/2 of the people in one office building or plant and so they have to close.  A manager dies.  A dozen or so are hospitalized, several on a vent, many with lingering issues that last for months.  So that plant opens how with those missing people?  So it closes.  Next week it hits the bank.  Same thing.  The manager and several tellers die.  Same week it hits an elementary school of 500.  Now only 30 of the kids get sick and 1  dies.  But 10 of the teachers get sick, 2 die and 3 have lingering problems and are out for months.  How does the school run.   His response was he was going to live.  You can't lock him away forever.  We have to live with the virus and I can stay in my home 24/7 if I desire...

Yes well, to that I say, “You know who makes an unreliable employee? Sick and dead people. They do a terrible job of opening up the economy...” 

[Terabith]

So we shorten the school day....  When I've taught in elementary school, kids were NOT ALLOWED to wash their hands at any point, because hand washing for 20 plus kids took too much time.  And it really does take like 25 minutes for each child to thoroughly wash his or her hands.  If we go back, we have to include hand washing time.  That's going to eat into our time schedule.  

Plus, I worry about teachers, who are frankly more vulnerable than most school aged students, who are still being exposed to 30 kids a day, even if it's in shifts.  But frankly, the real reason we have school is to provide, not so much an education, but food and child care.  Both sets of kids would need to eat at least lunch.  And the child care situation is still significant.  

I agree that I'd rather do alternating days.  Honestly, elementary could easily be done in half day shifts.  I'm really concerned about high school though.  They need the full day.  

[Shoeless]

11 minutes ago, StellaM said:

Yeah, other people's processes are tiring when you've adapted quickly yourself. 

 

You have summed up my mood for today. 

[Carrie12345]

3 hours ago, kdsuomi said:

That is not an "education" I would want for an entire group of children. 

Well, duh. We’re not talking about education reform, we’re talking about emergency measures in a flipping pandemic!

[mumto2]

Maybe portable sinks could be utilized.........

I do know from a neighbor who is still working in a business that makes equipment for first responders that they have set up a least 20 portable sinks around the building parking lot.  He washes his hands, is screened by an RN including temp check.  After he is approved to enter the building, layout has been massively changed to accommodate 6 foot distances.  Last time I asked no one there has failed the daily screening or had CV.  

[barnwife]

10 minutes ago, mumto2 said:

Maybe portable sinks could be utilized.........

I do know from a neighbor who is still working in a business that makes equipment for first responders that they have set up a least 20 portable sinks around the building parking lot.  He washes his hands, is screened by an RN including temp check.  After he is approved to enter the building, layout has been massively changed to accommodate 6 foot distances.  Last time I asked no one there has failed the daily screening or had CV.  

Portable sinks would be a step in the right direction, but not really easy to use in places with winter. Most schools, at least in my area, wouldn't have the space for them in the building, without giving up valuable classroom space. And you aren't sending kids outside to wash their hands in the colder months (and it was cold here before Halloween last fall). I guess it could work if they put them in the gym, and gave up gym classes. 
 

[Terabith]

With regards to numbers of sinks, it varies.  I've taught in lower school classrooms (K-1 mostly) that have a bathroom and a sink in each classroom.  So, one sink per class.  If you take the kids down to the "big bathrooms," there there are usually two or three sinks in each of the two bathrooms.  But there's not two adults to supervise hand washing in each of those; plus you need an adult to stay out with the rest of the class.  

My middle and high school kids refuse to use the restroom at school.  Our high school has maybe six restrooms for boys and six for girls, for 2,000 students.  Now, each has a row of sinks....maybe 6 or 7.  Soap was a real issue.  There's definitely no time allowed for hand washing in middle or high school.  

[SKL]

Speaking of trimming the school day for young kids -

Personally I found social studies and science in elementary school (at least up to grade 5 or 6) to be a big waste of time and stress.  Assign educational videos for the kids to watch at home and be done with it.  Seriously.

I agree with temporarily dropping the specials if something needs to be dropped.

[Terabith]

I've also never been in a classroom where it was possible to social distance, even if you cut in half the number of students.  Well, I take that back.  When I taught in a tiny private school with no class ever bigger than nine, we had big classrooms.  We could socially distance there, probably.  But school is all about shared materials (pencils, books, papers, computers, manipulatives, center materials, playground equipment, art supplies).  It's all about working in groups or rotating through.  We would really have to radically change how we teach elementary school to not constantly be touching communal materials or working in groups.  It would probably have to be either whole class instruction or individual work, with no centers or small group stations/ activities.  I don't think there's any way to do recess, pe, art, or music safely.  Maybe art if every child had their own supplies, but I've never worked in a school that was wealthy enough for that.  Maybe if it was all drawing with pencils and crayons.  How do you handle pencil sharpening, especially if you aren't sharing supplies?  That's a major high touch spot.  How do you handle math manipulatives?  ETA:  Most classrooms are shockingly small, square footage wise.  I can't figure out how you eat in the classroom and protect kids from allergies, but eating in the lunchroom would be a HUGE vector.  But so would everyone traveling to the lunchroom to get the food.  

Edited April 16, 2020 by Terabith

[fairfarmhand]

1 hour ago, Happymomof1 said:

Absolutely...  And I'm trying to think.  Our high school for our town has approximately 1,200 kids.  Maybe 6 bathrooms with 2 or 3 sinks in each....  Yeah, how is this gonna work???  Same thing with elementaries.  I'm picturing the kindergarten school in my mind when my boys were there.  I'm seeing 3 bathrooms with 2 or 3 sinks each for 300 kids... 

So does anyone remember the really really old school buildings that had like 8-10 sinks in each bathroom? Like a whole wall of sinks opposite a whole wall of stalls. As many sinks as stalls/toilets. Why did they stop building them that way?

and my grandmother was a nurse in the 1940s. She’d be horrified that modern American parents of school children would have to strategize to figure out ways for all the kids to wash their hands.

[Terabith]

1 minute ago, CuriousMomof3 said:

 

Around here, the requirements for daycares that serve essential workers are no more than 12 kids in a class, and no adults moving between classes.  But then within those 12 they aren't asking for the kids to be 6 feet apart.  So, kids can play together, and interact with their own classmates, but they aren't multiplying their exposure by also playing with 6 other classes at recess, and sitting at a lunch table where another grade sat before.  Schedule recesses across the whole day, and divide the playground so that classes have segments to play in (e.g. today Ms. A's class plays kickball, Ms. B's class has the playground equipment, and Ms. C's class has the blacktop, tomorrow it's different).  

I think that something like that is realistically the most we could do.  I think that individual supplies, and frequent disinfecting of shared supplies might make sense.  Pencils?  Give each kid 5 or so at the beginning of the day, at night collect, wipe down, sharpen and redistribute?  Only no porous math supplies and disinfect before handing the out?  

It wouldn't be perfect, either virus wise or educationally, but I think we could cut down on exposure if we waited long enough before implementing to set it up.  I think the biggest challenge would be staggering arrivals and dismissals in schools that rely on buses, and childcare if they went with a.m. and p.m. shifts.

The elementary school where I taught had 8 classes per grade level.  It would be REALLY hard not to duplicate playground uses.  (We had a couple of them, but we still had over 56 classes, not including special ed.  It was an elementary school with 800 kids.)

[SKL]

Re hand washing, maybe with the specials on hold, the sinks normally used for home ec / art / gym locker room etc, as well as the janitor's closet, could be used for hand washing.

I don't think they need to hand wash a zillion times a day.  Just on arrival and before eating should be enough.  The early comers can be doing something productive while later comers take turns hand washing.

[SKL]

6 minutes ago, fairfarmhand said:

So does anyone remember the really really old school buildings that had like 8-10 sinks in each bathroom? Like a whole wall of sinks opposite a whole wall of stalls. As many sinks as stalls/toilets. Why did they stop building them that way?

and my grandmother was a nurse in the 1940s. She’d be horrified that modern American parents of school children would have to strategize to figure out ways for all the kids to wash their hands.

I too seem to remember more sinks in my elementary school.

I wonder if they did away with those because of hand sanitizer?  Or maybe because they stopped making kids wait until the whole class went to the toilet in a group?  Or stopped supervising in the restrooms?  Or maybe the sinks were "aspirational" and not enough kids were actually using them??

Edited April 16, 2020 by SKL

[Guest]

4 hours 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. 

 

Here, the university campuses are shut down, so there is no way it would be happening on campus. And many of the pianos (I believe all of the digital piano lab pianos, and some of the practice room spinets) have been distributed to students in their apartments and dorm rooms if they couldn't leave campus so they could do remote lessons/classes, so there may not be pianos to use on campus at all.

[mathnerd]

Just now, dmmetler said:

Here, the university campuses are shut down, so there is no way it would be happening on campus. And many of the pianos (I believe all of the digital piano lab pianos, and some of the practice room spinets) have been distributed to students in their apartments and dorm rooms if they couldn't leave campus so they could do remote lessons/classes, so there may not be pianos to use on campus at all.

DS was scheduled to take the exam at Stanford University in March and we went into SIP in early march and the campus was shut down. Now, they are looking at churches, private studios, music schools and even homes to take the exam. Considering that the theory exam is a couple of hours long for the higher levels and the audition could be for 30 minutes each and that california has several hundreds of students taking it, there is confusion on how it could be done effectively - one idea they came up with is to offer "Makeup auditions" next Fall where the students could exchange their repertoire for newer pieces and still appear for the exam.

[Harriet Vane]

1 hour ago, SKL said:

Re hand washing, maybe with the specials on hold, the sinks normally used for home ec / art / gym locker room etc, as well as the janitor's closet, could be used for hand washing.

I don't think they need to hand wash a zillion times a day.  Just on arrival and before eating should be enough.  The early comers can be doing something productive while later comers take turns hand washing.

Just some pushback on the handwashing.

We know for certain that some people (kids and teachers and staff alike) will be asymptomatic carriers, some will have exceedingly mild symptoms that are easy to ignore, and some will spread the virus before symptoms emerge.

Therefore when those virus-carriers are breathing in the space and subconsciously touching their faces, mouths, noses, then we know the virus will find its way to the surfaces those individuals interact with. Not to mention the fact that children will touch each other and will get too close to each other because it's what we naturally do and it's hard to maintain vigilance.

So washing hands once upon entry and then again when eating really doesn't cover it. It's a shared space. Just like we wipe down grocery carts because someone else used it, we have to wipe the area used within any common space and we have to wash our hands when we use those shared items as well.

[Ausmumof3]

2 hours ago, SKL said:

Re hand washing, maybe with the specials on hold, the sinks normally used for home ec / art / gym locker room etc, as well as the janitor's closet, could be used for hand washing.

I don't think they need to hand wash a zillion times a day.  Just on arrival and before eating should be enough.  The early comers can be doing something productive while later comers take turns hand washing.

 Normal times that would be ok but not for now.  Every time a kid touches a door handle, manipulative, shared stapler or pencil, passes a note and then touches their face they are at risk.  

[Storygirl]

I am glad that I am not a school superintendent at this time. We do have a friend who is a public school superintendent. He has not shared specifics but says that every decision the administration is making right now leads to many more questions.

I don't know what will happen. Someone upthread thought that high school would be harder to plan, but I tend to think that the early years might be harder. High schoolers can stay at home alone, doing online work if necessary, but a six year old cannot. So having two days in person and the rest at home seems easier to implement for high schoolers than for elementary students, based on childcare issues.

 

[Roadrunner]

I think we will have some therapy for this virus by Fall, which will help significantly reduce the number of people ending up on respirators and dying, so the states will allow higher infection rates. 
I can’t imagine schools effectively enforcing social distancing. And if parents are at work, then kids need to be in school. I think by January  we will start vaccinating and until then we will have periodic shutdowns, but will mostly manage the virus with therapy. 
 

I can’t even think about all that my kids don’t get to do anymore and all the hard work that has gone to nothing. It’s OK. They are young. There will be other opportunities. 

Dance kids, musicians... my heart hurts. I worry music venues permanently closing, long hiatus for recitals.... 

I wish there was a way to hibernate through this. My mental health has rapidly deteriorated over the past month.

[Shoeless]

1 hour ago, StellaM said:

I am not putting my eggs in the vaccine basket. 

I'd love to think effective therapies will be available soon, but honestly, I don't think anyone knows that. 

I honestly think all at-risk teachers should find other jobs. 

 

My aunt and sister both have phDs in immunology. Both have a lot of research experience, and worked for big labs and universities.  Both have said there is cautious optimism about vaccine production.  The buzz they've heard says that a decent vaccine is close because a lot of current development is piggy-backing off research on a SARS and MERS vaccine, but the sticking point is that there will not be adequate testing before it goes to market.  There simply isn't time.  Even if a vaccine was magically available tomorrow, it would be at least 6 months before either would recommend getting it, and their plan is to lay low until they see the data on how large groups of real, live humans respond to the vaccine and subsequent virus exposure.  

[Hilltopmom]

11 hours ago, Happymomof1 said:

Oh my goodness, you are right!  AND do you have the facilities to social distance while all of those children are washing their hands..what...every hour?  Every 30 minutes?   Are there enough sinks???

Nope, not enough sinks. Our primary rooms have a bathroom and sink in the classroom. But grades 3 and up do not. Only the 3 sinks in the bathroom at the end of our hallway. For 8 classrooms.

[Hilltopmom]

7 hours ago, StellaM said:

I am not putting my eggs in the vaccine basket. 

I'd love to think effective therapies will be available soon, but honestly, I don't think anyone knows that. 

I honestly think all at-risk teachers should find other jobs. 

So all teachers over age... what? All teachers with family members who might be at risk? All teachers who may interact with at risk people? So, basically all teachers?

Who will take their places? There’s a teacher shortage as it is.

Parents send their sick kids to school daily. I understand the why of it & it’s a society problem, but I have kids in my room constantly coughing, sneezing, blowing noses, etc- no matter which grade I’ve taught. Our society isn’t set up for sick kids to stay home the whole 1-2 weeks it might take to get over a cold or flu. And since this can be passed by asymptomatic people...
To think we could keep this out of schools or keep staff safe (not just teachers- also our minimum wage earning monitors, lunch staff, aides, bus drivers who don’t even get health insurance- talk about a different type of “high risk”) is unrealistic.

Edited April 16, 2020 by Hilltopmom

[Kanin]

6 hours ago, StellaM said:

I honestly think all at-risk teachers should find other jobs. 

I'm not high risk, but my DH has asthma, and my mom is older. A lot will have to change before I feel comfortable going back to school in the fall. I hate to even say that, but the way I feel now, I can't even picture being in a school. I've had a student sneeze and felt a droplet land on my lip. Kids sneeze on desks. They cough and droplets land on our books. That's gross in "regular" times, but now...

[Joker]

A professor at my dc's university passed away last week due to the virus. He apparently went into the hospital right before spring break.

I honestly just don't see how they will all open in the fall. If they do, I definitely believe there will be a shortage of staff due to the risk.

Edited April 16, 2020 by Joker

[barnwife]

26 minutes ago, Mainer said:

I'm not high risk, but my DH has asthma, and my mom is older. A lot will have to change before I feel comfortable going back to school in the fall. I hate to even say that, but the way I feel now, I can't even picture being in a school. I've had a student sneeze and felt a droplet land on my lip. Kids sneeze on desks. They cough and droplets land on our books. That's gross in "regular" times, but now...

This post speaks to me, and I "only" teach a Sunday School class at our church. It's a young elementary class. We generally spent a lot of time in a circle on the floor, sitting practically knee to knee. This year (last year?) I had a small class. Even so, our rooms are so small, I don't think I could practice social distancing with the small class, even if we removed the tables and chairs!

At the beginning of the year, we used a candle during prayer time at the end of class. Then they'd all blow it out together. I put a stop to that in November-ish, as it seemed a good way to spread too many germs during cold/flu season. The kids were so disappointed!

Anyway, I am very much thinking about changes that will have to happen in order for me to feel comfortable. While, neither DH nor I is terribly high-risk that we know of, our family is growing this fall. And currently I feel like "let's hibernate and never expose a tiny baby to anything!" Which kind of makes me laugh, because that's not at all how I felt with the others...guess that shows how this pandemic is changing me!

[Wheres Toto]

15 hours ago, Quill said:

Yes well, to that I say, “You know who makes an unreliable employee? Sick and dead people. They do a terrible job of opening up the economy...” 

Can I share your quote on Facebook? 

[QueenCat]

16 hours ago, katilac said:

But they may have to get something in place for fall, ideal or not. Some education is better than no education. You posted about those with means covering gaps left by this imperfect education, and that's certainly true (as it already is), but wouldn't that gap be even wider if they don't do half days or some other imperfect effort at education? 

I do think there is a fair amount of wiggle room in the full day that isn't need in a half day, and that you can get hecka done on fundamental s skills in 3 hours. It may not be ideal to focus on fundamental skills only, but little about the situation is ideal. 

Here's a typical six hours of elementary school versus what might be changed for half-days: 

• 50 minutes for morning recess plus lunch and lunch recess - change to 15 minutes 
• 10 minutes of homeroom, 20 minutes of admin and wrapping up - would love to trim but schools have a ferocious amount of logistics, 30 minutes 
• 20 to 30 minutes of silent sustained reading - SSR done at home
• 30 minutes of specials like PE, music, library, art - no specials 
• 180 minutes, broken down in various ways, on language arts - this is too much time to begin with imo; I think it should be shortened anyways, and then some of the writing and brainstorming and revising can be done at home, keep a full 60 minutes 
• 60 minutes of math -  60 minutes 
• 40 minutes of social studies or science - may have to cut if there are only 3 hours to work with, or do short intros with assignments at home

So my idea of a 3-hour elementary schedule would include 60 minutes for language arts, 60 minutes for math, 30 minutes for admin, 15 minutes for recess or wiggle breaks, and 15 minutes at teacher's discretion. Things do move much faster with substantially fewer students, so I think all the core skills could be covered very well. Nature abhors a vacuum, so tasks expand to fill the time allotted for them. I don't think young students need 45 minutes daily for writing, and these long periods of time lead to lots of chatter and dawdling. Some of the chatter and questions are actually useful and/or teaching moments, sure, but imo it's not terrible (in the educational sense) to cut that language arts time way, way down. 

idk what the kids then do for the rest of the day, but that's a different problem 

 

I'm open-mouthed shocked that there are schools that have 50 minutes of recess plus lunch recess. Our state requires 30 minutes, grades K-5.  And that's what the kids get... Teachers will stretch it a bit when they can but really don't have the time for that often... They do get P.E. twice a week, which gets them moving too. 

[Scarlett]

15 hours ago, Quill said:

Yes well, to that I say, “You know who makes an unreliable employee? Sick and dead people. They do a terrible job of opening up the economy...” 

This is perfect.  

 

[Guest]

I'm also thinking that if you go to split days where only half the kids are on campus, maybe the "specials" could be done remotely. It wouldn't be the same as in the classroom, but it would avoid the exposure risk. A lot of the digital whiteboard materials for music could be used online, and I'm guessing most kids could find some basic "instruments". The recorder unit for older elementary could be done online, and maybe do like instrument groups  for band, to make it easier to give instructions. PE could be focused on stuff kids can do at home. 

[Shoeless]

8 hours ago, StellaM said:

 

That's good to know, and sounds like a good plan, one which I shall follow!

I will let you know if their recommendation changes. I am going to follow their lead since they understand this far, far better than I ever will! 

[katilac]

21 minutes ago, QueenCat said:

I'm open-mouthed shocked that there are schools that have 50 minutes of recess plus lunch recess. Our state requires 30 minutes, grades K-5.  And that's what the kids get... Teachers will stretch it a bit when they can but really don't have the time for that often... They do get P.E. twice a week, which gets them moving too. 

Yeah, there's been a slow move back to more recess, but an appalling number of schools really restrict it. Which is stupid, because these kids have to pee sometime, so no morning recess equals lots of disruptions . . . 

Being forced to really look at and rebuild the school day could be an exciting opportunity within this struggle. 

[Storygirl]

25 minutes ago, dmmetler said:

I'm also thinking that if you go to split days where only half the kids are on campus, maybe the "specials" could be done remotely. It wouldn't be the same as in the classroom, but it would avoid the exposure risk. A lot of the digital whiteboard materials for music could be used online, and I'm guessing most kids could find some basic "instruments". The recorder unit for older elementary could be done online, and maybe do like instrument groups  for band, to make it easier to give instructions. PE could be focused on stuff kids can do at home. 

I've been thinking about music, too, because I have two who will be in high school band next year, and one who will be in high school choir. And I doubt things will operate as usual.

I think it's possible that many districts will cut the music programs instead of thinking of creative solutions. Which would be really really sad. No one at my school is asking my opinion, but I've been thinking anyway. Our high school band director also is the middle school band director, and as much as my middle schoolers have benefitted from band, I think that they could do online music instruction of some sort for middle school (maybe the choir teachers could oversee this, since they may not be able to have people singing together). And then the high school band director could have classes with small ensembles -- like 10-12 students spread through the very large band room -- that meet once or twice a week and then practice separately at home on the other days.

This would keep the students' skills up, so that the entire band could reconvene once it is possible.

I can't envision football happening, so I'm thinking no marching band in the fall. This is super sad. Band is the only reason that one of my kids likes school at all, so I am really hoping they are able to figure out something.

Although I'd like to believe that school can start as usual in the fall, I think it's unlikely.

[Storygirl]

https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/14/us/cdc-fema-national-strategy/index.html

I don't know if anyone has posted this. But the preliminary leaked national recommendations includes schools opening first, before businesses.

Which makes sense from a childcare perspective and because young people are supposedly less likely to get it. But it does not make sense when you factor in that there are adults working in schools, and that children will be able to carry the virus home to family members, even if they themselves don't acquire symptoms.

I don't know what the answers will be, but it won't be easy. I don't think that schools can just say, "Yay, we are open again!" and go back to normal. Which means they need time to put new measures into place. I think most schools will not reopen before fall, despite what this leaked report suggests about them reopening in the first phase.

Edited April 16, 2020 by Storygirl

[Storygirl]

At this point, I don't even know how the schools are going to manage letting students clear out their lockers of personal items. And returning things that are school property that students may have at home, like sports uniforms, computers, calculators, etc. Our schools didn't have students clear everything out before they closed, because the initial  plan was only to be closed for three weeks.

[Guest]

Our governor "Strongly recommended" schools stay closed for the remainder of the year. I suspect the local districts would have anyway, but this triggered the official announcement. I'm having a harder time with it than I thought I would. (My community center follows school cancellations and closings). I'm really wondering if I'll have a program left at all by the time things reopen.

[Guest]

Just now, Storygirl said:

At this point, I don't even know how the schools are going to manage letting students clear out their lockers of personal items. And returning things that are school property that students may have at home, like sports uniforms, computers, calculators, etc. Our schools didn't have students clear everything out before they closed, because the initial  plan was only to be closed for three weeks.

I have a lot of materials in my studio that I haven't been able to get due to the shutdown-and that would really, really be nice to have for online lessons!

[katilac]

18 minutes ago, Storygirl said:

 I think it's possible that many districts will cut the music programs instead of thinking of creative solutions. Which would be really really sad. No one at my school is asking my opinion 

You should absolutely offer it anyway. Send your opinion and your ideas to anyone concerned. If there are ways that parental involvement could make certain things easier, send those thoughts too. Suggest an online discussion or a message board where parents and students could offer their thoughts. 

1 minute ago, dmmetler said:

I have a lot of materials in my studio that I haven't been able to get due to the shutdown-and that would really, really be nice to have for online lessons!

A studio that you have a key to? Because I would go get my stuff, making a living is a pretty big necessity. 

[bolt.]

6 minutes ago, Storygirl said:

At this point, I don't even know how the schools are going to manage letting students clear out their lockers of personal items. And returning things that are school property that students may have at home, like sports uniforms, computers, calculators, etc. Our schools didn't have students clear everything out before they closed, because the initial  plan was only to be closed for three weeks.

Our schools had "one parent only" come in to pick up belongings and empty lockers. We were organized by letters of the alphabet ("A=C, 9:00 to 9:30 on Tuesday") and instructed to keep distance inside the school. The lockers all had the locks removed and were labeled with student names. When you emptied it, you took the sticky note off. There were tables in the foyer for parents to visually identify student objects that had been left in other classrooms etc. It wasn't perfect, but it felt safe.

They didn't ask for the return of school property because students were considered likely to have use for those things over the emergency distance learning scenario, and they could return them at the end of the so-called school year.

[Guest]

Just now, katilac said:

You should absolutely offer it anyway. Send your opinion and your ideas to anyone concerned. If there are ways that parental involvement could make certain things easier, send those thoughts too. Suggest an online discussion or a message board where parents and students could offer their thoughts. 

A studio that you have a key to? Because I would go get my stuff, making a living is a pretty big necessity. 

My studio is in a community center, which is locked off. I have a key to my room, but not one to the building. I'm making it work, but there are a lot of things I use with my preschoolers, especially, that it would be nice to have.

[katilac]

1 minute ago, dmmetler said:

My studio is in a community center, which is locked off. I have a key to my room, but not one to the building. I'm making it work, but there are a lot of things I use with my preschoolers, especially, that it would be nice to have.

Dang, that stinks. 

[bolt.]

I think all of these ideas for less student density, more washing, and better sick policies are excellent.

I also kind of think we might end up "looping" an entire school year as we implement various possible scenarios of unusual schooling strategies. I kind of wonder if they might, in March 2021 just say, "And we're just going to consider this whole thing to be two school years spent on one year's achievement." -- Leading to the possibility of finishing out that school year with plenty of individual attention, catch up, and "specials" (as you Americans call them). Then everybody would advance to what would have been their next grade in Sept 2021 as a fresh start, and everybody will graduate a year "late" (after 13 years in school) for a while. (Or maybe some students, on teacher recommendation, could 'accelerate' and join their originally scheduled year.)

I don't think it's unreasonable to imagine the virus taking a full year to resolve completely. Why not offer an extra years' educational services to review, refresh, and sort of "make up for" the sometimes-chaotic semi-learning that is on offer in the meantime?

[SKL]

14 hours ago, Ordinary Shoes said:

DD's friends are still doing specials at home. It's crazy. Most of DD's friends attend a Catholic school. Art is assigned and graded and the kids have must submit photos of their art work. Another friend attends a charter school and they have to do Latin at home. I'm amazed that parents are putting up with it.

My kids also have assignments for art, music, gym, AR reading, and Spanish, which frankly pi$$es me off.  Must be a state law requirement or something.  With my kid having to teach herself math that is hard for her, submitting the assignments near midnight every night, she doesn't need a freaking sketch book assignment.

[SKL]

Maybe they could start planning for "higher risk" teachers to do more behind-the-scenes work / run online learning and have the younger, healthier ones teach in person while this is going on.

I know it is not ideal, but it seems better than no school at all.

[SKL]

Another thought is to have the older kids do more online school at home, and spread the younger ones into the buildings currently used for the older classes.  So that way there would be more space for practices that reduce disease transmission.

[ktgrok]

Oh! i do think that idea of having the highschool and maybe middle school students stay home and do online classes, and then use those buildings to spread out the little kids, makes sense. The only issue is - that requires way more teachers for the little kids. But maybe fewer for the older kids?