Durham Schools making a decision on schools for next year

[DawnM]

Thoughts on this?  I am not a fan.

https://abc11.com/nc-schools-cooper-durham-public-school-north-carolina/6288955/

Edited July 2, 2020 by DawnM

[Guest]

I think it’s not surprising and expect my son’s school is likely to adopt something like Plan B. How are the teachers being employed? Will the teachers of high school student do both online Ignite classes and also teach some lower-grade kids in person, because they are now in the class? What did you have in mind that would be better? 

[Pawz4me]

Of the three plans I've seen proposed in NC--none of which are really great, obviously--that one seems like the best. Or at least it seems like it would be the least disruptive to the least number of students, staff and parents. I suspect a lot of school systems will go with it.

[medawyn]

Well, here's Charlotte-Meck's proposed schedule, which I think sounds insane to manage.  https://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/local/education/article243942562.html

 

My hometown is going with a later start (originally slated for mid-August like NC, but now pushed back to 8/31) and distance learning every Wednesday, presumably for deep cleaning and for continuing to hone remote instruction.

I'm not sure there are good options.  I'm thrilled to be homeschooling and not worrying for our family personally, but I'm stressed for all the families and teachers trying to negotiate this.

[RootAnn]

I don't think there are any good options.  Local schools are looking at starting early but I don't they have announced anything else yet. The Big city school district is doing Mon-Tues & every-other-Wed A-K last name students in person & then L-Z last name kids go in person every-other-Wed plus Thurs-Fri. When you aren't in person, you are online? I feel bad for best friends at opposite ends of the alphabet. Most other schools in my state are going to try to open early & in person. Some are starting August 3rd. (Local district discussed starting in July.)

Edited July 2, 2020 by RootAnn

[Ottakee]

It is a mess and will likely be a very rough year.  Michigan has all sorts of guidelines for various stages .....but schools have no idea what stage we will be in come the end of August .  I work in special education and remote learning in no way replicates in person learning for my students.

[Pippen]

At least they're being realistic about what they can and cannot manage with their facilities. My district is bringing all grades in five days a week for shortened days (to accommodate reduced numbers on buses). It sounds great except every teacher I know is scratching their head because we know we don't have the space or staff to social distance them.There's an out in my state's guidance which says social distancing, when possible. I figure we're going to be using that a lot. 

ETA: they're also adding a completely online option provided through a third party vendor approved by the state. That may reduce the numbers some, but I doubt enough.

Edited July 2, 2020 by Pippen

[MEmama]

I’m envious of everyone who is getting direction from their school departments.
 

We haven’t received a single word about plans, no matter how tentative. Our students don’t even have their class schedules yet, something they would normally have weeks before school lets out in June. For younger kids it’s probably not a big deal, but the seniors are definitely impacted. DS is working on applications for overseas universities, some of which start rolling admissions in August, and he’s freaking out. The teachers don’t even know who will be in their classes or how many students they’ll have. I can’t imagine how they can plan.

It's already going to be an anxiety filled, sucky year. The silence is making it so much worse. 😞

Rant over. Please proceed! 

[Lanny]

I am interested in NC because DD is there. I suspect that the Durham school district has asked for input from the Duke Medical School and possibly also from the UNC Medical School and that these are the best options they can come up with.  Nothing wonderful in the possibilities, but complex problems rarely have simple solutions.  IMO the school buses are the biggest issue. The choke point...  If they are limited to 1/3 capacity, to bring everyone in and take them home, would require three (3) buses, not one (1 ) bus.  Another issue is that younger students (especially K > 6) will probably have far more difficulty with Online classes than will Middle and High School students. Many Middle and High School students will have difficulty with Online classes, but Elementary students IMO are going to need much more assistance and if possible should be in their brick and mortar school. Many High School students will have great difficulty with Online courses, as do many college/university students.  To say nothing of the fact that many school children have both parents working and nobody at home to help them or take care of them.

I believe Carolina is planning to begin the Fall 2020 semester on 03 August and to end the semester just before Thanksgiving, after students take their Final exams and then they go home until early in January.

[Arcadia]

10 minutes ago, MEmama said:

I’m envious of everyone who is getting direction from their school departments.
 

My school district has only published a timeline. My county cases are rising.

”Current Reopening Plan Timeline*

April-June — Student, Family, and Staff Surveys on Distance Learning and Reopening

May-June — Superintendent’s Advisory Committee 1.0 meetings on teaching and learning

June 12 — District Reopening Committee meeting

June 19 — Site reopening planning meeting with principals

June 30 — Santa Clara County announces school reopening allowances for fall 2020

July 7 — District Reopening Committee meeting to review updated Draft ***** Reopening Plan

July 7 — Draft ***** Reopening Plan with feedback survey

July 13 — Updated Draft ***** Reopening Plan with intent to enroll survey

July 13 — Townhall meeting with staff (4-5:30 p.m., access info to be distributed)

July 14 — Townhall meeting with students, families, and community (4-6 p.m., access info to be distributed)

July 14 — District Reopening Committee meeting

July 15 — Draft ***** Reopening Plan feedback survey closes

July 17 — Superintendent’s Advisory Committee 2.0 meeting with students, families, staff, and community

July 20 — Final ***** Reopening Plan

July 21 — Site reopening planning meeting with principals

July 24 — Superintendent’s Advisory Committee 2.0 meeting, if needed

July 24 — Board Study Session (tentative)

July 30 — Board Study Session

July 31 — Intent to enroll survey closes (deadline for families to decide program choice)

August 6-7 — District professional development days

August 10-12 — Site professional development, collaboration, and instructional planning days

August 13-14 — Teacher workdays

August 17 — First day of school

*Subject to change as we continue our planning”

 

[vonfirmath]

47 minutes ago, MEmama said:

I’m envious of everyone who is getting direction from their school departments.
 

We haven’t received a single word about plans, no matter how tentative. Our students don’t even have their class schedules yet, something they would normally have weeks before school lets out in June. For younger kids it’s probably not a big deal, but the seniors are definitely impacted. DS is working on applications for overseas universities, some of which start rolling admissions in August, and he’s freaking out. The teachers don’t even know who will be in their classes or how many students they’ll have. I can’t imagine how they can plan.

It's already going to be an anxiety filled, sucky year. The silence is making it so much worse. 😞

Rant over. Please proceed! 

...

You get your class schedule before school lets out in June?

We don't get them until a couple of days before school starts in August!  They may have a prelim plan but they don't release it until then because things continue to change over the summer.

 

[DawnM]

3 hours ago, medawyn said:

Well, here's Charlotte-Meck's proposed schedule, which I think sounds insane to manage.  https://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/local/education/article243942562.html

 

My hometown is going with a later start (originally slated for mid-August like NC, but now pushed back to 8/31) and distance learning every Wednesday, presumably for deep cleaning and for continuing to hone remote instruction.

I'm not sure there are good options.  I'm thrilled to be homeschooling and not worrying for our family personally, but I'm stressed for all the families and teachers trying to negotiate this.

 

Yeah, after I posted, someone sent me that.  Honestly, I think our district will adopt whatever CMS does.  I work in a neighboring district and we tend to do whatever they do.

UGH.

[DawnM]

3 hours ago, Quill said:

I think it’s not surprising and expect my son’s school is likely to adopt something like Plan B. How are the teachers being employed? Will the teachers of high school student do both online Ignite classes and also teach some lower-grade kids in person, because they are now in the class? What did you have in mind that would be better? 

 

I do not want my high schooler home all day doing school online every day.  I hope they will opt for at least partial in school instruction.

I don't think they have decided how it will work with staff.

[Pam in CT]

Our state guidelines were put out about a week ago. They're quite long, quite detailed, quite "guideline-y" with the expectation that individual districts will make different decisions within that framework (CT's education sector has for better and worse an unusual and extremely decentralized funding/pedagogy/decisionmaking structure)... and also quite contingent on our numbers remaining as contained as they currently are, which is looking more and more unlikely as other regions are spiking, sigh.

Anyway, the big picture is that all districts may (within the current numbers) re-open IRL if they deem they are able to do so; all families can opt to continue  learning at home if they choose for whatever reason; mask mandate inside the building; and there are protocols for spacing, cleaning, ventilation, bus transportation and more.

Because of the way the sector is organized, individual towns & municipalities now have to figure out if they can meet the guidelines, and if so the hours/calendar/phsyical layouts. The state is working on ways to develop online, tutoring, consolidated approaches to special education services, and how to space-out transportation (ordinarily, each town is responsible both for figuring the bus routes, and for funding the bus).

 

Both my daughter's private high school and my son's university have announced a calendar that (pending current case numbers) call for reopening late August, running IRL classes through Thanksgiving, running online only through Feb/March, then resuming IRL.  My daughter's school has provided a LOT more specifics. Among their plan is, they'll be doing universal testing before kids or staff return to campus, and random pool testing once a week thereafter.  As a private school they can *require* that as a condition of attendance; public schools almost certainly cannot.

[Ali in OR]

I work in a high school too. We won't have an exact plan until August (state budget stuff won't be determined until mid-July--possible staff cuts just to make things even harder), but what I'm hearing is students will have 2 days in school each week, the rest online. As an educational assistant, I really need to see the kids I work with sometimes, so in that sense I'm happy to have at least part time in the building (I imagine I could end up with 4 or 5 days in-building--they're talking about Fridays being for kids who need more help). They're also talking about kids taking 4 classes per semester instead of up to 8, but they'll do the whole year in one semester. Ugh. Not ideal for my senior planning to take 6 AP's. And I honestly don't think the teacher I work with will be able to do a full year of algebra in a semester. It will be a difficult year no matter what. And I'm guessing we may end up back to online only at some point.

[73349]

6 hours ago, medawyn said:

Well, here's Charlotte-Meck's proposed schedule, which I think sounds insane to manage.  https://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/local/education/article243942562.html

Ohhh, that's going to result in illegal daycare situations if they don't figure out what to do about the K-2 kids not at school 2 weeks out of 3. I don't know if the state will go for that being called "track-out camps" if it's more often than not and so parents can go to work. 😕

 

[Sneezyone]

I really like that they're NOT planning to do the online instruction for the youngers. DS was not prepared to do that at all and it was a major headache. It's why he's home in the fall. DD handled it like a champ.

[rebcoola]

I don't thinks its the greatest plan but it seems to be the best.   It looks like our schools are doing an every other day schedule for all ages.  Which is just crazy for people who have little kids and work.  Plus I can just see all the issues of people showing up on the wrong days.

[Dynamite5]

I think it's one of the best plans I've seen for the circumstances. If I were the parent of a young child who would need daycare if they weren't in school, the A, B or C track plan would totally stress me out. 

What we all need to remember is that there is no good plan, because this is a terrible situation for everyone. 

I think the best you can do is begin preparing your hs student for being online and to prepare him as best you can, while remaining as positive about it as possible. I discussed this with a friend last night. Her intention is to have two of her sons buddies join him each day for school around their kitchen table for 3 hours. The boys work together at a golf club, so they are already around each other, so she's ok with the exposure. For her and her ds, it's the best solution out of no good solutions, which is the best one can hope for during this time. I think attitude is key.

Edited July 2, 2020 by Dynamite5
typing too fast

[MEmama]

1 hour ago, Ali in OR said:

I work in a high school too. We won't have an exact plan until August (state budget stuff won't be determined until mid-July--possible staff cuts just to make things even harder), but what I'm hearing is students will have 2 days in school each week, the rest online. As an educational assistant, I really need to see the kids I work with sometimes, so in that sense I'm happy to have at least part time in the building (I imagine I could end up with 4 or 5 days in-building--they're talking about Fridays being for kids who need more help). They're also talking about kids taking 4 classes per semester instead of up to 8, but they'll do the whole year in one semester. Ugh. Not ideal for my senior planning to take 6 AP's. And I honestly don't think the teacher I work with will be able to do a full year of algebra in a semester. It will be a difficult year no matter what. And I'm guessing we may end up back to online only at some point.

DS seems to think the APS will be manageable with so few classes per semester, but his concern in your situation is the testing. Unless the college board offers winter AP tests (ha ha, as if), there is no way to avoid having to take the time in spring to review the fall semester courses. He gave it a failed plan. 😞 

[MEmama]

26 minutes ago, Dynamite5 said:

I think it's one of the best plans I've seen for the circumstances. If I were the parent of a young child who would need daycare if they weren't in school, the A, B or C track plan would totally stress me out. 

What we all need to remember is that there is no good plan, because this is a terrible situation for everyone. 

I think the best you can do is begin preparing your hs student for being online and to prepare him as best you can, while remaining as positive about it as possible. I discussed this with a friend last night. Her intention is to have two of her sons buddies join him each day for school around their kitchen table for 3 hours. The boys work together at a golf club, so they are already around each other, so she's ok with the exposure. For her and her ds, it's the best solution out of no good solutions, which is the best one can hope for during this time. I think attitude is key.

I kind of like this idea. 

For adults I wouldn’t even consider it (we are soooo cautious due to at risk family members) but damn, the social aspect is huge for the high schoolers. Working together in a very small, select group could have huge payoffs, both socially and academically. Teaching oneself AP courses all alone with zero feedback is far from ideal. 

[athena1277]

Back to school is going to be a major headache everywhere.  All the school systems near us (AL) are giving parents a choice of virtual school or in-person school and are registering kids now for the virtual schooling.  It was sounding like about 25% will choose to virtual school.  Some of the schools were bursting at the seams, so there may still be a lot of kids on campuses.  AL banned portable classrooms a few years ago, so I have no idea how they will get the number of kids per classroom low enough.

[DawnM]

1 hour ago, rebcoola said:

I don't thinks its the greatest plan but it seems to be the best.   It looks like our schools are doing an every other day schedule for all ages.  Which is just crazy for people who have little kids and work.  Plus I can just see all the issues of people showing up on the wrong days.

 

One of our proposed plans was M/W or T/TH and Fridays would be remote learning for everyone, so that would eliminate the confusion AND allow parents to plan daycare.

[prairiewindmomma]

48 minutes ago, DawnM said:

 

One of our proposed plans was M/W or T/TH and Fridays would be remote learning for everyone, so that would eliminate the confusion AND allow parents to plan daycare.

This is where I think the jr high and high schools in our area will end up.  They are trying to get elementary kids in the building more. (Our state law prohibits kids under the age of 12 from being home alone. Most jr high kids are 12+ so they can stay home alone if both parents have brick and mortar work.)

Our district has said that if you want all online schoolwork to register for the district's virtual program (which uses FLVS).   They've opened it up to include K-2 and are staffing that heavily. 

Our district's main bugaboo seems to be bussing. They have already put out signs advertising for more drivers. They are trying to keep 3 feet apart between kids from different families on the bus.

[Ali in OR]

2 hours ago, MEmama said:

DS seems to think the APS will be manageable with so few classes per semester, but his concern in your situation is the testing. Unless the college board offers winter AP tests (ha ha, as if), there is no way to avoid having to take the time in spring to review the fall semester courses. He gave it a failed plan. 😞 

Our problem here is that we start school after Labor Day. If you take an AP course first semester, at least you should cover all the material. If you don't start your AP course until ~Feb. 1, it will be very difficult to cover everything you're supposed to by May. Might be okay for AP Psych and Govt. Would not want that scenario for math or science.

41 minutes ago, prairiewindmomma said:

This is where I think the jr high and high schools in our area will end up.  They are trying to get elementary kids in the building more. (Our state law prohibits kids under the age of 12 from being home alone. Most jr high kids are 12+ so they can stay home alone if both parents have brick and mortar work.)

This spring, we did see that some of our high school students had the responsibility of watching over younger siblings or cousins. Some never checked in to class because they essentially had a full-time job as child-care provider.

[Sneezyone]

45 minutes ago, prairiewindmomma said:

This is where I think the jr high and high schools in our area will end up.  They are trying to get elementary kids in the building more. (Our state law prohibits kids under the age of 12 from being home alone. Most jr high kids are 12+ so they can stay home alone if both parents have brick and mortar work.)

Our district has said that if you want all online schoolwork to register for the district's virtual program (which uses FLVS).   They've opened it up to include K-2 and are staffing that heavily. 

Our district's main bugaboo seems to be bussing. They have already put out signs advertising for more drivers. They are trying to keep 3 feet apart between kids from different families on the bus.

I had planned to do this with DD but the online program offered by the state doesn’t offer the same classes on the same schedule. She was going to take Trig as one of her electives second semester and the online program only offered full year ones. They also don’t allow anyone in 9th or 10th to take engineering classes so that option is off the table.

[DawnM]

1 hour ago, prairiewindmomma said:

This is where I think the jr high and high schools in our area will end up.  They are trying to get elementary kids in the building more. (Our state law prohibits kids under the age of 12 from being home alone. Most jr high kids are 12+ so they can stay home alone if both parents have brick and mortar work.)

Our district has said that if you want all online schoolwork to register for the district's virtual program (which uses FLVS).   They've opened it up to include K-2 and are staffing that heavily. 

Our district's main bugaboo seems to be bussing. They have already put out signs advertising for more drivers. They are trying to keep 3 feet apart between kids from different families on the bus.

 

Our district doesn't have the busses or the bus drivers.  We were short bus drivers BEFORE all of this.   The busses run 3 runs in the AM and 3 in the PM.  We have staggard starts to allow for it.  Elem at 7, High at 8, and Middle at 8:45.   No way they can do 6 runs twice per day.  

But some of our kids, particularly in MS, sit 3 to a seat right now.  So, even if half the kids come, that is too many on the bus.

They sent out a survey asking how many families would need bussing for next year.  They asked if some people would consider car riding unless absolutely necessary.  

 

[WendyLady]

We are in Las Vegas.  They have announced that school will be 2 days in person at school, and 3 days at home with instruction online. You could also choose the option of all days at home with online instruction from the school.  So some kids will go to school M and T, others will go TH and F, and no one goes on Wednesday for time for extra cleaning.  High school student will do a full year of learning for half of their classes each semester.... a little scary for my senior hoping to take several AP's (but I'm so glad he's a senior and not a junior.) Teachers will need to teach daily either online or in person (or both).  I'm trying to wrap my head around how teachers with young kids at home can possibly make that work.

A friend who is a teacher here but works at a private/charter school, said that her school hasn't said exactly what they are doing, but it will likely be something similar.  When she asked how it will work with her 2nd grade daughter at home and her still needing to be at school or online teaching, they recommended that she utilize the after-school program which will apparently be open daily for those needing extended care.  How can an after-school (which will apparently be all day for the 3 off-days) program be trusted to keep your child safe but school cannot???  

[lewelma]

My nephew's highschool in VA is for half the students Monday and Tuesday, deep clean Wednesday, and half the students Thursday and Friday.

[vonfirmath]

5 minutes ago, WendyLady said:

We are in Las Vegas.  They have announced that school will be 2 days in person at school, and 3 days at home with instruction online. You could also choose the option of all days at home with online instruction from the school.  So some kids will go to school M and T, others will go TH and F, and no one goes on Wednesday for time for extra cleaning.  High school student will do a full year of learning for half of their classes each semester.... a little scary for my senior hoping to take several AP's (but I'm so glad he's a senior and not a junior.) Teachers will need to teach daily either online or in person (or both).  I'm trying to wrap my head around how teachers with young kids at home can possibly make that work.

A friend who is a teacher here but works at a private/charter school, said that her school hasn't said exactly what they are doing, but it will likely be something similar.  When she asked how it will work with her 2nd grade daughter at home and her still needing to be at school or online teaching, they recommended that she utilize the after-school program which will apparently be open daily for those needing extended care.  How can an after-school (which will apparently be all day for the 3 off-days) program be trusted to keep your child safe but school cannot???  

The after school program will have fewer kids enrolled.

 

[Annie G]

Our district sent out info yesterday including the calendar. They plan to start school Aug 7, full days/5 days a week for everyone who opts to attend, with virtual school for those who opt out. If you opt out you have to agree to use distance learning for at least a semester.   It’s regular distance learning , not the local teacher led.  People here are so confused- it’s school as usual and no mention of masks or social distancing or anything. Well, they do have a day or two a quarter to deep clean the schools.   I honestly think they hope everyone chooses to enroll in distance learning.  But they were upfront that for the early grades they expect significant parental involvement.  Working parents can’t do that, and kids with special needs aren’t addressed at all 

[hshibley]

I saw that Wake county announced they’re planning on breaking the classes up in to 3 groups and you would attend school 1 week in person and have 2 weeks remote. Right now I think one of the biggest issues with N.C.’s phase b is being at 50% capacity. There’s only 1 school in my large district that is not currently over capacity. 
 

I’m not particularly thrilled with either Wake or Durham’s plan but at least your districts have released a plan we’ve heard nothing from ours. I have a 2nd grader who needs the social interaction of school and an 11th grader. If my 2nd grader was up for it I’d homeschool in a minute but alas...

[73349]

Yes, Wake's plan is explained in the News and Observer: https://www.newsobserver.com/news/local/education/article243951922.html Teachers who are normally walking around and writing on the board and whatnot are going to have trouble staying on camera for their rotated-out kids, I think. But this is what they have to do to not overcrowd the buses.

Parents can choose an all-virtual option (without losing their place in the school) if they don't want to rotate in and out. Registration opens July 13th. I assume the district will staff the virtual academy with higher-risk teachers first. However, I suspect that demand for virtual places will not be equal at all grade levels.

 

[Hyacinth]

I have a rising senior. His school (public charter) hasn’t announced plans yet. I’d be sad/mad about an all-online senior year. I mean, I get it. But the loss is significant. 

[MEmama]

14 hours ago, Ali in OR said:

Our problem here is that we start school after Labor Day. If you take an AP course first semester, at least you should cover all the material. If you don't start your AP course until ~Feb. 1, it will be very difficult to cover everything you're supposed to by May. Might be okay for AP Psych and Govt. Would not want that scenario for math or science.

Yeah, we don’t start until after Labor Day either. In university, the equivalent courses are one semester, but the final exam occurs right after the end of the course, not many months later. And, of course there’s a year or more more maturity to make that leap.

It’s not a working solution for high school as far as I can see. 😞 
 

[DawnM]

13 hours ago, hshibley said:

I saw that Wake county announced they’re planning on breaking the classes up in to 3 groups and you would attend school 1 week in person and have 2 weeks remote. Right now I think one of the biggest issues with N.C.’s phase b is being at 50% capacity. There’s only 1 school in my large district that is not currently over capacity. 
 

I’m not particularly thrilled with either Wake or Durham’s plan but at least your districts have released a plan we’ve heard nothing from ours. I have a 2nd grader who needs the social interaction of school and an 11th grader. If my 2nd grader was up for it I’d homeschool in a minute but alas...

 

I am not in the district, I am just in the state, about 3 hours away from Durham.

Our district is anticipating doing A/B day and having 50% at a time.  This will still overcrowd the busses though, so we will see.

They think they will do M/W or T/Th and F will be virtual for everyone.

[MEmama]

11 hours ago, Hyacinth said:

I have a rising senior. His school (public charter) hasn’t announced plans yet. I’d be sad/mad about an all-online senior year. I mean, I get it. But the loss is significant. 

Mine is a rising senior also. I agree it’s going to be an awful year.

Last year DS took 4 APS, which he was largely left to learn on his own beginning in March, with very little support leading up to the exams. This year I am insisting on a lighter load, because there simply isn’t any reason to think the reality of online school is going to be less difficult than spring. There might be more teacher interaction (I hope!), but emotionally it’s going to be draining.
 

He had plans to take Calc 3 and 4 at the college this year, but since the classes will be online only I don’t see a benefit of the extra coursework (in this particular year). He also had a computer science ELO in the works collaborating with local businesses, but I don’t see how it’s going to happen in any meaningful way. And running is almost certainly off the table despite the brave face the coaches have on at the moment, which for him is another huge blow to his hopes for running in university (not to mention the essential social and mental health benefits).

I can keep myself pretty level about most of the other impacts this virus has, but I break down and get overwhelmed with how much this whole senior class is going to miss out on. 😞 

Maybe come fall we‘ll need a Senior Class commiseration thread. 

[Hilltopmom]

It’s going to suck all around and of course we don’t WANT online school for our children/ students, but I don’t want to be living in a pandemic either, yet... here we are.

Ugh

[vonfirmath]

1 hour ago, Hilltopmom said:

It’s going to suck all around and of course we don’t WANT online school for our children/ students, but I don’t want to be living in a pandemic either, yet... here we are.

Ugh

I like that 'I don't want online school for my kid but I also don't want to live in a Pandemic and here we are"

 

A thought to help not getting upset at the school districts that are making it up as they go as much as we are.

 

[Carrie12345]

My district still has an open survey for parents until the 6th, so they’re nowhere near having an actual plan.

In the survey, they asked for preferences on full-distance, hybrid, and “full day, in-person, as normal as possible”. I don’t know why, because there’s literally no way to do “normal”.
Under hybrid, they asked about alternating weeks or alternating days and whether or not families would need their kids to attend on the same schedule. It also asked whether or not parents would want to utilize busses.  There’s basically no walking to school around here, and most of our parking lots are not designed to handle a parent drop off situation, so I can’t imagine how that would work.

A nearby district is urging anyone who can to use their district’s cyber school. Our district does have its own, though I don’t know anyone who uses it. I do hope they officially encourage families that can stay home to do so if the don’t go that way across the board.

[Tanaqui]

Well, here in NYC the mayor and the governor are having another stupid squabble over this one.

Frankly, it's not the kids being in *school* that concerns me, it's the commute. The older kid can walk to the ferry and then walk up to school, at least so long as the weather's nice, but the younger one would have to take the train once in the city. I don't want that.

[alisoncooks]

Gosh, it all just sounds like such a logistical nightmare. Especially for those districts that are cycling days/weeks at school with weeks at home. I don't see how parents will find child care for these schedules (though -- are most of these cycling schedules for older kids?)

It also seems like there's a big likelihood of kids showing up on the wrong week. Surely I'm not the only person that (at times) can't keep my mess straight, lol. Plus, those kids with minimal home support -- I hope there'll be support from the school system so kids aren't mixing up their schedules!

[SquirrellyMama]

I swear the emails we got from our school district sounded like: we are actively planning the plan for the plan needed for the plan of the plan that is due July 1.

After July 1 we have gotten an email about how they are still planning the plan of the plan and will be sending out surveys to help guide their planning.

I would like to HS again but I have a kid graduating this school year. He wants to graduate from that school. My youngest gets good grades but she really just wants to go for the social aspect. 

ETA - My guess is that our district will say that masks are voluntary. They will give some BS about how they won't let kids be mean to kids wearing masks. And, there will be school as usual.

Kelly

Edited July 3, 2020 by SquirrellyMama

[MEmama]

4 hours ago, alisoncooks said:

Gosh, it all just sounds like such a logistical nightmare. Especially for those districts that are cycling days/weeks at school with weeks at home. I don't see how parents will find child care for these schedules (though -- are most of these cycling schedules for older kids?)

It also seems like there's a big likelihood of kids showing up on the wrong week. Surely I'm not the only person that (at times) can't keep my mess straight, lol. Plus, those kids with minimal home support -- I hope there'll be support from the school system so kids aren't mixing up their schedules!

Oh idk. A lot of schools do block scheduling anyway. Color A day, then Color B day, flex period on some days but not all, lunch at 10:46 if it’s day X , 11:27 if day Y and 12:32 if it’s scenario Z. Snow days throw a wrench into the whole system, but on it goes and somehow kids know well enough what class to go to and when they can expect to have lunch. It might be a mystery to parents, but the kids get it worked out fine. Lol

[Alice]

The big school systems here gave people a choice of all virtual or two day a week in person, two day virtual and one day off. That’s for all grade levels. 

[DawnM]

12 hours ago, Alice said:

The big school systems here gave people a choice of all virtual or two day a week in person, two day virtual and one day off. That’s for all grade levels. 

 

That is where we are going I think.  And honestly, it makes the most sense.  In class days are heavy lecture/instruction and the next day is at home independently working (or zoom group work) on what you have been taught the day before.   More like a college style.

 

Edited July 4, 2020 by DawnM

[DawnM]

As a counselor this is going to be an interesting year.  We normally have a lot of events we have to host and plan.  Those will probably be all out the window.

No small groups most likely because the space we have to do them is tight.

No tours for students.

504s will probably all be virtual on Fridays during our at home days.

It is going to be a very interesting year.

 

[DawnM]

I also think that any spikes, any outbreaks in the schools, or any major concerns, and we will be on virtual only again.    Schools do not want law suits.

[Carrie12345]

On 7/2/2020 at 4:49 PM, DawnM said:

 

Our district doesn't have the busses or the bus drivers.  We were short bus drivers BEFORE all of this.   The busses run 3 runs in the AM and 3 in the PM.  We have staggard starts to allow for it.  Elem at 7, High at 8, and Middle at 8:45.   No way they can do 6 runs twice per day.  

But some of our kids, particularly in MS, sit 3 to a seat right now.  So, even if half the kids come, that is too many on the bus.

They sent out a survey asking how many families would need bussing for next year.  They asked if some people would consider car riding unless absolutely necessary.  

 

Similar here. We have 9 schools and around 12,000 students. Bussing is already complicated. Years ago, my son’s route was around 40 minutes. I suppose fewer pick ups would shorten each route by a few minutes, but still. (It’s a 20 minute drive from my front door to the parking lot of the closest school without any delays.)
We recently contracted out drivers to save a few bucks. I can’t imagine how we would hypothetically afford 3x (or whatever) the hours and gas.

[DawnM]

5 minutes ago, Carrie12345 said:

Similar here. We have 9 schools and around 12,000 students. Bussing is already complicated. Years ago, my son’s route was around 40 minutes. I suppose fewer pick ups would shorten each route by a few minutes, but still. (It’s a 20 minute drive from my front door to the parking lot of the closest school without any delays.)
We recently contracted out drivers to save a few bucks. I can’t imagine how we would hypothetically afford 3x (or whatever) the hours and gas.

 

We have 9 high schools and 9 middle schools and then all the feeder Elem. schools.  50k students.  We are a suburb of a large city but a good chunk of our district is rural.   On the wealthier side of the county, fewer take the bus, so I suppose some busses and drivers could be pulled from that set.  On the side of the county where I work, most Elem and Middle schoolers take the bus.