I saw the back-to-school displays already up at the the local retailers over the last few days and wondered whether people would be buying backpacks and pencils and such given the uncertainty of how school is gonna run next fall-- in person, remote or a mix of both. So, what's going on with the schools that you or or your kids are attending, or the ones in your locality?
I want schools to open up, but I have been so demoralized by COVID and 2020 that I expect it to them to open then close right back up.
I think what will happen is an attempt to meet face to face in schools (with an option to learn from home). BUT, once those positive results start rolling in from staff/students, coupled with parents keeping their babies home.... we'll end up reverting to virtual 100% for a while again. Schools need that attendance funding, and TEA is already requesting that districts submit their written plan for next year. The fact that this happened in March and teachers knew their students helped somewhat. Imagine next year when teachers don't know who these kids are and their needs/personalities. Once the announcement was made that the STAAR test would not be administered, students dropped like flies.
Man, this question will be so much easier to answer in August. I know Pasadena ISD will provide families with the choice of either face-to-face instruction or virtual learning for their students. We'll see what actually happens.
My son was going to start kinder, but we're just going to home school him. My wife did his home school for Pre-K, so we'll just keep doing that (she stays at home). We didn't feel like dealing with the start/stop and potential of them trying to keep the kids from doing things kids do (play on play grounds, sharing supplies/materials, being close to each other, etc.)
My wife teaches at a pre-school that follows CISD guidelines and schedules. They are really struggling with planning for the fall (tough to imagine on-line learning with 3 and 4 year old). Yet prep for in-class is also daunting for small pre-schools with full classrooms... and my wife is seriously contemplating whether better to simply find another thing to do (she has taught pre-school for almost twenty years). Conroe ISD superintendent says COVID-19 case spike could prevent in-class teaching https://www.chron.com/neighborhood/...(Desktop)&utm_source=t.co&utm_medium=referral
My wife is a school librarian in Alvin ISD and they are even talking about coming back early to 'bank' some days (like 6?) in case they have to miss more school due to COVID-19. She said yesterday they're already starting to backtrack that talk due to the spike in Houston-area numbers. She's pissed that it's even a conversation. Any rational person can see that public schools, especially elementary schools, will be a Petri dish for Coronavirus. It's going to be impossible to keep a mask on very young students K-2. To top that off, they essentially lick each other's eyeballs every chance they get. They're still babies in a lot of ways. The impetus for opening schools is money. Schools act as a daycare so the parents can go to work. There is very little educational reason to not keep doing distance learning. From what my wife says, in states where teachers are unionized, the discussions are very different. However, in Texas, there is little to no representation at the state legislation level. It's flat out asinine to reopen anything yet. This really is a D&D type discussion, although if you look at the science, there's no debate.
Was getting texts last night about his speech from my gf since we both have kids in CISD. They're hoping to hear from TEA by 7/10 now and still start school in one way or another on 8/12. Lord help us all if it's from home. it won't be like what we had to finish this last one. There won't be any lax grading policies this time. They'll be expected to be on line with their classes every day for the entire school day. How that will work is beyond me...especially for the multitudes of kids who do not have internet access.
My wife is an interventionist in Humble ISD and they sent out an email last week basically saying parents could choose to go to school full time, learn from home full time or a mixture of both. Not sure how the mixture of both is going to work. Also really wondering how all this is going to work with the teachers. What are their options? What about the teachers with kids? If I had to predict, I would say that there will be another spike when school starts and everyone will be back at home again before the end of September. Ugh.... I love my wife and kids more than life itself, but since it looks like I'm going to be working from home for the rest of the fiscal year......I REALLY NEED them to go back to school in August...... I don't see it happening though....All because Joe the Texan Fan is too stupid to wear a mask.
I wish I was still in school when this went down. Damn. Well...maybe not. It used to be anytime you didn't have to go to school...that was a good thing. But, home schooling...I couldn't imagine. I would be so unfocused.
Best wishes and thanks to all of you who work in education or have family that do. My mother retired from teaching several years ago, can't imagine the stress teachers and support staff are going through during this.
Just hearsay, but in Fort Bend ISD, I heard students K-6th are going to be meeting every day and students 7th-12th are going to be meeting every other day, with the days in between physically meeting being reserved for online classes, when school eventually starts up again.
This is exactly why a 'strong hand' in grading and attendance is bullshit. Internet isn't considered 'essential' like, for some reason, a land line phone, and the only computer that poor kids have access to is their parent's smartphone.
At least in Pasadena, the district will provide every student with a computer and portable WiFi devices for students who need them. Also, Xfinity had a program families could apply to that gives them affordable internet if not free. I expect that program to continue. I don't expect computers or connectivity to be a major issue for families who need the help. The biggest issue will continue to be learning at home away from the environment the classroom provides.
The school we toured in Spring Branch was the same way. I'm sure that schools are also getting ready for this, hopefully at least.
What a great moment in time to completely re-think the model of teaching kids. Whatever decision my school district makes (Austin ISD), I have complete confidence that it'll be the wrong one.
Here in Oregon, the school district my younger two go to (Clackamas) provides all students with Chromebooks (if needed)...and have a small number of wifi hotspots for kids that might not have internet at home. That being said, this Spring was very disorganized and I think the effectiveness of teaching fell on the shoulders of individual teachers, who had a number of tools at their disposal...but weren't very experienced using them. Last month, the school district asked for feedback from the teachers and parents...and based on that feedback, they've determined a hybrid approach to the upcoming school year is the most feasible solution based on current conditions. They are planning on students returning to class, but not full-time. They will be expecting some of the coursework and learning to be completed at home...and I think I'm happy with this setup. I've heard from several on cf.net that the absence of student-teacher interaction is a big negative in the distance learning setup. I agree completely. But I guess everything will hinge on society's ability to follow safety guidelines and keep teachers and kids covid-free. Not the least bit worried about my younger two. I'm much more concerned about my 18 year old...who will be going away to Corvallis (Oregon State). I can only preach so much to her to follow safety guidelines...but in the end, she's a teenager who knows much more than I do and has no problem following her own guidelines. I'm also very concerned about OSU being able to start classes and continue them throughout the entire Fall semester. Some changes that OSU is making is reducing the size of certain lecture classes and they will be holding all final exams in December remotely. I am almost expecting my daughter to be sent home at some point during the semester due to covid outbreaks in Corvallis and/or OSU. So much unknown...so much of my money in flux.
In a lot of urban/surburban areas, there are programs from the ISPs and local non-profits that help low income families connect to the internet. Even in some cases where they cannot easily connect families with land-line internet, families provided with LTE hotspots and a unlimited data plan for access. The worst of the internet access problems that I've heard about are in rural school districts, where both land-line and LTE connections are spotty at best even for customers paying regular prices. As for in-person schools. A lot of discussion right now is hypothetical-- won't really know the impact that school can have on transmission until we actually try it and see if we need to do distance learning again. The virus will make the decision for the large part regardless of our current plans. I hope that districts are prepared for this contingency this time now that they have had time to work on it. At the same time, with the virus devastating budgets everywhere, schools won't exactly have a ton of financial resources to address various demands.
