Are you sending your kids to school next month?

[mjkacmom]

At this point it is all remote with a hybrid model ready in case they can go back. There will be live instruction 4 mornings a week, specials and office hours during the afternoons, emergency childcare outside under a tent fir working parents of younger kids, and lots of pods are forming. Daycares, preschools, dance and gymnastic studios are taking students for the days. Sports start 9/14, although there have been captains practices for weeks.

 

[C&Jx2]

We don’t even have the option of in school education now. Budget cuts here forced everyone online and laid off hundreds in the school system. It’s terrible. What a mess.

 

[HeatherC]

I don't know the answer to those questions. What I do know, however, is that my kids have been at it with this method for a month now and it's going fine so far. It's WAY better than how they did online instruction from March to May of this year. It's SO much better.

I’m guessing to have time to plan lessons and upload content. My daughter is a 6th grade teacher staring the year remotely. You would not believe the amount of time involved in getting a remote classroom up and running effectively in addition to regular lesson planning and having to grade student work as they go forward. Luckily, she is very technologically savvy, but for teachers who are not familiar with these things it must be very overwhelming. There is sooo much more involved than the actual live teaching.

 

[Turn the Page]

My decision would have been based on not wanting an elementary student to have this weird experience- tiny group/ maybe friends/ maybe not/ lunch behind a divider/ masks worn all day. Plus, I’m confident that I could keep an elementary student on track, probably ahead of where they need to be.

Middle school we probably also would have been good virtually. By high school, my kids were taking AP and dual credit and I’d have had tough decisions about whether the virtual was keeping them on track. I would not have felt confident that I/we could have supplemented if necessary. Plus, my kids were self sufficient educationally by middle and high school. I’m not sure that I would have even known if they were falling behind.

We had similar thoughts here though I have a lot of confidence in our online program. In our district the in person and online kids are doing the same curriculum, lesson plans, assignments, everything. But we can still help her with most things if she needs it.

 

[SamFaniam]

ours are in full time school already! Time to get back to normal.

I hope that continues to go well for you. The districts to the south of us, in our neighboring state, just had to push back there in person start because of the spike in cases, particularly among school-age kids.

 

[JM23457]

I'm an elementary public school teacher and we're all currently teaching online, but in-person instruction will begin for those students whose parents chose it in one week. In-person classes will be all-day, every day. Online classes offer students 2 hours per day of video lessons (1 hour of which is small group, so the teacher is actually teaching 4 hours of video lessons per day), plus asynchronous work. The online classes will be twice as large as the in-person classes.

My son is at a private high school, and his school will begin phasing in in-person instruction in two weeks. They're starting with one grade level at school for a week at a time, the rest virtual, to keep numbers down. Students whose parents don't want them to attend at all will be able to watch & participate in the in-person classes via special web cams the school has set up. The vast majority of parents at my son's school selected in-person learning.

Bottom line from an educator's perspective? Online education as it currently exists at my school, is an acceptable fill-in-the-gap measure during a crisis (as opposed to the unacceptable, non-teaching that the district required from us during closure last spring), but it is no substitute for the rigor of in-person learning. With the shorter online class periods, there is simply not enough time to cover content in the depth that we normally would.

Even at my son's school, which has always done better at online than the local public schools due to no concerns about students' technology access, teachers admit that the learning has been streamlined & simplified, and overall less rigorous, due to the inherent limitations of virtual learning.

 

[TJA]

I don't know the answer to those questions. What I do know, however, is that my kids have been at it with this method for a month now and it's going fine so far. It's WAY better than how they did online instruction from March to May of this year. It's SO much better.

Yayyy! So glad it has been a month and so far so good! We are SO ready to get back to school and we start up in just a few days! We are in the southwestern part of New York State and luckily 99% of our teachers are on board with getting back to school. We are hybrid, every other day, with reevaluation on October 1 to hopefully get the kids back in more days. Our school also offered the option of all-virtual and 10% of families opted for that option, with most being in elementary where someone arranged for homeschooling a large group so the kids could all "stay together" but not be in a public school setting. So different things can work for different people, and hopefully all goes well! Our school is adding a 20-minute class to the end of each school day so the teachers can talk to the kids about their mental states after enduring the shut-down, etc., just sort of a feel-good class to be sure the kids are doing ok.

Good luck to everyone!!

 

[design_mom]

We started back last week. Our district offered a choice of a flexible attendance model depending on local conditions (currently hybrid) or a 100% "distance learning" option. Hybrid is 2-3 days in school per week (50% of students) with asynchronous learning on the at-home days. The virtual model is a combo of synchronous and asynchronous online learning.

My daughter's in the flexible attendance program because she is in high school. At the time we had to make the commitment, they were still working out the details of the distance learning program. They were only promising that they would offer classes that were needed to meet graduation requirements (no foreign language, no APs, very limited electives). After they figured out how many students/teachers were participating, they were able to expand their offerings a little more (added foreign language back in, added some APs, but not nearly as many as are available in the flexible attendance model.)

My daughter said that going back with masks, social distancing and table dividers wasn't nearly as "weird" as she thought it would be. Her only complaint was that the hallway loops are all one way. She missed her classroom on the first day and had to walk all the way around to get back to it (but I doubt she'll miss it again). She has an assigned seat in the cafeteria and they are only allowed to sit on every other stool, but they were allowed to select their tables and she's happy with her assignment.

The reviews I've heard about distance learning are mixed. The main complaints I've heard are 1) lack of course options for older grades, and 2) less "synchronous" instruction than expected. Apparently the 'standard' will be for teachers to do 2 synchronous activities per week (can do more if they want) and asynchronous at other times. Many parents of younger children picked the committed distance learning because they thought that they would receive 'live' instruction every day (vs the hybrid model having live instruction 2-3 days per week). But most people have been happy with the instruction they've received so far and said it seems more organized than last spring (although most of my daughter's teachers did a decent job last spring. She had 1-2 who 'phoned it in' but one of them was phoning it in before the shut down... he was a mid-year long-term sub after her previous (and wonderful) math teacher had to take a medical leave. I am thinking he must have lied in his interview about how much math he knew or what teaching experience he had. The replacement teacher is not back this year but the original teacher is, so that's good.)

 

[godisney14]

I’m guessing to have time to plan lessons and upload content. My daughter is a 6th grade teacher staring the year remotely. You would not believe the amount of time involved in getting a remote classroom up and running effectively in addition to regular lesson planning and having to grade student work as they go forward. Luckily, she is very technologically savvy, but for teachers who are not familiar with these things it must be very overwhelming. There is sooo much more involved than the actual live teaching.

Sorry, I still don’t understand what difference there is between 2 or 3 or 5 asynchronous days. A process set up to have 2 asynchronous days should make no difference from adding a live stream video feed for 3 more days. It’s not like the process changes day to day that something about it needs changing on a daily basis. You still have students uploading material on both synchronous and asynchronous days.

As a very simplistic comparison, imagine setting up online banking. Once the process is set up, why would there be a difference on which days you use it?

 

[paisleys]

So I had mentioned pages previously that my kids were double quarantined the first week of school (class and entire sports team). My friend drives one of the kids and told her mom she needed to get her kid tested before she would drive her anymore..the mom refused. Out of nowhere, the kid (and her mom) suddenly tested positive week 2 of quarantine. The teen was sick, and ten days later back in school. What I don't understand is how my kids were never sick, tested negative, barely around this girl and have to wait a full two weeks (it actually came out to 17 days) but this girl can come back within days of testing positive AND being sick?? I'm starting to wonder if this girl was actually the original one who got everyone sick and they are lying --which is kind of understandable as no one wants to be known for having scores of kids on house arrest--but now my friend said this girl was in her car with a runny nose at the beginning of the school week--no excuse for going to school and sports with that when our remote learning is fantastic. I'm super angry we had to go through so much when she should have been remote learning if sick. I also don't think it's right you can go back to school within days of being sick with Covid, while kids who were never sick in the first place and have negative results have to to wait 14+ days. End of rant!

 

[HeatherC]

Sorry, I still don’t understand what difference there is between 2 or 3 or 5 asynchronous days. A process set up to have 2 asynchronous days should make no difference from adding a live stream video feed for 3 more days. It’s not like the process changes day to day that something about it needs changing on a daily basis. You still have students uploading material on both synchronous and asynchronous days.

As a very simplistic comparison, imagine setting up online banking. Once the process is set up, why would there be a difference on which days you use it?

Teachers also need time to review students work, grade students work, upload new material and take down old material. The platforms they are using are technical and take time to learn, execute and implement . There are only so many hours in a day and when they have 60 to 70 students, that is a lot of work to review, lessons to plan for in a completely new way and execute in a completely new way. It is nothing like online banking. I don’t think people can understand it unless they are the ones executing it.

This is a whole new ball game. And to have people say they had all summer, they didn’t. Most districts had to wait for state guidance on what was going to be happen and you don’t know how things will go until they are actually executed. I know several teachers who also spent their summers learning how to use one teaching platform only to be told two days before school they had to use something completely different. Just the emails alone teachers are receiving from both administration and parents is unbelievable. That takes a monumental amount of time to sort through and respond to and implement things and find solutions to problems. In order for synchronous learning to be effective, there Is a monumental amount of work that needs to be done and people honestly have no idea what is involved.

As far as synchronous learning, a lot of time, believe it or not is also spent just waiting for kids to logon. Then one or two will say their connection is bad. So you have to wait for them to disconnect and then logon again. Then someone can’t see or hear the teacher or don’t know how to use the computer. If you have several students having a problem with that every lesson, that is a lot of time wasted before you can even begin a lesson.

On asynchronous days, there are also many people working behind the scenes to fix problems going on with the synchronous part such as network connectivity, families routers not working or able to handle things, etc..

This is all unprecedented and schools are honestly doing the best they can. And many if not most are working with limited staff and antiquated equipment as well as having a population who may not even have their own internet. It is a learning curve for sure.

 

[mjkacmom]

So I had mentioned pages previously that my kids were double quarantined the first week of school (class and entire sports team). My friend drives one of the kids and told her mom she needed to get her kid tested before she would drive her anymore..the mom refused. Out of nowhere, the kid (and her mom) suddenly tested positive week 2 of quarantine. The teen was sick, and ten days later back in school. What I don't understand is how my kids were never sick, tested negative, barely around this girl and have to wait a full two weeks (it actually came out to 17 days) but this girl can come back within days of testing positive AND being sick?? I'm starting to wonder if this girl was actually the original one who got everyone sick and they are lying --which is kind of understandable as no one wants to be known for having scores of kids on house arrest--but now my friend said this girl was in her car with a runny nose at the beginning of the school week--no excuse for going to school and sports with that when our remote learning is fantastic. I'm super angry we had to go through so much when she should have been remote learning if sick. I also don't think it's right you can go back to school within days of being sick with Covid, while kids who were never sick in the first place and have negative results have to to wait 14+ days. End of rant!

I know people who tested positive, cdc protocol is they are considered not contagious 4 days after being symptom free, or 10 days after testing positive if asymptotic.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

So I had mentioned pages previously that my kids were double quarantined the first week of school (class and entire sports team). My friend drives one of the kids and told her mom she needed to get her kid tested before she would drive her anymore..the mom refused. Out of nowhere, the kid (and her mom) suddenly tested positive week 2 of quarantine. The teen was sick, and ten days later back in school. What I don't understand is how my kids were never sick, tested negative, barely around this girl and have to wait a full two weeks (it actually came out to 17 days) but this girl can come back within days of testing positive AND being sick?? I'm starting to wonder if this girl was actually the original one who got everyone sick and they are lying --which is kind of understandable as no one wants to be known for having scores of kids on house arrest--but now my friend said this girl was in her car with a runny nose at the beginning of the school week--no excuse for going to school and sports with that when our remote learning is fantastic. I'm super angry we had to go through so much when she should have been remote learning if sick. I also don't think it's right you can go back to school within days of being sick with Covid, while kids who were never sick in the first place and have negative results have to to wait 14+ days. End of rant!

I know it def. sucks for the 14 day aspect. It has to do with developing symptoms versus being contagious. As far as we know you can still develop symptoms up to 14 days from exposure, however as the PP mentioned they've determined over time at what point you're no longer considered contagious should you have the virus. The testing negative part bites for sure.

 

[martikus]

In South Carolina and we have been back a week. My son is middle school and going in person every other day. So far so good! he says it’s not horrible with mask and only complaint is they sit so far apart at lunch hard to talk.

only 10 kids per class due to the A/B schedule. on home days they are doing projects like reading articles and answering questions. I’m impressed with the organization these teachers have to have to keep it all straight.

I think 30% of our district picked 100% online. Hearing mixed reviews.

we are hoping those who get sick stay home and don’t ruin it for the rest. We are impressed with how school is trying to keep it clean and safe and we are hoping for the best.

Still hoping we can get back to normal sooner than later. I can’t imagine another year like this.

 

[paisleys]

I know it def. sucks for the 14 day aspect. It has to do with developing symptoms versus being contagious. As far as we know you can still develop symptoms up to 14 days from exposure, however as the PP mentioned they've determined over time at what point you're no longer considered contagious should you have the virus. The testing negative part bites for sure.

Thanks for explaining. I was kind of shocked she was at practice on Monday when she was just sick/positive results the Wednesday before. There's a lot I do not understand! The test was super invasive and I regret having my kids get it. I wouldn't do it in this circumstance again. We were the first family on our sports team to deal with this so it was a huge deal, especially because we had a game the day we got the first call. We wanted to put everyone's minds at ease by getting a clean test. I'm keeping my kids remote learning for as long as I can to lessen this happening again. Honestly, the remote learning has been great so I can't complain about that (I do not miss car line!).

 

[lanejudy]

kids who were never sick in the first place and have negative results have to to wait 14+ days.

The peoblem is a negative test is one point in time. When was your child’s test? It can take up to 14 days from exposure for symptoms to develop or a positive test result. Any test prior to that may not be accurate. Let’s say a child was tested on day 3, while that test may be negative another test 2 days (or 7 dsys) later might be positive. Hence the need to wait 14 days after exposure.

 

[Turn the Page]

Teachers also need time to review students work, grade students work, upload new material and take down old material. The platforms they are using are technical and take time to learn, execute and implement . There are only so many hours in a day and when they have 60 to 70 students, that is a lot of work to review, lessons to plan for in a completely new way and execute in a completely new way. It is nothing like online banking. I don’t think people can understand it unless they are the ones executing it.

This is a whole new ball game. And to have people say they had all summer, they didn’t. Most districts had to wait for state guidance on what was going to be happen and you don’t know how things will go until they are actually executed. I know several teachers who also spent their summers learning how to use one teaching platform only to be told two days before school they had to use something completely different. Just the emails alone teachers are receiving from both administration and parents is unbelievable. That takes a monumental amount of time to sort through and respond to and implement things and find solutions to problems. In order for synchronous learning to be effective, there Is a monumental amount of work that needs to be done and people honestly have no idea what is involved.

As far as synchronous learning, a lot of time, believe it or not is also spent just waiting for kids to logon. Then one or two will say their connection is bad. So you have to wait for them to disconnect and then logon again. Then someone can’t see or hear the teacher or don’t know how to use the computer. If you have several students having a problem with that every lesson, that is a lot of time wasted before you can even begin a lesson.

On asynchronous days, there are also many people working behind the scenes to fix problems going on with the synchronous part such as network connectivity, families routers not working or able to handle things, etc..

This is all unprecedented and schools are honestly doing the best they can. And many if not most are working with limited staff and antiquated equipment as well as having a population who may not even have their own internet. It is a learning curve for sure.

This. SD10 is in 5th grade. We start school on Tuesday. Her teacher got access to the online curriculum on Wednesday. I'm not sure why it was so late as the school announced what the online platform and curriculum was a month ago. It will be a learning curve for sure.

 

[Kitty 34]

My 4 year old grand daughter has been in a public school preschool since the last week in July down in the Indianapolis area. My son and DIL get updates all the time about possible illnesses throughout the school district via e-mail but as far as her elementary school, all has been good and she attends every day. I will say "knock on wood" tho.

 

[mjkacmom]

Thanks for explaining. I was kind of shocked she was at practice on Monday when she was just sick/positive results the Wednesday before. There's a lot I do not understand! The test was super invasive and I regret having my kids get it. I wouldn't do it in this circumstance again. We were the first family on our sports team to deal with this so it was a huge deal, especially because we had a game the day we got the first call. We wanted to put everyone's minds at ease by getting a clean test. I'm keeping my kids remote learning for as long as I can to lessen this happening again. Honestly, the remote learning has been great so I can't complain about that (I do not miss car line!).

Most of my family has tested several times, Dd19 4 times (one was pretty bad, she cried for an hour an almost threw up). Hopefully she won’t have to test again until november before coming home.

 

[Luv Bunnies]

Most of my family has tested several times, Dd19 4 times (one was pretty bad, she cried for an hour an almost threw up). Hopefully she won’t have to test again until november before coming home.

If you have to get tested again and have a choice of testing sites, ask if they're doing a mid- or deep-nasal swab. DH went to a public testing site back in June after someone in his office tested positive. He had to self-administer a deep-nasal swab with a healthcare worker standing by his car and giving him instructions. He said it hurt and his nose bled a bit afterward. I went to a testing site run a medical group after my doctor ordered a test for me. It was a mid-nasal swab administered by a healthcare worker. It was a bit uncomfortable, but very tolerable. They just insert the swab into the nostril until the tip is no longer visible. It's much less invasive and much easier to tolerate.