So dd is in her senior year in an IB program and all the kids have the cameras on. DS is a sophomore and he refuses to turn his camera on. Drives me nuts. I feel for you. Teaching is hard but this must be brutal. And good grief on February. We have some school districts nearby offering in person. Mine will never go back. I'm so sad for these kids.
Many districts here are going back. My own children are set to go back 10/5. The district we border started with hybrid from day 1, but are out now as they had several cases finally hit. MI tends to operate by county, I teach in Oakland, live in Wayne. Oakland is literally across the street. So my children's district tends to do more what Oakland does, than Wayne (Wayne is where Detroit is). So since our neighboring district has been hybrid they've been pushing ahead that they will be returning. But now with the outbreak, who knows. I will say, my district has kinda been over the top w/ the precautions. We are one of the few where they really don't want us in the buildings. Many are making teachers teach from the classroom even when 100% virtual. The guidelines they have for returning are set pretty high. So the board is presenting (this week) that k-5 will try to return in Nov, and hold off 6-12 until Feb. But MANY that were saying they would be out until November are now doing a complete turn around and saying they'll start in the classroom next week! There is a HUGE push from parents to get them back into school. But our district feels if k-5 goes back, parents will be happy enough, LOL.
One of my close friends is a high school teacher and she has kids in the classroom and online simultaneously. She is having quite a hard time because she cannot block the comments the online kids make (they are using Google classroom), which can be seen by her in-class students. Some of the comments are extremely inappropriate. All of this while teaching, watching the online comments (and responding to them as needed), managing kids coming and going to the 'bathroom' and trying to discipline. Each class she teaches is 2.5 hours long, so she has to try her best to capture their attention for the full 2.5 hours. She is physiologically and emotionally drained after each class.
My sister is back in the classroom and not altogether thrilled about it. She is wearing a mask and shield as well as gloves. She has 8 junior and 10 senior kindergarten students (and she was able to keep her ECE, whom she adores). She and my bil spent countless hours making 'shields' to go between each desk and covering up her book and puzzle cases (neither of which can be used for the foreseeable future) with plastic sheeting. I was able to find several tubs of Lysol wipes for her classroom, which the board will reimburse her for. She did have the option to teach online for the year (which would have to be done from a centralized site, not from her home), but decided to go back to the classroom because she found it very difficult to teach kindergarten online and she didn't want another teacher in her classroom for the year. I really, really hope that she stays safe because her youngest son has no immune system.
My sister has been very stressed about her return to the classroom, so I made her family dinner twice last week and dropped it off at her house. I will make them dinner once this week and again next week. Not sure how long I will keep this up....feeding a family of 5 (with 2 teenage boys) is expensive!
I'm uncertain how it'll be when we return. Originally parents had to chose 100% online or hybrid. But once we decided to start remote through Nov, they had every start w/ a "classroom teacher". Problem is, I'm the ONLY Engineering/Arch teacher at my HS. So it's not like Bio where 3 teachers can be at school and one becomes the "online only" teacher. I don't know how I'd do both at the same time since we would be WAY more "hands-on" (as much as we can be) in person. And I'm grateful my students have been great. My adv students have been dropping in on some of my classes to say "hi" during different hours. I have to laugh as they totally do that in person too. But so far nothing inappropriate. Just the frustration of no cameras on.
I'm honestly not worried about getting exposed, or getting it. My concern w/ returning is having to enforce masks and also be tasked w/ being a custodian between classes. We can't get them to follow a dress code on a good day, LOL. Or clean up after themselves. Also they did a TERRIBLE job of splitting my classes for hybrid. We adopted a M/W group and a T/Th group (friday remote for all). My classes did not get a 50/50 split. So one class I have 10 one day, and 2 the other day. Another it's 11 one day, 4 the other day. I'm not sure how they decided to split them. My daughter's school did A-K and L-Z. My school is all over the place.
I just keep telling myself I can retire in 2024 if need be. Considering 20/21 is under way that means I only need to get through 3 more years, LOL. I doubt I would retire, but it's nice to know that this isn't going to be forever for me. I see districts having to offer an "online" version from here on out even after this is all done. I do think there is a large population of students and parents who will really like this format. And I can't see districts wanting to lose out on the student funding. We've always offered SOME classes online (like my daughter is taking ASL and Health online through Michigan Virtual). But students have been limited to only 2 classes a year. I see a complete online option being offered by districts after this. Esp at the 6-12 levels.
And as for my other "rant".....masks for sports. I'm happy both my kids' coaches/teams don't seem to be enforcing the rules. Our governor is sick w/ power. I'm not political at all, but forcing children to wear masks while PLAYING sports is over the top. My son has a bubble for hockey which is no different than a face shield. But he wears a mask down below his chin while playing. My daughter had her first soccer game and did the same, wore her mask under her chin. She also has asthma and had to hit her inhaler 4 times during the game before she just stopped wearing her mask over her mouth/nose and put it under her chin.
