What do you think school will be like in the fall? UPDATE page 29 for Mass.

[Dole_whip_doll]

Well, at least that's something. Ordinarily I'd say there is a serious flaw with that in that parents don't get all that time off, but at this point I'd take it. If you think getting kids back into schools is challenging, think about what has become the modern office workplace these days with the open floor plans, common work spaces, collaboration rooms - it ALL has to go if you are to properly social distance, and adults ARE art risk, so it does have to be done.

Yeah but for the most part, not all businesses have 150 people eating in close proximity in one large open room at one time.
Or have 500 people moving through hallways shoulder to shoulder, coming and going.
Im not saying kids will get sick and die, I don’t know that. I’m saying the reason for all the precautions and closures is because of # of people interacting without social distancing and carrying/passing the disease all over.
Personally, I think we should have first examined classroom space and occupancy possible with social distancing. Then looked at adjusting class periods and school days. THEN looked at adjusting a calendar to meet Texas’s minutes requirement for the school year.
It just seems a backward way of doing things. Much like my niece’s school that heard they could have outdoor graduation, said great we will have it in the courtyard, capacity there should be X so everyone gets 10 guests. THEN they said “social distancing?? Oh wait” and measured and then told the poor graduates, sorry, we goofed, only 3 guests.

 

[SamFaniam]

Much like my niece’s school that heard they could have outdoor graduation, said great we will have it in the courtyard, capacity there should be X so everyone gets 10 guests. THEN they said “social distancing?? Oh wait” and measured and then told the poor graduates, sorry, we goofed, only 3 guests.

they had a story on our news here about a high school in Texas that did their graduation at the big race track. The kids did get to walk across the stage but the families all had to stay in their cars parked in the infield area. I thought this was a very Texas way to have a graduation.

 

[eMoneyBug]

Cal State Colleges announcing 500K impacted by mostly Fall online: https://edsource.org/2020/californi...sses-to-continue-mostly-online-in-fall/631381

 

[eMoneyBug]

Monday, May 18, 6:50 p.m. California community colleges expect more students even with online classes.
The chancellor of the California Community Colleges said Monday that he was encouraging all 114 campuses to keep classes online in the fall but said he still thought that enrollment would increase as unemployed people seek retraining during the pandemic.
“Displaced Californians are going to come to community colleges to improve their lives. So we’ve got to advocate that we get every resource to help that happen,” Chancellor Eloy Ortiz Oakley said during the statewide Board of Governors meeting, which was held online. He said he would advocate strongly to reverse some of the budget cuts recently proposed by Gov. Gavin Newsom to cope with declining tax revenues caused by the health emergency.
Some of the state’s 72 community college districts, which are making decisions on the matter, have decided to remain online unless the health situation improves significantly in the fall. Oakley said he encourages all to stay with fully online learning since he said it “will be the most relevant way for us to continue to reach our students.” But he said that colleges will need to get better and quicker data on how many students are continuing in the classes and how well they are succeeding, particularly low-income students and some minorities.

 

[okeydokey]

21<166 not seeing it. The 21 COVID deaths were ALL pre-existing conditions. You are treating kids like they are somehow ticking COVID timebombs. They are not. Deal with the exceptions appropriately and get the kids back in the schools. It's really not that hard.

I don’t know where you get your info, but you are so wrong it makes my head hurt.

 

[lilypgirl]

Many universities are planning for Fall on campus classes. Oklahoma, Purdue, Alabama, Auburn , South Carolina , UGA and tons of others. Some are even planning for their second term of summer to be on campus. California is being ridiculous! People need to stop being so selfish and suggesting online schooling is the only option for a disease 99% of the people will survive. The fall out from schools remaining closed for any longer will be far worse than the Rona. If you or your student are at risk than by all means stay home , stay safe and take advantage of online schooling everyone else should proceed as planned.

 

[Colleen27]

A few days ago, the CDC released some guidelines about what schools need to do to reopen/stay open. Looking at that, I'm confident that schools here in Michigan (at least in some of the bigger counties) will almost certainly be looking at a minimum of a hybrid situation (some distance learning and some in-person learning) in the fall.

Those guidelines are vague to the point of meaninglessness. The real standards will end up being set by the governors. But I do think that will mean hybrid or fully online learning for those of us here in Michigan.

Schools need to open up in the fall with many changes.

Every day everything in the school needs to be sterilized by cleaning crews after students leave. Creates jobs and the government has tons of our tax money to pay for this service.

Between each period students should be washing their hands using whatever method is available for the school.

At the end of the day students can have the opportunity to wipe down items that will be bought home to help reduce risks at the home. Gloves and cleaning wipes will be provided.

Non essential subjects and assignments will be eliminated. Let’s now provide good quality education that will benefit students throughout their life. Yes, I know, how is that defined? Well, we now have a unique opportunity in these extraordinary times to have thoughtful educators, parents, and some government leaders to engage in serious discussions in this area.

Knucklehead behavior and bullying must be stopped. How? Teacher, parent, and administration intervention. They all need to work together and stop that behavior immediately.

Dream on you say? Please provide a reason why any this cannot work.

I know it can.

1. State revenues are being gutted by this pandemic, relying as they do on sales and gas and tourism taxes. Our public schools are facing a 25% cut to their per-pupil funding as the state looks ahead to how to make up the shortfall. So no, there won't be plenty of money for additional cleaning crews.

2. Our school has two sets of restrooms with three sinks in each. So that's 12 sinks for the whole school to wash their hands between periods... not exactly distancing friendly, and would require dedicating an unreasonably large chunk of the school day to waiting through hand-washing cycles.

3. What is non-essential to one person is the thing that makes school worthwhile to another. Cutting art, music, PE, foreign language, humanities, and the other content that reformers like to call non-essential has been shown time and again to produce less engaged students.

4. We aren't suddenly going to have a new crop of students and families that don't bring their home issues to school with them. If it were easy or even possible to "solve" bullying, it would have been done sometime in the 40 years or so that it has been an educational priority.

But I suppose wiping things down, at least, is possible.

That's why I think parents should have the choice. If online learning works for you and yours, that's great. But eliminating school and sending kids with issues to "centers" (which sounds a lot worse that you probably meant) isn't the answer.

Exactly. This sounds like a recipe for "separate but equal" along lines that are defined by economics and ability rather than race. And we all know how that worked out.

Part of the reason public schools have worked as well as they have for as long as they have is that most of the population has some stake in them - either they attended public schools or they send their kids to public schools or they work in public schools or they have friends and family who send their kids to or work in public schools. We all see the benefit, and so most people support them. When you start talking about a system where the physical schools are only for the kids who lost the lottery of birth, being born with learning challenges or into poverty or to lousy parents, you create the same hazard that exists with the welfare and foster care systems. They don't touch the lives of most of the people with political power (and I don't just mean in an elite "halls of power" sense, but also in the broader sense of people who volunteer and donate and vote) so they become an easy target for budget cuts and general neglect.

 

[CarolAnn856]

I don’t know where you get your info,

I bet I can guess.

 

[Colleen27]

As I should have expected, my words get 'twisted' so others can express outrage...

My theoretical no physical school world, online/distance learning would be the standard, so NO one is being 'separated' from their peers, they are all separate by default...that is the standard which EVERYONE starts at. The situation of kids with needs was brought up, to which I said that 'centers' could be available for kids in those situations if in person assistance was required... same as special classes/counselors are in schools now, even kids with occasional needs could go if needed, not some prison camp you are making it out to be. 'Centers' already exist today for kids who need additional/separate instruction, so this is nothing new or radical or nefarious.

Socializing would be through community programs, sports, etc. Plenty of opportunities for kids to get to know each other.

You don't have to agree with my idea, that's fine...but quit reading something in to it that wasn't there.

And yes, this has gone way off topic..

And for kids who don't have parents available to drive them to those activities, or who come from families that can't afford them, or who live in communities that have cut (or will cut, because of the declining tax revenue from the pandemic) recreation programs? They just do without?

 

[DisneyJamieCA]

Had a meeting with the elementary school today. They will wait from word from our county health director before making plans (who will be getting permission from our Gov), but did say it will be a collaborative effort with staff, parents & admin on how/when to reopen. We'll see how that actually pans out.

 

[barkley]

Monday, May 18, 6:50 p.m. California community colleges expect more students even with online classes.
The chancellor of the California Community Colleges said Monday that he was encouraging all 114 campuses to keep classes online in the fall but said he still thought that enrollment would increase as unemployed people seek retraining during the pandemic.
“Displaced Californians are going to come to community colleges to improve their lives. So we’ve got to advocate that we get every resource to help that happen,” Chancellor Eloy Ortiz Oakley said during the statewide Board of Governors meeting, which was held online. He said he would advocate strongly to reverse some of the budget cuts recently proposed by Gov. Gavin Newsom to cope with declining tax revenues caused by the health emergency.
Some of the state’s 72 community college districts, which are making decisions on the matter, have decided to remain online unless the health situation improves significantly in the fall. Oakley said he encourages all to stay with fully online learning since he said it “will be the most relevant way for us to continue to reach our students.” But he said that colleges will need to get better and quicker data on how many students are continuing in the classes and how well they are succeeding, particularly low-income students and some minorities.

to my mind it's not so much the unemployed as the new high school grads/existing college students who realize that they can take the same general ed classes online through their local community college at a much lower cost vs. paying through the nose to at a u.c. or c.s.u, heck, those of us that lived in proximity to the high end u.c. and c.s.u. campuses knew to check out who was teaching night and summer classes at the community colleges b/c it was common knowledge that the professors earned extra money teaching the identical classes (i took dozens of identical u.c. berkeley and davis classes at my local community college from the same profs my friends went into debt for years for).

 

[barkley]

was curious so i checked to see what our district had posted on it's website. last i checked (a month or so ago) it just showed the rest of the school year as non attendance due to the governor's orders but had the 2020/2021 information populated on the calendar. now the 2020/2021 is entirely wiped clean with no indication of so much as the known legal holidays.

 

[mom2rtk]

Sacrifices / selection of class need to be made and schools need to pick a common curriculum. Students that are brilliant and are advance AP type level well they may not be able to shine until they can afford to get to a private HS or college or an area AP elite public school.

for labs and specialized equipment classes where the location is the driver of the learning well, block A of students go lab on week 1 for example all day. This will allow the weekend for calm and cleaning before the next block of students come in.

maybe the specialized classes can be offered online as an extra for the students that really want it because based on what I see right now most HS kids a majority % are just doing the requirement because they are forced not because they really need it or want it.

...it’s a new normal, so come up with something that works or well there will not be in person school at any level. Everyday, week, districts are confirming Fall will be online only. While all I see from others is we are still weighing our options and attempting to come up with solutions. yay for them, can’t wait to see what those solutions are

No. Just no.

 

[meremac]

Bottom line for my kids (and if I'm being honest, for us adults too) is that this has been a huge lesson in flexibility and resilience. So much of this is completely beyond our control, and kids have had to learn to handle this uncertainty with patience and grace. We are planners by nature in my little family, but we have (slowly and reluctantly) accepted the fact that we just can't plan for the fall right now. When it comes, we will adapt to whatever it brings. In the meantime, we're focusing on the things that we CAN change and that we CAN control and we're just trying to do the "next right thing" with them. I am constantly reminding myself that, in the end, kids are developing real-life skills during this challenging time that they may not have honed otherwise, and these skills will serve them well down the road.

 

[greg9x]

And for kids who don't have parents available to drive them to those activities, or who come from families that can't afford them, or who live in communities that have cut (or will cut, because of the declining tax revenue from the pandemic) recreation programs? They just do without?

Again... a theoretical FUTURE model of how things could go... not things that are necessarily going to happen during current pandemic. Just that this pandemic is showing the potential of what could happen. Although aspects of it will need to happen if can't get the outbreak really under control. There are separate things I was talking about.. what could happen this fall, and what the future may gravitate towards

As to transportation.... every day we are closer to self driving vehicles... one day you (or your kids) probably won't own a car, you'll subscribe to a car service. When you need to go somewhere a car will show up and take you where you need to go. If kids need to go somewhere, same thing. For in the nearer future we already have ride share services... as I said, money saved from building/maintaining large physical school buildings and bus transportation for a large portion of kids could be applied to funding systems like this, as well as the community activities.

People are so caught up in "This is the way we do things, this is the way it's always going to be !". Things are going to change, how fast I don't know...but they are going to change. Some one mentioned about how kids have always gone to school.. while somewhat true for the last few hundred years, they went TO a school because that's where the teacher was... We are now in an age where the teacher can go to all the kids, no matter where they are.

Every year we are in constant financial battles about building new schools... maintaining, heating, cooling existing schools... overcrowding classes.. getting good teachers and paying them well... and the flag everyone here is waving, resources to PROPERLY handle special needs kids. Eventually things need to change to address these issues. Again, future...not next week.

 

[monsterkitty]

Y'all are trying too hard. You know what it's going to take to open the schools? Public officials coming out and admitting they made a mistake. Schools should have never been closed. Here's a challenge; find the data that DOES support closing the schools. It doesn't exist. If you support closing the schools for COVID you'd be better off supporting closing the schools through flu season. FAR more kids WITHOUT pre-existing conditions, that get the flu shot, get seriously ill and yes, die from the flu than will ever die from COVID.

Yeah, you are right. Totally unrealistic. Public officials admitting they made a mistake. It will never happen. What am I thinking?

Let me explain it to you as if you were in my class:

1. Student A sits in my period 1 with 40 other students playing an instrument
2. Student B is sharing a stand with another student who has no idea he is ill
3. Student A picks up the stand to put it back at the end of class
4. Student B lets student C take a drink from his water bottle, but they do the "waterfall" method
5. Bell rings. As they leave the class, students A, B, and C are now taking germs with them to their next class.
6. Period 2, Student D uses the stand and chair student B used. Student D now starts spreading the germs to those around him
7. At the end of the day, in my class at least 14 students have use the music stand Student B used Period 1. At least 7 have sat in that chair. How many more chairs, doors, desks, pencil sharpeners, etc did Student B touch?
8. Now each of those students go home to their families. I teach in a district that has large families and many are multi-generational households.
9. Each person in that family is now exposed to the virus
10. Day 2 - Each family member who was exposed on Day 1 is now going to work or schools, taking the virus with them
11. Day 3 - now more kids in the school are exposed and spreading the virus to home.
12. the cycle continues

Kids can be gross. They don't wash their hands, the share water bottles, suckers, chip bags, lip gloss, and I've even seen them share 1 piece of gum. They can't keep their hands to themselves, like adults can do. When we say no holding hands or keep your hands to yourselves, they push back "I wasn't doing anything" or "that's stupid". Parents call and complain because you tell them they can't walk down the hall holding hands or you can't give high 5s whatever. (There is a YouTube family that made an entire vlog on one of the kids getting in trouble for giving all the kids a high 5 as they walked out of the building. Teacher told him to stop and he didn't. Finally he gets recess taken away for the next day. Mom is mad because he wasn't doing anything wrong. Instead of calling the teacher, she vlogs about it. When she finally calls the teacher the next day, teacher explains that they watch a video about COVID 19 that morning and they were all told no high 5s etc. We deal with this every day)

Schools were closed because they are main spreaders of viruses. It was not a stupid decision. It wasn't taken lightly. It was done for a purpose.

 

[kymom99]

Sacrifices / selection of class need to be made and schools need to pick a common curriculum. Students that are brilliant and are advance AP type level well they may not be able to shine until they can afford to get to a private HS or college or an area AP elite public school.

for labs and specialized equipment classes where the location is the driver of the learning well, block A of students go lab on week 1 for example all day. This will allow the weekend for calm and cleaning before the next block of students come in.

maybe the specialized classes can be offered online as an extra for the students that really want it because based on what I see right now most HS kids a majority % are just doing the requirement because they are forced not because they really need it or want it.

...it’s a new normal, so come up with something that works or well there will not be in person school at any level. Everyday, week, districts are confirming Fall will be online only. While all I see from others is we are still weighing our options and attempting to come up with solutions. yay for them, can’t wait to see what those solutions are

I’m real tired of hearing the new norm. It’s not the norm. It’s TEMPORARY!

 

[jaybirdsmommy]

Kids can be gross. They don't wash their hands, the share water bottles, suckers, chip bags, lip gloss, and I've even seen them share 1 piece of gum. They can't keep their hands to themselves, like adults can do. .

This is why I cringe every time someone suggests that all we need to do is sterilize the school every night. That won't stop a child from getting infected at home, then coming to school the next day and passing it to everyone just by being kids. Extra cleaning and sterilizing are definitely necessary and will help some, but it still doesn't address the fact that kids are going to directly pass it to others during the day no matter how many safe guards we put in place. As you said, there will be kids who when told not to touch anything that isn't theirs will make it a point to touch every single thing they can.

 

[Lumpy1106]

Let me explain it to you as if you were in my class:

1. Student A sits in my period 1 with 40 other students playing an instrument
2. Student B is sharing a stand with another student who has no idea he is ill
3. Student A picks up the stand to put it back at the end of class
4. Student B lets student C take a drink from his water bottle, but they do the "waterfall" method
5. Bell rings. As they leave the class, students A, B, and C are now taking germs with them to their next class.
6. Period 2, Student D uses the stand and chair student B used. Student D now starts spreading the germs to those around him
7. At the end of the day, in my class at least 14 students have use the music stand Student B used Period 1. At least 7 have sat in that chair. How many more chairs, doors, desks, pencil sharpeners, etc did Student B touch?
8. Now each of those students go home to their families. I teach in a district that has large families and many are multi-generational households.
9. Each person in that family is now exposed to the virus
10. Day 2 - Each family member who was exposed on Day 1 is now going to work or schools, taking the virus with them
11. Day 3 - now more kids in the school are exposed and spreading the virus to home.
12. the cycle continues

Kids can be gross. They don't wash their hands, the share water bottles, suckers, chip bags, lip gloss, and I've even seen them share 1 piece of gum. They can't keep their hands to themselves, like adults can do. When we say no holding hands or keep your hands to yourselves, they push back "I wasn't doing anything" or "that's stupid". Parents call and complain because you tell them they can't walk down the hall holding hands or you can't give high 5s whatever. (There is a YouTube family that made an entire vlog on one of the kids getting in trouble for giving all the kids a high 5 as they walked out of the building. Teacher told him to stop and he didn't. Finally he gets recess taken away for the next day. Mom is mad because he wasn't doing anything wrong. Instead of calling the teacher, she vlogs about it. When she finally calls the teacher the next day, teacher explains that they watch a video about COVID 19 that morning and they were all told no high 5s etc. We deal with this every day)

Schools were closed because they are main spreaders of viruses. It was not a stupid decision. It wasn't taken lightly. It was done for a purpose.

I hate to break it to you, but that is a NATURAL cycle. That is how we, as a SPECIES, get immunity to practically everything. If kids are asymptomatic or have mild symptoms, what is the problem? I'm not making this up - there is no data to support closing the schools. Open the schools and nearly every kid will have been exposed and will have immunity within a month - sounds like a win to me. Oh, I hear you, they can't go see their grandparents. My kids haven't seen their grandparents since this started, and my parents live 5 miles away. Protect the vulnerable and get on with life or they will NEVER see their grandparents.

One other thing to think about - all signs point to this thing hitting the US far earlier than March when we shut everything down. We highly suspect my kids' school had it roll through in December. Yes, schools are notorious for spreading disease, and there's a really good chance they already have.

 

[nkereina]

Didn't read all replies, but where I live in upstate NY, my MIL works at a public school and they are making plans to have all grade levels attend class virtually. Teachers will still go into their classroom to teach as normal, but students will be via webcams. They plan to invest in technology to make this an easier effort. I have no idea what the plan would be for parents who have to go to work and can't leave little kids at home, families who don't have access to computes and webcams, or even teachers who have kids that can't be left alone. Will be interesting to see how it plays out.