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

[DisneyJamieCA]

Well, California which has the biggest university system in the country announced they are not having kids in campus in the fall. The saga continues...

Cal State University announced that they'll be all online for the fall.... That's the first shoe to drop, I think.

It would be great to have more hard science about transmissibility from kids to adults. Because if kids aren't the vector that we're assuming them to be, then schools can go back to mostly-normal.

Our district has said that to maintain six feet separation, the average class size would have to be SIX kids. That's just not possible, even with half day or every other day scheudles. If they insist on six feet distancing, then online is the only option.

The entire Cal State University system of 500,000 students will not have regular classes in the fall...wlll be distance for the most part.

While all CSUs agreed to this, they won’t all be entirely be online. Our CSU where I live has said most will be online, but there is an entire list of classes/schools of study that will still meet in person. And that they will continue to evaluate over the summer because we have such low numbers here, it may not make sense for them to remain online. And according to our campus president, it is all cost driven. It is too costly to revamp to the school to allow for large scale social distancing.

I will also say that I think it’s much different for colleges and universities to go online than for elementary/high schools. Our districts here are working hard to get kids back into the classroom in some form.

 

[WorldWacky]

All I know is I will not put any videos of myself out there. A video of me talking will be pushing my limit. I once had video of me taken at an event and then it was doctored and cropped and such to make fun of my appearance. And this was as a teacher. Never going through that again.

Sadly, that is a very valid concern and I don’t blame you.

 

[godisney14]

I will also say that I think it’s much different for colleges and universities to go online than for elementary/high schools. Our districts here are working hard to get kids back into the classroom in some form.

Curious to know what your district has been working hard on to make in-classroom education feasible?

Haven’t heard anything concrete from my school district yet. So, what is it that your district is doing?

 

[DisneyJamieCA]

Curious to know what your district has been working hard on to make in-classroom education feasible?

Haven’t heard anything concrete from my school district yet. So, what is it that your district is doing?

To be clear, I said in some form. That would likely mean a hybrid. They are working on scheduling and establishing cohorts. Looking into hiring additional staff. Securing necessary supplies including PPE, hand sanitizer stations, screening equipment and protocol. The email they sent makes it sound like they’re hoping for classes as normal and are preparing for smaller class size if needed.

But remember our numbers are relatively low here, so we may look different than other areas.

I believe they’re also going off of Newsom saying phase 3 will be in the next month or so and Thurmond saying the plan is for schools to return in person (again, in some form) as scheduled in the Fall.

ETA: Our city’s two largest high schools have planned for a virtual graduation on the normal date, but have rescheduled in person graduation ceremonies for August 7. School is scheduled to start Aug 12th. While I don’t know all that went into that decision, both high schools worked closely with the school board. My guess is there was a lot of discussion around the start of school as well since both emails came out close together.

 

[DeniseJH]

Closed.

 

[mousefan73]

Thanks for the insight - very interesting. So has there been any increase in cases associated with opening the schools? That's the fear here.

So far it’s looking good. No increases due to schools.

First Phase happened 2 weeks ago, and continued to increase student count last and this week. Overall the country has opened a bit the past 2 -3 weeks with stores etc. So far our numbers have continued to drop. Time will tell the next two or three weeks That’s critical - as positive cases That got infected a couple of weeks ago get entered into our reporting system.
In reopening the country all governors agreed to one policy and that is that if a county has more than 50 New positive cases per 7 day period ( not sure in this ) per hundred thousand inhabitants then localized lockdowns will be re-introduced. There is currently though a political Discussion concerning two major outbreaks in 2 meat packing plants. 100 positives. The opinion is that cases like these should not count towards that threshold. It is a bit weird how it seems to be that any type of poetry/meatpacking facility seems to be risky as in nursing homes.

Keep also in mind that German schools do not have athletics that play a big role as in American schools. Our school has a few sport clubs that are moRe for fun and meet maybe one hour per week - those have also stopped. There are a few clubs here and there but nothing like American schools. So for German kids just going to school for 3 to 4 hours a day for lessons is not really lacking compared to what they did before. Schools is not the main driver for socialization here. I recall my high school life back then when I was in The states and your whole life revolved around school ( for some good for some horrible).

For German kids that is not the case- socially speaking as kids from one town end up going to a variety of different types of schools. And most are home by 3 pm and then meet up with their friends who in many cases go to different schools.

 

[Colleen27]

Unfortunately our school is part of a larger diocesan network, so we have to follow the rules set forth by the diocesan superintendent. They are so afraid about getting sued that we are not allowed to make Zoom sessions mandatory even though we lent computers to families who didn’t have them. We also are supposed to be teaching new material and grading it, but at the end of the quarter we aren’t allowed to give any zeros or let a student’s grade drop from the 3rd quarter. So if a student doesn’t do the work, there will be no consequences. But we are under a tremendous amount of pressure to get the work from those kids who are not complying. We also are not allowed to penalize kids for late work, which is one of the reason things are so hard to grade. Since we can’t hold kids accountable to due dates, they are turning stuff in whenever they feel like it. It also makes it hard for me to post all my Zoom sessions because in some of them, I’m going over the work that half of them haven’t turned in yet. I can’t publish the video until I’ve collected the assignment from everyone. I do publish the Zoom lessons that are just straight teaching though. Then when kids who didn’t attend the Zoom session ask how to do something, I direct them to the video. Only about 30% of our MS students actually log in to the live Zoom sessions. It’s kind of shocking.

I will say most kids with their parents encouragement and support are still really working hard. But there are some families who have completely checked out even though they are paying tuition. It’s frustrating.

That's rough. Our diocese has given individual schools a lot of leeway to do what works for their students and families, so other than some basic web safety standards, it is all left up to the school. So for us, live classes are mandatory a couple times a week (unless prior arrangements have been made to get the video) and the kids are getting graded normally. Most teachers are giving a bit of leeway with deadlines - all the week's work due the following Monday, for example - so that kids whose parents are still working have a little more flexibility on when they get things done. And our one more tech-adverse teacher is letting the kids self-pace their math practices to a large extent, but she's using a software-integrated curriculum so she doesn't have to grade everything by hand and subsequent lectures are going over the type of problem, rather than the specifics of any one assignment. But we're also not making the class videos generally available. They're all backed up in an administration Google Drive and shared via link to those students who need it.

I know a lot of public school families who have checked out completely. I'm not sure if it is the paying tuition that makes the difference, or the type of families our school attracts, or just that we're lucky and don't have so many who are as overwhelmed as so many are at the moment, but we've had strong participation from the start and hopefully that will continue. I'm just worried about what happens if we're still online for fall, because I seriously doubt our governor is going to allow individual schools any flexibility - either all schools will be able to reopen, even the mega-schools with thousands upon thousands of students, or none will.

 

[Darcy03231]

What dates and which airline please!!

Have you tried raising the issue of attendance with your administration? Our Zoom/Google Meet classes are mandatory and participation is a grade, just as it would be in the classroom, and our principal has 100% backed the teachers up on that while also letting parents know that if they have a real issue preventing them from logging in as scheduled, to reach out to make alternative arrangements. We also record all our Zoom and Meet classes, so those alternative arrangements involve giving kids who cannot attend, whether on a specific day or routinely, access to watch the video on their own time.

We had some of the same issues with how assignments were turned in at first, but it seems to have settled in as each teacher established their preferred methods. We only have three teachers at the middle school level, and they've really done a good job of working together to learn the technology with the two youngish teachers helping the one somewhat tech-adverse, two-years-from-retirement member of the staff. But we also only have about 30 kids, total, in middle school (grades 5 to 8) and the 8th graders mostly take math at our affiliated high school, so their workload is probably a bit lighter than most middle school teachers. And we've used some digital learning tools, like IXL, for years for worksheet-type practice assignments which makes it easier still.

I hope you're able to get into a better groove and get some better support from your school going forward. I don't blame teachers at all for thinking about leaving right now. All these changes are ridiculously stressful all the way around.

What about rural areas that don't have internet access? It's been a real problem where I live. Some of the older students are on there own during the day while parents are working and have to wait until someone can get them to a free hotspot. The other issue families are having is that some are relying on older retired relatives to do their remote learning with the younger children and some of these people are not technologically savvy. We also had issues in the beginning as some families didn't have tablets/laptops and the school was not providing them. I believe that issue has been resolved, but the bigger issue of internet access has not.

I've been doing the remote learning with my neighbor's kindergarten aged child. It's been a learning curve for everyone. I've spent hours on the phone with the teacher and the tech department trying to get programs that were put together hastily to work. Some we still haven't figured out. Teacher has been really good about just having us to the best we can. I save all the worksheets we do and her mother scans them to the teacher once a week.

 

[Colleen27]

While all CSUs agreed to this, they won’t all be entirely be online. Our CSU where I live has said most will be online, but there is an entire list of classes/schools of study that will still meet in person. And that they will continue to evaluate over the summer because we have such low numbers here, it may not make sense for them to remain online. And according to our campus president, it is all cost driven. It is too costly to revamp to the school to allow for large scale social distancing.

Are they also planning to reopen dorms, in some limited capacity, at those campuses that will have in-person classes? Or do they not have students from out of the area to accommodate?

DD attends a small private university in SF that is, at this point, is planning hybrid learning for the fall. But whether or not the dorms reopen appears to be a significant unknown and one that the professor and advisor she's been speaking with seems to think will be decided by the politicians rather than by the university. The university wants to reopen, with limited capacity, but there's a sense that either the mayor or the governor will issue an order prohibiting it. And they're worried that the CSU announcement increases the odds of that happening, since the decision has already been made for the largest of the state's university systems.

What about rural areas that don't have internet access? It's been a real problem where I live. Some of the older students are on there own during the day while parents are working and have to wait until someone can get them to a free hotspot. The other issue families are having is that some are relying on older retired relatives to do their remote learning with the younger children and some of these people are not technologically savvy. We also had issues in the beginning as some families didn't have tablets/laptops and the school was not providing them. I believe that issue has been resolved, but the bigger issue of internet access has not.

It is a problem here too. We're fortunate that none of the families in our tiny private school have an issue with internet access, but the local public district has made all online learning optional and ungraded because there are areas in our district where broadband just isn't available at all. Normally, those students would use the library for access... but that's closed too. And their hotspot, which is usually available 24/7, is turned off to discourage people from gathering on the grounds to use it (which I personally think is a mistake - between the parking lot and lawns, our library sits on about 3/4 acre of open space, plenty of room for distanced hotspot use). I'm not sure how they'll manage if our schools have to be online in the fall. It is one thing to make the fragmented and distraction-riddled last quarter optional - between testing weeks and spring break and Easter & Memorial Day long weekends and end-of-the-year field trips and events, there's not a ton of new content introduced from March through May in my state - but quite another to plan for an entire semester of learning with little to no classroom time, knowing that some students will not be able to access online resources.

 

[Hikergirl]

I think many colleges and universities will have on campus classes this fall. Not CA or the northeast, but lots of other locations will.

I'm in NY and my ds just found out that he will be returning to school 2 weeks early this fall to complete the required labs that were missed this semester. His school is in one of the regions starting the phase 1 of opening so by the end of August they should be at phase 4.

 

[Colleen27]

I'm in NY and my ds just found out that he will be returning to school 2 weeks early this fall to complete the required labs that were missed this semester. His school is in one of the regions starting the phase 1 of opening so by the end of August they should be at phase 4.

I'd just like to say that I'm a little jealous of those of you in states where you have a reopening plan based on actual, measurable things. Ours is all marketing-speak and nonsense, and lumps all of education together which has a lot of high schools and colleges fearing they won't be allowed to reopen until it is safe to have a roomful of 6yos running around hugging each other!

 

[Hikergirl]

I'd just like to say that I'm a little jealous of those of you in states where you have a reopening plan based on actual, measurable things. Ours is all marketing-speak and nonsense, and lumps all of education together which has a lot of high schools and colleges fearing they won't be allowed to reopen until it is safe to have a roomful of 6yos running around hugging each other!

Don't be too jealous, it is still up in the air. As of now that is the plan for my ds's University. My dd's region has met 6 of the 7 criteria to reopen so they are close, but no decisions yet from her University. My ds's was one of the schools that said they were not going to follow the first closure guidelines set by the Governor, I guess they are the rebels of the SUNY system They did end up shutting down though.
If our Governor makes a decision that effects all public schools at all levels they will have to follow that.
I am thankful that he has allowed certain regions to be allowed to open, but I'm not fully convinced he'll allow some state schools to open for in person classes and not others. We will see.
Hopefully as the beginning of the school year approaches, your Gov. will wisen up

 

[DisneyJamieCA]

Are they also planning to reopen dorms, in some limited capacity, at those campuses that will have in-person classes? Or do they not have students from out of the area to accommodate?

DD attends a small private university in SF that is, at this point, is planning hybrid learning for the fall. But whether or not the dorms reopen appears to be a significant unknown and one that the professor and advisor she's been speaking with seems to think will be decided by the politicians rather than by the university. The university wants to reopen, with limited capacity, but there's a sense that either the mayor or the governor will issue an order prohibiting it. And they're worried that the CSU announcement increases the odds of that happening, since the decision has already been made for the largest of the state's university systems.

The article doesn’t say, but does talk about the possibility of students moving here to attend, so maybe? They say they think they’ll have a clearer picture at the end of the month. But the article also says they plan the CSU system agreed to does leave autonomy up to individual classes on how they wish to ultimately handle it based on their location and student size.

From every press conference I’ve listened to from Newsom and Thurmond (state superintendent), they are not deciding for colleges. They work closely with them to try to make a uniform decision, but don’t decide for them. And right now they have both said they are working to have school start in the Fall, most likely as a hybrid. Newsom has actually picked up the speed on some of the reopenings in recent weeks and said he believes we’ll be to phase 3 in a month or so.

That said, there is a real possibility London Breed, SF Mayor, will decide for them. Since SF is part of the Bay Area super pact (San Mateo left the pact yesterday) and they running much more conservatively than the rest of the state. My county did not join the pact which at first frustrated me, but now makes me happy that we’re moving based on our own numbers.

ETA: San Francisco and Marin have also left the Bay Area pact and will moving into the next phase.

 

[leebee]

Some sort of hybrid in person/online method, by which either alternating days or alternating classes are either in person or online.

Colleges, I imagine a system whereby general (e.g. 'core') courses are provided online and major-specific or lab-related courses are done in person, possibly on a staggered schedule where there is 50% capacity in the classrooms/labs.

I teach at the University here, and we have been told to start planning for almost anything in the fall. Masks will be required in all buildings. They seem concerned with the distancing requirements more than anything else. I think that what we will go to is that large lectures (how many students? maybe determined by how many can safely be seated in a lecture hall) will go to an online format but in-person, small, and hands-on (labs) courses will be offered on campus, with adjustments. Right now we are teaching chem online with the help of zoom, iPads, and Blackboard and it's working pretty well. That's not going to work for labs. We are considering things like half-class size offered on alternating weeks, no lab partners, etc. Who knows? It's a work in progress, but we have TIME right now, time to get it right or at least as good as possible, which wasn't an option for the spring semester.

 

[DisneyJamieCA]

Not my school district but also in the Bay Area, which is one of the most conservative on reopening. Their live report said most CA districts are looking at this model, but I haven’t found the print article that says that.

https://abc7news.com/california-schools-reopening-in-fall-when-are/6181095/

 

[cvjw]

Auburn university just announced today that fall semester classes will be on campus. As well as football!! This is the first SEC school that I have seen that said there will be classes on campus with football! He did not say if fans would be allowed to be in the stadium, but we are moving in the right direction. Now we just need UGA to announce fall football! They have already announced fall classes on campus.

 

[godisney14]

Not my school district but also in the Bay Area, which is one of the most conservative on reopening. Their live report said most CA districts are looking at this model, but I haven’t found the print article that says that.

https://abc7news.com/california-schools-reopening-in-fall-when-are/6181095/

Thanks for the link.
News can be very confusing always due to horrible editing. Just to clarify, the reporter interviewed two different people and received two different responses.

To recap that news piece: The PA superintendent mentioned 2 full day/week schedules, and the state superintendent Thurmond mentioned 2-shift days of morning and afternoon schedules.

 

[StephMK]

I'm a teacher who quit in December to relocate. Originally, my plan would have been to be teaching in a new district by now, which obviously isn't happening. I am seriously considering looking for a position outside of teaching. It is stressful enough in normal times and not sure I want to start in a new state with all of this going on.

My plan now is to start sending out some resumes to other jobs and see if anything comes up over the summer. The local district seems to be holding back on posting many spots with everything in the fall up in the air.

My youngest is taking a leave of absence year. He had a great fall semester as a college freshman but fell apart with everything second semester. His advisor was very supportive and this will give him time to decide to go back or transfer to an in state school.

 

[StitchesGr8Fan]

My prediction. For elementary schools - Half days, no recess, gym, or meals. Half go in the morning, sterilize the desks, half go in the afternoon. Perhaps no busses. God help us working parents, trying to deal with this.

 

[DisneyJamieCA]

Thanks for the link.
News can be very confusing always due to horrible editing. Just to clarify, the reporter interviewed two different people and received two different responses.

To recap that news piece: The PA superintendent mentioned 2 full day/week schedules, and the state superintendent Thurmond mentioned 2-shift days of morning and afternoon schedules.

I understand two different people were interviewed. The live report of this article on the televised news discussed that many CA districts were looking at PA’s model. The quotes from Thurmond came from his interview on Monday and was a more in vain of how it could look, not necessarily a specific plan.