Parents of the HS Class of 2021 (Part 1)

Parents Forum Class of 20xx Community
6807

Our school district is offering 3 options (We’re in North Texas/DFW Suburb:

-In Person, with safety precautions according to current Health Dept regulations (right now level orange meaning mandatory masks, distancing, one way entries/exits, no water fountain usage, grab n go lunch only etc

-Virtual- Online learning taught by school district teacher, some live instruction, some recorded, not all courses will be offered though (several AP classes and electives didn’t make the cut

-Virtual Plus- Online learning as above with the option to come to campus during the day for middle/high school students for electives and classes and UIL categories that cannot be taught online (fine arts, athletics, career center courses, many AP classes, especially the sciences)

School was supposed to start Aug 12, has been pushed back to Aug 19. 25 minutes have been added to the school day to 1)allow the district to “bank” additional time in case of a state wide shutdown (all students would go virtual then) so that the we don’t have to push into June to make up and 2) gives the high schools especially extra time to rework passing between classes in hallways so that they are staggered. Have you seen a Texas 5A/6A high school during pass periods lol?!?!

There has been so much tension and animosity in our community over back to school decisions. I’ve never witnessed this much division. There are 55,000+ students in our district from all walks of life and socioeconomic backgrounds…none of this is going please everyone.

I had someone tell me the other day that if I decide to let my kids go back to in person learning on campus, I’ll be responsible for the deaths of teachers. Thanks.

S21’s Band Leadership Camp started this week, albeit VERY abbreviated and under VERY different circumstances. No more than 15 in a group, they divided them into 3 different cohorts…all in different parts of the building. They are only meeting together from 7:45-11:00 then meet virtually with the directors via Zoom from 1:00-3:00. Mandatory masks when walking in or out of school and temp checks. Masks can be taken off when on the field, brass section is spaced 10 feet apart. The entire 280 member band will not practice together in one place for a few months most likely. When general band camp for all starts on the 27th, they will still have the same protocols, rotating groups of 15 will arrive at different times to work with the directors.

Marching competitions and any away football games are off the table. Our district will instead host non competitive exhibitions for our 5 district high schools only to put on a community performance that can be streamed.

Our 9 minute competition show that the band kids would have normally learned has been chopped to 4 minutes.

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6808

@DOTexe my D18’s LSAT coming up at end of August was changed to online. Not sure why SAT and ACT can’t figure out a way to make it happen on line.

6809

@Momof3B That is crazy that someone would say that to you. Does this person never leave their house?

We are patiently waiting for UIL to make an announcement about fall sports. If cancelled, I wondered if the kids will need to take another class?

6810

For all online scenarios, I don’t think either company has figured out how to deal with the cheating issue.

If home based online, you have all the same equity issues with regard to computer and adequate internet access as you have for remote school.

If school based online, not many sites can provide that many computers.

Our local HS (affluent, top public) had already made the decision that they were not going to offer the ACT section re-tests this fall (those will be only computer based, and were initially going to start in Sept 2020, but are now postponed a year) because they don’t have the adequate technology…the numbers of those taking ACT section re-takes would be much less than those taking full ACTs and SATs.

6811

Indeed.

6812

Hi! I’m not a parent (I’m a student), but I was just wondering how other states are implementing their reoping policies for their HS Class of 2021. Here in Chicago, no juniors or seniors will be allowed back at school. I understand the risk of COVID and how they are trying to minimalize the risk of infection, but I’m confused why juniors and seniors are the only ones not allowed back. They say that our schedules are too difficult to manipulate, but I also think that this time is crucial for my Class of 2021. My junior year was not only cut short by COVID, but it was evens shorter because of the month long CTU strike when we didn’t have school.

Just wondering what other cities are doing for their class of 2021, if you have any info at all. Im just hoping that not all cities are disregarding the fact that many kids will never even end up applying to college because they don’t know how. Many of our students are first-gen and feel that the process will be too difficult to manage without being in school. Also, our classes will be nearly impossible to learn from home, as seniors generally take the most advanced classes.

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@riverandsasha3 Ours is not done via state mandate, but each district decides how best to implement. Our district is bringing freshman back full time, other high school grades are 2 days in school, 3 online.

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@Darcy123 Yeah that makes sense. I totally understand how important of a year this is for freshman, but I just wish the seniors had some time in school to at least get college counseling and do actual labs in our AP science classes

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You should call your school counselor and express your concern. I hope there will be support through your guidance office. Some suburban public high schools are planning remote class for all of their students. This pandemic has made planning for school very complicated and there are no good answers.

6816

Hello, my S21 is excited but as everyone worried about our class. He is looking to continue his sport in college.

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@Aguadecoco yes, it didn’t go over well with me either, and another mutual friend who is a SpEd Diag in our district “liked” her comment.

Just got a news alert that UIL has released their guidelines for fall! 5A/6A season dates being pushed back to start late September.

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@Momof3B it’s crazy how divided everyone is - over everything! I was told I had the mark of the devil because I wear a mask when I’m in public places. And that I should read the Book of Revelations before I end up in hell. Scary times we live in.

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@NJWrestlingmom WOW! That is legit crazy…I think that person is most in need of Jesus.

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@riverandsasha3 We’re in Chicago as well, and as disappointing as the current proposal is, I have no expectation that what they’ve proposed will happen. Given the CTU response and publicly stated concerns, not to mention the the Mayor has said there won’t be an official plan before the end of August, you can expect it to change more than once before school starts. My strong belief is that instruction will be remote for everyone – with the possible exception of certain special cases – by the time Labor Day rolls around. That doesn’t make it better for you, of course, but perhaps it will feel more equal.

6821

Our school district board is meeting right now. The proposal is to push first day of school to Sept 8th from Aug 24th and give families three options by July 27th. The three options being first is full face 2 face, second full online and third (only for high school) Hybrid, 2 days in person and 3 online. 100% of kids will be on schoology .

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I reached out to a counselor today at the school (it’s not our school) where S21 is scheduled to take the Aug SAT. Here was his response:

“As of right now, it does not appear that [school] will be hosting any testing this fall. If any more information comes out, we can share this with you. You are also welcome to call for any updates.”

I appreciate the info but am also unsure of whether that is definitive enough for me to try to change S21’s registration. It likely is, but how much will I be kicking myself if the info is different 3 weeks from now and they decide to host? Unlikely, I know…but I would have preferred a definitive cancellation to a “as of now it does not appear…”

Hmmmm

6823

Right. It’s like whack a mole. Who knows which schools will be open for these tests? This one? Yes! Oh I mean no! How about this one? Maybe yes! Drive there on the day of test and oops nope.

6824

Since you folks are making me neurotic, I went ahead and reserved a November SAT test sitting for D. :smiley:

She now has an August, October and November test on the books.

6825

Not “hosting any testing this fall” sounds fairly dramatic. If you are thinking about rescheduling Aug to Nov, I’d probably wait, unless you can change the Aug test center to a different one that might have higher chances.

Here, we’re keeping fingers crossed. Aug test center school is set to open in person prior to the test date, but there are noises about re-locking down if the infection rate increases too much. Six more weeks to hold our breath.

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I’d be surprised if anyone is able to switch locations for Aug test at this point. Sept either. I tried and there are a lot (maybe 20?) locations within 30 min of our house and all are booked. I had to go 75 miles to find one and we aren’t going to drive that far. Sorry!