Thanks, @kbm770. I’d be happy just to sign her up for the online AP Spanish class independent of the school, but she wouldn’t get the weighted GPA bump by doing it that way if it’s not part of the high school transcript. Petty, I know, but she’s a teenaged girl! If it’s not possible to do the course through the school system I’ll suggest she do it independently and try to dissuade her from grade-grubbing. Colleges would see from the online school transcript that she did her best to challenge herself apart from what the school can provide.
High school now remote. New guidelines from the state of Illinois make our hybrid plan impossible. So sad for the kids. I didn’t know if hybrid would last long but these changes, just three days before school starts, are jarring for them. Kids were all excited about getting back. Freshmen orientation had been happening in person and going well. Temperature check screening stations had been installed for 15 kids at a time to get screened. We were all ready to go.
That stinks, sorry for your D.
We started in person classes today. Masks are required, and they are trying to do some things to socially distance as best they can in an overcrowded school with everyone still there full time. But I have a feeling it isn’t going to last. At least if they can get a couple of weeks in I think that will help get them set up for online if/when it becomes necessary.
She has AP Lang and AP Chem this semester. Also taking a government class at the local directional U. So only 2 classes actually at the HS, which is probably good. Less disruption if they go online plus it should also give her more time for college apps. In the spring she has 5 blocks first quarter, then 4 second quarter. If they are online she will probably cut that down somewhat, unless they are better at online that I think they will be.
For high school, D21 used Ray Leven (Spanish Learning Online) for Honors Spanish 4 (9th grade) and CTY Online for AP Spanish (10th grade). Ray Leven’s courses are tough, highly interactive, and they meet live each week. CTY Online for Spanish was fine, but Ray Leven is better.
D21 did very well. She had already learned a ton of Spanish on her own through Pimsleur and videos during middle school, so she tested into a high level for Leven’s class.
After all online Spanish courses her entire life, she tested into 300-level Spanish courses at the local state college last year and took her first in-person Spanish classes there (and got high A’s). This year she is taking the most advanced Spanish courses the college offers, right along with the Spanish majors.
All this is to say that online classes done right, combined with a motivated and proactive attitude, can be just as good as or better than in-person classes.
mistakenly posted…
@homerdog – I’m sorry for the late switch to online! I hate that teachers have to scramble now too.
@3kids2dogs – My S goes to a pretty small public school so scheduling is sometimes difficult. He took online AP Computer Science A last year through our state’s Virtual High School. and had a great experience. And this was b4 online classes were a thing! Those teachers are used to teaching online so I imagine quality is generally high. I would encourage it – your girl has worked hard and deserves her rank! 
Our school is pushing the early graduation option for seniors. They sent out a doc yesterday explaining it along with a survey to see who plans to do so. My S won’t – he’s not even taking his required graduation classes until next semester. I think this is b/c assuming they can do hybrid 2nd semester it would be easier w/ fewer students in the building. Feels like Class of 2021 will be going out with a whimper. 
@inthegarden, I totally understand your daughter’s position. I’d like to think I’d be different now, but I KNOW I wouldn’t have been different as a teenager. I wish there was something she was interested in at the AP level that might be a good compromise. These things are hard.
@homerdog - NOOOOoooooo! I was so rooting for you guys to start hybrid. Are they going to work on a different plan to match new guidance or are they just putting all their efforts into a great remote plan?
@3kids2dogs looks like nothing but remote. With the new restrictions laid out by the state late on Wed, it seems impossible for a big school to go back right now. Here are the new guidelines. I took this from a different district’s website in our county because it’s a more thorough explanation than what we got last night. Warning. It’s long. But read if you’re Interested
additional Close Contact Protocols in the section “Contacts to Cases” contains several new requirements:
A close contact has been redefined as “anyone (with or without a face covering) who was within 6 feet of a confirmed case of COVID-19 (with or without a face covering),for at least 15 minutes throughout the course of a day. The period of close contact begins 2 calendar days before the onset of symptoms.”
Prior to yesterday, the 15 minutes was any one instance on any one single day. This running 24-hour clock for any two days is an extremely difficult accumulation of time to account for - especially in a high school where students could share time in a passing period, on a bus, in common areas, in an activity or sport, or in a classroom. Figuring out how to account for this new running clock for anyone who a student or staff member may have come into close contact will take some planning.
The expectation that schools will assist the Local Health Department (LHD) by identifying all close contacts with a confirmed case. Documentation of assigned seats and taking photos of assembled classes was suggested.
Documenting who students sit near throughout the day is a brand new expectation and it is nothing we have yet discussed with teachers or have planned for. Students frequently move throughout a class in many of the activities we would be bringing students back to school for in-person learning. We have not yet had time to discuss with the DuPage County Health Department (DCHD) what expectations there would be for contact tracing in this manner - as the DCHD also received this guidance in real time with us.
A new definition of an outbreak in a school to include, “Two confirmed cases of COVID-19 infections occurring within 14 calendar days of each other in individuals in the same classroom would meet the case definition for an outbreak.”
This is a brand new metric for us. Although we had always planned to track cases and close contacts, we now have a requirement to cross check all cases to see if they have commonality and look for trends across students in classrooms. We will need time to design our data systems to track this information within the Hybrid Model across the A and B Groups.
New expectations for COVID-like symptoms in “Management of Ill Students and Staff”:
All students and staff sent home with COVID-like symptoms should be diagnostically tested. Students and staff should remain home from school until they receive their test results.
This new requirement would require anyone that displayed COVID-like symptoms (fever or chills, cough, shortness of breath or difficulty breathing, fatigue, muscle or body aches, headache, new loss of taste or smell, sore throat, congestion or runny nose, nausea or vomiting, or diarrhea) while at school to get tested for COVID. Many of these are very common ailments that we see in the nurse’s office every day at school.
We have not had a conversation with the DuPage County Health Department about testing at this level and do not have resources prepared to offer our students or staff to get tested at this frequency. It is unlikely we would be able to staff a building while many staff could be out several days while waiting to receive test results for symptoms that seem ordinary but present as COVID-like symptoms.
Students and staff with COVID-like symptoms who do not get tested for COVID-19, and who do not provide a doctor’s note documenting an alternative diagnosis, must complete 10 calendar days of isolation from the date of first symptom onset and be fever-free for 24 hours without use of fever-reducing medications and other symptoms have improved before returning to school.
This would require everyone with COVID like symptoms that does not have COVID to get a doctor’s note saying they do not have COVID and have a negative test result. Additional guidance we have received indicates if someone has regular ongoing COVID-like symptoms (due to something like allergies) the student or staff member would need a doctor’s note and a weekly negative COVID test to continue attending school. The student attendance and staffing implications to this change are tremendous.
If a student is sent home sick with suspected COVID-19 symptoms (e.g., runny nose, fever, diarrhea, etc.), all their siblings/household members must be sent home as well and quarantined for 14 calendar days. If one of the household members is being evaluated for COVID-19, the rest of the household must be quarantined until an alternative diagnosis is made or a negative result is received.
This is a new expectation that has not been communicated to our families or our staff. This will be particularly difficult for staffing a school, as a teacher whose child or household member is sent home sick from school would result in the staff member being out of work for 14 days. Providing substitute coverage for this would be extremely difficult as this new requirement would likely cause many staff members to need to stay home regularly. We would also expect to have a larger amount of the students out as a result of this change as well
I don’t know why these changes were made.
Also wanted to add that I exchanged emails my S’s test prep tutor yesterday, and she emphasized that almost none of the students she works with has gotten their their dream score this year. She cited cancellations and stress having taken a toll. She emphasized what we all know – focus on essays and the rest of the application. Said those should be a priority over additional testing at this stage. She said good scores this year would only be ‘icing on the cake’ given the upheavals and to focus on the cake!
Anyway, nothing earth shattering with this advice but just wanted to pass it on. I always appreciate when others share with their CC or GC say!
For my S, when the ACT re-opened last week we were able to get a test date but not until end of Oct. He’s only going to take it again if he’s done with everything else and can spend at least a few weeks prepping on math and science to see if he could boost them and then super score. (He’s happy with the 33s he got on E and R). Honestly, I’d say only 50% chance that happens.
I also talked to a local parent this week who went through engineering admissions with her S20. She was reassuring about my S’s chances at NC State and Virginia Tech based on what the outcomes she saw from her S and his buddies last year. She did mention deferrals/gap years as a potential wild card for our kids’ class, but there’s no controlling that!
@homerdog - so aggravating. I don’t know about activities/sports, etc, but our school (which is starting remote until after Labor Day), seems to have a lot of this covered. There should be no close contacts in classrooms if everyone sits physically distanced from each other. Passing periods are 5 minutes, so no one should cross the threshold for that either. The teachers will have to double down and make sure they aren’t near anyone for 15 minutes at a time (but one on one closeness like that seems pretty unlikely for 15 minutes of a class - that’s actually a LONG time). Aside from the bus, if these kids have “close contacts” it will be of their own doing - which they’ve been doing all summer, for good or for bad. Honestly, I feel like if my kid can work at Panera 20+ hours a week all summer where they can’t socially distance (there’s like ten workers in a pretty small space) and not acquire it, schools can make it work.
I do like our “hybrid” model because all the kids (Group A, Group B and all remote) are getting the same instruction. You are either physically in school or livestreaming the class. Hybrid kids are livestreaming 3 days a week, all remote kids are livestreaming 5 days a week. This way kids can quarantine without missing a beat - they will just zoom in on their “in person” days until they can go back to school. If a teacher has to quarantine (not sick), they can likely teach from home - just need a body in the classroom for supervision; not an actual substitute.
I know I’m a little Pollyanna-ish and when Sept 8 rolls around, they will probably stay remote, but I hope they at least try! It’s the bus that’s a huge problem!
@homerdog sorry this shift had to come so close to the start of the schoolyear. That has to be a huge disappointment for the kids and difficult for the teachers to now shift their plans.
As you’ve said in regards to Bowdoin, while it was hard to take the news when it was given, knowing early and having a consistent plan since that time made it easier to deal with in the long run…rather than last minute shifts (Penn, Duke, etc.) The same seems to be playing out, in a way, with K-12. I’m glad our district shifted to remote 3 weeks before the start of the schoolyear (I understand that in your case the last minute shift was prompted by changing state guidelines…not the kind of thing as likely to happen here in GA, sigh).
We opted for remote when given the choice in early July and did so for many reasons, but one of then, which someone else in the group (was it @AlmostThere2018 maybe?) noted, was that it would prevent the upheaval and uncertainty of shifting back and forth (I realize not all districts were offering a 100% remote choice, and I don’t think yours was). Our district is now tentatively going back to in person (for those who chose it) in another week for some grade levels, and more grade levels to come the week after that, etc., but that could all change. I think it’s going to be easier for my kids not to have to worry about that so much - they know they’re 100% remote for this semester no matter how many times the district shifts. They don’t love it (though there are some perks like sleeping later), but there is some mental health benefit, honestly, to the consistency and lack of last-minute-pulling-the-rug-out, I think.
@AlmostThere2018 thanks for the perspective from your S21’s test prep tutor.
@inthegarden sorry for the difficulties with your D’s schedule. My S21 took online APUSH last year, and it was tough, but I also don’t think it was a particularly well run online APUSH course - it wasn’t from someone with a lot of experience running online classes. My D23 is taking Japanese I through Georgia Virtual School this year (they are linked to the public schools so it counts on her high school transcript and for her GPA), and it’s been well run so far (started two weeks ago). The teacher definitely has experience making online work. Also, as mentioned upthread, those AP review classes from the College Board are still available on Youtube - your D could check out the AP Spanish ones as needed as one resource to help her if the class itself leaves her needing more instruction. I think I’d go for it with the AP Spanish if the school finds a way to make that work for her. Hope you and she are able to come up with a solution to her class schedule that you’re reasonably happy with.
Second app is in - Florida State. Feels like he’s getting all of the NMF schools out of the way. Florida State asked for every test score. Had to log into the Northwestern CTD program to get his MS ACT scores. Crazy.
Hi All,
Long time reader & first time poster here. I want thank you for all the advises and sharing your knowledge!!!
This is first rodeo for us. Like all of you, our plans to v
Sorry, first time posting, accidentally press “post comment”
Like all of you, our plans for visiting schools were all cancelled this year. So D21 & I we’re talking, and started wondering how many reach schools should be on one’s list??? I think 3; she thinks 1 is enough???
Any advice will be help! Thank you!!! 
@carlson2 – interesting! When my NMF D18 was applying Cornell and Barnard asked for all scores, but we didn’t send her 7th grade score that qualified her for Duke TIP figuring that’s not what they really meant. She was 12 when she took it! It was also the ‘old’ SAT at that point. Were we wrong about that? Oh well, water under the bridge, as they say…
I don’t think the CTY/TIP scores need to be reported either. Ds were OK but won’t add much to her application.
Jealous of all of you getting apps in already! I asked again last night “just tell me you do have a plan to complete your tasks before school starts” and was told “yes, I have a plan. When does school start again?” I have prematurely gray hair already. I think my whole head will be white by the end of this!
@th03 Welcome! We are having the same conversations at our house. Right now there are 5 on D21 list. She would be happy to drop a few and I would like her to add a few. There are so many unknowns this year with admissions and so many great schools.
If the student has the time to do a good job on the application, and put the time into the supplements essays, then it is worth applying to more schools. But if the student is not that into it, I think it will show on the application and it is not worth submitting.
@th03 welcome! That answer is going to vary depending on finances, too. If you are full pay but can’t afford $80k/year at some of these places, you don’t need a lot of reaches. My D is actually struggling to find any reaches because the ones she likes won’t be affordable, so why bother jumping through the hoops???
I was chatting with a friend yesterday. She also has a D21 who is a straight A, 4.0 unweighted Asian would-be engineer. She’s hoping to retake the SAT because she wasn’t happy with the score (I don’t know what it was). But what struck me was her “safety” school - Northeastern. I didn’t want to overstep, but I don’t think that’s a very good safety?!
“all test scores” typically refers to HS only. As you have discovered, ACT/SAT usually purges those scores from middle school that many kids have from testing into gifted programs. My understanding is that you don’t have to track them down.
However, if your kid has a 2400 SAT from 2016, by all means, track it down!
@NJWrestlingmom Send your friend here to CC! Invite her to join this very friendly group. A lot of people look at the stats of admitted students, see the their kid fits those stats and assumes that they will get in. They don’t realize that there are many equally meritorious students that get rejected. Some time on this site should set her straight.