It will be, indeed. I am wondering if many teachers will decide to work remotely only, partly because that will solve their own children’s daycare issues. And who could blame them? So many adults have conditions that put them at risk. And part of my governor’s plan is that any student or staff member that is at high risk be allowed to do remote learning or work.
There was an article in the Boston Globe last month saying something like 20% of all public schools students hadn’t even logged in all month. The article called them “virtual dropouts”. Sorry I don’t have the link. It will be terrible for these kids if education is all online next year.
Is the plan to continue with the modified school arrangements until there is a vaccine, which could take years?
As far as K12 education is concerned, you will see differences depending on the district. I work in a wealthy town where families have live-in help (multiple types of help). If you travel 15 minutes…things look drastically different. I really don’t know how those families will handle daycare if school remains virtual.
One of my kids (working for the DOE) was told to become familiar with the term “hybrid.” That, to me, will be difficult for these families. I also think it’s a little too early…we will know more in August.
It is my firm belief that the health and safety of staff and students has to be the main priority. What does that mean, exactly? Right now…I don’t know. I have my masks, spray bottles for disinfectant, and large assortment of clear face shields…and will do whatever it takes to keep everybody safe. I was offered a room that is large enough to socially distance…should schools open in the fall.
I am doing virtual school this summer for families …where this type of approach will be very difficult.
Right now I give my kids frequent breaks…every few minutes. They all show up regularly.
Affluent children will mostly be fine, as the parents can afford to supervise the kids themselves, or hire caregivers or tutors to do so and will supplement with private instruction. Unfortunately, the vast majority of public school students are not affluent, more than half qualify for the free lunch program, and in many low SES districts fewer than 20% of the kids are even attending. I expect both the health and safety of these kids ( which are the majority) will sink this year if they remain out of school.
It’s so much easier just saying “Michigan”. Or once in a while. “University of Michigan” when someone asks where my son goes
. Lol ??.. Go Blue!
Absolutely…affluent families will have a much easier time. I see it now.
This crisis has brought to the surface a huge assortment of inequities. One thing that glares at me every single day during my virtual meetings…all the women who consistently take care of their young children while trying to work. These women are entertaining their kids, feeding them, etc…while working and attending meetings.
It brought to the surface…right in my face…something else that has always been discussed…that women bear the brunt of childcare responsibilities. I always sit and wonder why the spouse…who is also working from home…is never asked to watch the kids (yes…there are many exceptions to this…I am just reporting what I see).
Again…this crisis has brought all of the inequities to the surface.
My rising senior and a friend have been approached by 3 families with elementary school kids to provide after school tutoring. These families already have nannies, but want to hire my D just for academics. The families will buy a curriculum to be followed and it will be 3 hours a day M-F. The families are waiting to see what the district does, but wanted to line up a contingency.
^^ I want to line up a contingency for my D23. Any ideas??
I don’t trust the district we live in for online learning. they failed miserably this spring. I do like the teachers, but the district policy of no online live, zoom or interactive classes was so disappointing for the kids who could have participated, but didn’t have the option. And with the “no grades” policy, only 30% of the 50K kids even did the packets handed out weekly. SO - if anyone has any ideas to supplement HS education, I would LOVE to hear those.
I saw an article somewhere about this.
If it can be shown that children don’t spread the virus, that will be a huge boon to school in-person. But I suspect it will depend on the age of the children, and I think they have already found some outbreaks from older students (post-puberty?) in schools in other countries. This and the general unknown of if/when surges are going to occur.
And then there is the issue of quick and accurate testing for both the virus and antibodies, and a greater understanding of what kind of protection and what is the level needed of antibodies to confer protection.
Lots needs to happen!
This is one of the options my school district is considering because it could easily adhere to the social distancing guidelines. In my opinion, this would be the best solution (but far from ideal) if things can’t return to normal. It is much more difficult to educate the K-5 students via online than it is to educate the 6-12 students via online, and the parents of the K-5 students would not need to worry about childcare.
Some families in my area never had a “bubble” even in March. Very few families in my area now have any type of bubble. If the 6-12 cohort does go online, I think many kids in my area will be working together somewhere and not be isolated at home.
You could withdraw from the pubic school and homeschool. There are many long-time homeschoolers on this site (including me) who could offer assistance.
Not everyone can homeschool their kids. @bgbg4us , for our S23, we have him take online courses from CTY, and Princeton (associated with, not being taught by Princeton profs). Our public HS is doing a very poor job with remote learning. It’s pathetic. I love my community and I am not going hater on them. But the remote learning really exposed the weakness of many teachers. Remote learning takes a lot of skill, patience and self-motivation. If the teachers aren’t self motivated and only do minimal (because it’s a pandemic and who can blame them right?), how do we expect the students to thrive? My son said no one turned in homework or assignment, it’s all pass/fail, teachers don’t care if anyone does or not do their work, as long as a kid has a pulse, they pass…
It’s all boil down to self motivation, some kids have it but most need others to push them along, especially at this age. We have always had our son taking CTY courses since he was in primary school. He isn’t a self-motivated kid like his sister. But he doesn’t push back either. He is currently doing 3 online classes from CTY (normally the only takes one at a time), He is also signed up for 2 online summer classes through the Princeton program. He is also taking SAT from khan academy regularly.
@bgbg4us
The point is, there are a lot of online resources, you don’t necessarily have to hire a tutor. I mean how many tutors you would have to hire? there are so many online courses from English to history to math and science. Do the search and you will find. Even if school is back to in person, it’s still a good idea.
I googled CTY and apparently it’s a program for gifted kids. Most kids don’t fall in that category. If you’ve got an average kid whose taking regular grade level courses, and you work full time, this is causing huge headaches for you. What if you are low income and you can’t afford special online classes? Even if you can afford them, if you are an essential worker and you are out of the house during the day, who watches your kid and makes sure they log on and do their work? A neighbor? An older sibling? I don’t have answers, but I just feel so badly for those at the lower end of the economic scale who will fall even farther behind because of Covid.
This is why states have to figure out a way for K-12 to get back in the classroom. At the very least, get K-8 back since they are too young to stay at home with parents at work. This issue affects how many millions of people including parents and school-aged kids? They have to go back to school.
I agree and if K-8 students don’t go back to school, then their parents, some of whom are teachers, won’t be able to teach. Obviously things changed on a dime in the spring, but S21’s classes where the teacher had young/elementary age kids at home were unable to run live class sessions.
It’s such a domino scenario, the more K-8 or 12 schools that don’t open will necessarily make it more likely that other schools can’t open.
As I watch the West Point graduation I have to wonder, are the military academies the only institutions that can reasonably expect primarily in person education this year?
@bgbg4us I have to agree with that. Our younger brother’s public school teachers did not have any live classes, and only one of them even had recorded lectures. In the rest of the classes, the teachers just handed out worksheets that would supposedly “teach the lesson” on paper. Most teachers in our public school district basically left the learning up to the students with worksheets and only graded the worksheets after going online. Many of the teachers in my school district treated it like a vacation.
Deep Springs College may be able to pull it off, due to its small size and isolated location: https://www.deepsprings.edu/college-news/covid-19-updates/
My D will be a sophomore at William and Mary this fall. Their plan is extensive and packed with info, but also allows for a lot of flexibility. I think I’ve seen all of the elements on this thread, such as: early start, no fall break, end before Thanksgiving, masks inside, Saturday and evening classes, classes in tents and conference rooms, hybrid classes, team teaching to break up big classes, and all the sanitizing stuff. Also: campus gatherings, both indoor and outdoor, will be limited to 50% of a facility’s capacity or 50 people, whichever is less, so long as physical distancing can be maintained.
More info on athletics, dining and staggered move-in is coming.
D was thrilled to be going back, and she will understand if some/half of her classes are online to protect professors. She has been sewing masks and is able to make them to fit and comfort and won’t have any problem wearing them (she’s already done so for hours outside due to getting together with friends whose families have risk factors).
But when she read this about housing, it put a huge damper on her joy:
It sounds like students will be required to sign an addendum to the housing contract stating that they will comply with this policy. I understand that they want to limit gatherings in dorms, but this would be so isolating for my D. She has a single in a dorm in the same complex as the dorms of her close friends, but they were unable to get rooms in the same dorm. They are used to hanging out in each other’s rooms (just 3 or 4 kids). She also has a boyfriend who is her best friend at school, and frequently helps her when she can’t leave her room (due to chronic migraines). He brought her to the ER twice this year (wonderful young man). Her girlfriends also check on her if she doesn’t answer a text, and will bring her food if she misses a meal. This sounds like you can’t even enter the rooms of those who live in your dorm.
Luckily, the weather is relatively warm in VA, so kids can be together outside, but they do say that social distancing must be followed everywhere on campus. D wonders if that means they can’t hold hands, share a bench, or study on the same blanket. She has bounced back about all this, but I am worried.
Fingers crossed that she will make friends in her dorm and that they will treat the upperclassman dorms more like freshman dorms as far as mixers and bonding activities (but maybe they can’t gather in the common spaces?). I’m really hoping the kids can eat outside together, or in shifts in the dining halls. Also hoping club sports are a go, because the exercise and camaraderie is so healthy. Whoever said that college kids are always on their phones, I don’t see that on D’s campus and we’ve visited five times. Kids are always chatting with each other and coming up with creative things to do together.
Definitely concerned about loneliness, depression, and friends unable to hang out or even check on each other. It’s impossible to know how temporary the “no visitation” situation will be.
All the college’s communications welcome comments and questions, so D might contact them about this. If you really can not have anyone in your room, even your hallmate or RA, and you have to sign that you will abide by this, I’m not sure what to do.
I absolutely sympathize with faculty who have risk factors. My DH is an MD and spent untold hours in the ICU treating Covid during metro NYC’s huge wave. (He follows many infection control protocols and has not gotten the virus.) So, I understand the worry and also have heard a lot about post-Covid immune syndromes etc. However, I do hope there is a way for colleges to focus on protecting faculty and staff, but not isolating students to this degree.