A school could hire Chaperones to supervise kids independently studying in a different class room from a teacher lead class.
Each child could be allocated whatever many teacher lead class periods a year and then spend any schedule gaps with a chaperone. That way they would get “ babysitting” and “socialisation” without having to hire more teachers.
Honestly, looking back at my k-12 education, most classes where not that educationally valuable. Teachers would pitch the material to the middle- to bottom achievement level of the class.
There where many times when I felt like I would have progressed further by going to the library with a question set than by twiddling my thumbs in a class.
Letting kids take charge of their own education and letting them choose if attending a certain class with a particular lesson plan will be useful to them, would be beneficial.
But, just to be clear, the biggest difference between Bowdoin and Williams is that Bowdoin is only inviting newly admitted students (freshmen and transfers) to campus while Williams expects three-quarters of its campus to be returning. I’m pretty sure it has to do with their relative ability to reduce density.
Looks like U Dub in Seattle is having problems too:
“Three dozen University of Washington students living in fraternity houses have tested positive for COVID-19, officials said, and 1,000 students who live on and near the campus’s Greek Row are being told to quarantine or self-isolate.”
How many high schools have empty classrooms that they can use for this type of thing? I know ours doesn’t. Does the school system have the budget to hire chaperones? Schools around here are laying off people because of budget shortfalls. They don’t have any extra money to hire chaperones.
and those chaperones would need a full background check and significant training. This could be a solution, but it would have to be put in place months ago.
What is going to happen when the quarantine spaces for on-campus kids fills up in the first two weeks of school? The numbers of cases we are seeing with only a small group of kids on campus shows this is going to happen. Many of these kids won’t even feel very sick. Schools will have a dorm full of positive kids pretty quickly (for those schools that are testing enough). Some have said, when they hit a certain threshold in the quarantine dorm, they need to either go all online and keep everyone in their dorms (Vassar) or, if it has spread through the community too, maybe send kids home. But these numbers could be seen super soon after school starts. Might not be a medical emergency since the kids might get mild cases but still blows up the plan.
@jagrren The school I was referencing in my post is a big state U with a campus that is integrated into the surrounding community, with no clear boundaries. I’m not even sure what it really means to be “on-campus”. Does it mean you entered a university owned building? Does it mean you walked on the public sidewalk in front of the university owned building? Does it mean that you went into the Panera or Starbucks that are located on the street level of university owned buildings but whose primary customers are not students? What I was trying to highlight is that this school doesn’t even know who is on their campus. Contrast that to schools who are requiring returning students to quarantine after arrival and be tested twice per week and never leave. Its like two completely different animals.
I’m willing to bet Chicago public schools will go back. That’s likely why the guidance from the state doesn’t demand social distancing. Leaves a lot of decisions up to the district.
Seeing a ton of postings for off campus sublets in my rising junior FB group for D’s college. I’m thinking more students are not going back than parents are willing to admit publicly.
STEM students really don’t have a choice right now because not all of their required courses are being offered on line. That said, if campus opens, D is 100% committed to going back. She said she doesn’t care if all she does is go to class and study in her room. She pointed out that it’s not different than what she’s doing now - works during the day, back to her apartment at night to zoom/FT.
@momofsenior1 So not all of the required courses are being offered at all? Or they are in person and kids don’t want to go? Curious why the kids would defer. Seemed like Purdue was offering all classes hybrid and labs in person.
@homerdog - Some required courses for my D’s major are only being offered in person and some students/parents don’t want their kids to go back to campus.
Your son is an adult now, I would leave it up to him to decide how he wants to complete his last quarter in college (sounds like he want to stay in Michigan?). If he takes care of himself and takes maximum precautions before he flies back home to SF, there is a pretty low risk of contracting CV-19 en route.
While everyone is confident that their own child will certainly abide by any campus rules, here is a glimpse of the more likely harsh reality:
We are in a state requesting people coming in from the most affected states to “quarantine” for 14 days. SIL and family are scheduled to arrive from one of those states in mid-July. Response of 86-yo MIL, trained as a nurse, to the suggestion that SIL family would be quarantined if they come: “Who would know?”
If the most vulnerable group isn’t keen on following the restrictive rules, what chance is there that the least vulnerable group will be?
@sylvan8798 Oh I agree. My MIL would never do that. She follows the rules when she has to - like going in a store - but, otherwise, she’s like “lived a great life, have people I want to see and I’m not going to send my last years cooped up in the house.” We can’t control the 82 year old socialite!!
Kids will be the same way. Including ours. 100% compliance isn’t going to be a thing. That’s why the schools with the most testing might have the best chance. Some are testing everyone twice a week.
That will depend. Not sure your MIL is the typical at risk person. And I think there will be a lot of kids who take being safe more seriously than others. What will the percentages be isn’t clear and I expect it will vary by school and within schools. Kids tend to cluster with different friend groups. I expect that certain of those friend groups will act in more safe manners than others at the same school.