town was never a real hot spot <<<
It is like a broken record though, YET!
Our HS in MD just announced virtual-only instruction for the entire 1st semester, which runs through 1/21.
All fall and winter sports have been canceled.
Update for GKUniversity:
**Most classes are scheduled to be in person, but many may meet in non-traditional spaces. Large lectures, as expected, would be taught remotely. Many classes will offer both synchronous and asynchronous options for at risk students and those that may be quarantined. The Libraries are pursuing a “digital first” strategy of providing online textbooks.
One of my son’s classes has transitioned to 100% online. The others are still designated 100% in person. As a rising junior, with only major and minor classes left, it appears his schedule is better positioned to remain in person because they have less than 30 students enrolled, with one having as little as 12 currently. Incoming freshman, and many sophomores, are reporting that their classes are beginning to shift towards either hybrid or 100% online variants. Many of their classes would most likely have 50+ students enrolled, and some may have 200+ for Gen Ed/Core classes.**
So…the finalized class schedules have come out and some things have changed. My son had 5 classes until today. One that was scheduled to meet in person has completely disappeared, it is no longer offered this semester. Honestly, it makes sense because it would be very “hands on.” He actually was able to add 2 more classes plus a lab today. Of 6 classes plus a lab he has 4 classes 100% in person, 1 class 100% online, 1 class as a hybrid and the lab is a hybrid. The hybrid classes are each broken up into 2 cohorts that flip-flop in person and online.
Are you ready for this, though? One of the classes he added is a science class that is 100% in person…with 200+ students…you read that correctly.
Parents on the various class specific FB pages are all over the spectrum, from optimistic to completely discouraged, as you might expect. Freshman parents are rightfully concerned about acclimation issues should a majority, if not all classes, end up online while students are required to spend an inordinate amount of time in their rooms. Some parents simply want their kids out of their house. Others still have hopes for a modicum of normalcy. Currently a small, but growing portion of parents are pondering/pursuing a semester deferral or full gap year. Sophomore parents seem to be 60%(return to campus)/40%(study from home) because their students will have a better understanding of the normal campus experience that they are missing out on. Junior parents fall in the 75%(campus)/25%(home) camp because their students are into their major and on the back end of their college journey. Finally, senior parents appear to split 95%/5% hoping their students will power through the adversity and move on to the real world(a daunting world for graduates, BTW).
The school has announced that the Class of 2024 is the largest incoming freshman class ever. Now, with the finalized scheduling there are students with primarily online schedules, so, the parent FB pages have really heated up and many more appear to be investigating defer/gap/CC options. We’ll see if summer melt equals Frosty melting into the lawn of the Quad, or it’s full on global warming.
The sports season for the school’s teams is up in the air at this point.
The football team is already practicing on campus. They had a single asymptomatic player test positive on arrival out of 95 total. A few players he had contact with were also quarantined.
I asked my son when he thought parties might start. He said the day after the leases start at apartment complexes. He also is hearing that there will be a ridiculous local police presence in these complexes the first month of the school year. Given that information I looked at the school schedule and told him I believed they would shut down on Wednesday, October 14th. His opinion is that they’ll make Thanksgiving. I offered him a wager. If the school closes on the 14th he pays fall tuition…any other day, I pay tuition. He wouldn’t take the bet.
@ElonMomMD Hm. Interesting that the school made a plan for the whole semester. Maybe parents will think that’s better so at least they can plan? What about ECs? Any news on those?
Nope - not much in the way of details. Also, no details on how classes like AP Bio are going to work without the lab portion or art electives.
Feel terrible for these kids - missing out on so much.
If I had a child in public high school i would be looking at private, or going to a well established online school. For example, in GA all along there has been GA virtual. it has years of experience . My son even took a few summer classes that way. Rather than rely on what my HS would do, with teachers that many dont have online teaching experience (I have a friend that is a teacher that is very technology challenged and struggled in the spring, but great teacher in person), i would want to be taught with those more experienced.
But now I think about the college experience. There is a town hall tonight for S19’s school. One question is if the professors have been getting “trained” to pivot online teaching. I know for D17 their school has stated so. Right now both kids have some in person experience. if it all goes online , hmmm . D17 is graduating in Dec. But what happens if S19’s online experience is like the one he had in the spring. I dont have any recourse and I paying that private tuition. lots to think about.
I know a local parent whose child transferred to ASU because they have experience with online learning, versus the local private college their child was attending.
I understand that but there’s just no way to pull some of these kids from their high school. They have life long friends there, ECs with leadership, etc. I don’t think there’s any guarantee that private schools are going back and a lot of kids don’t learn well from remote school. It obviously depends on the student but I don’t personally know many high school kids who want to leave their high school.
According to the article there was a negative covid test and the cause of death has not been determined yet.
I thought our local public HS of about 2,500 kids handled the transition to remote learning really well last spring. And I thought my kid’s AP scores and grades reflected that fact.
And there’s still the possibility of my kid’s varsity sport taking place in the spring. That’s an activity that’s really important to her.
I too am beginning to see all the ads for private tutors and student companions in the Hamptons and other wealthy areas. Some of the offers look quite tempting!
In other news today.
“Dr. Harvey Risch, an epidemiology professor at Yale School of Public Health, said on Tuesday that he thinks hydroxychloroquine could save 75,000 to 100,000 lives if the drug is widely used to treat coronavirus.”
And people wonder why some think decisions around school and reports in the media might not be 100 percent science based.
It’s just no one really knows what info is accurate. My guess is Yale has pretty good scientists.
Dr. Risch may think that but what evidence does he have to support the thought?
I don’t know. I’m not a scientist, but I’m sure he is qualified as a preeminent epidemiologist to be a public health prof at Yale.
It was more about so much info, so many competing interests, many that don’t align with great decision making. On all sides of this pandemic. And all of these young people as pawns in this game of power acquisition. All beneath a veneer of concern and caring. And it’s coming from all angles.
If you are lucky to have 75 years on this planet. Throwing away a year of prime experience and youth is a very large price to pay. And lots of us at the other e d of this journey are awfully quick to say it’s no big deal. It’s a just a year or two.
I think they deserve brave leadership and super focused plans. Throwing this year out the educational window is actually an easier decision. Making it work and putting your job on the line is much more difficult.
I no longer believe the school leadership and faculty are prioritizing students for the most part. It’s lip service. Careers. Politics. Self interest. Finances. Trustees. Media. They are levers being pulled.
Several counties in Maryland from rural to urban areas have announced full virtual learning for k-12 this fall (first semester). They keep saying first semester even though we go by quarters here. They’ve already written off half of the year. There was a general idea that my rural county would go with a hybrid approach since we have many less cases than the urban areas but the day the decision was supposed to be announced the call was delayed one day. It is presumed the powerful teachers union stepped in and squashed any talk of actually opening schools to in-person learning even with reduced students, social distancing, masks, cleaning, etc, etc, etc. Totally unacceptable.
At our school district in MA it appears they are still trying to decide between two options. The first is split the class in half and each half comes every other week. The second option brings half the class in for the first half of the week and the other half in for the second half of the week. We no longer have kids in the system so I don’t know specifics. I have heard they are still planning to run the buses though.
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many less cases than the urban areas<<<<<<<
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And many less hospital beds. And maybe no real ICU beds at all.
There is a really good and interesting article in the Atlantic- Colleges are Getting Ready to Blame Their Students.
Sorry I can’t figure out how to link it.
A new FB group in Atlanta for matching teachers and parents. Already has over 1000K members in a just a few days.
A group for Atlanta
working moms who are managing virtual distance learning . We are inviting teachers who can tutor/teach our kids F2F and/or via zoom. Once the ‘school’ starts, we can share experiences learned in teaching our kids during this pandemic.
Not really. Several hospitals in my county of 250,000. Yes, that’s a rural county in Maryland. Plenty of hospital beds. Plenty of ICU beds. A half hour away from some of the best hospitals in the country too if need be.
There’s a county in Maryland with over 20,000 cases and a county with 29 cases. Somehow I don’t think they’re equal when it comes to school in the fall. So yes, rural areas with much less cases are certainly in a better shape for school in the fall as much as many would like to keep pushing for inadequate distance learning everywhere. Thanks for trying though.