What is your public school district's or private/ independent school's plan?

[ourbabygirl]

School starts for most of our state the day after Labor Day, but our state's Dept. of Ed. won't be giving out its recommendations until the end of July. They, and my kids' public school district, are suggesting the 3 options, and a recent survey from our district is asking for our input on what we prefer, as well as if we need bussing, school lunch, technology or WiFi, aftercare, etc.

As a parent and teacher, I prefer either a hybrid or all-in-school model. I feel like having students at school, if at all possible, is better than distance learning.

My friends with kids in private schools already have their plans for the fall, and their plan is to have students in school five days a week. Is it safe to assume that the private schools, with more tuition/ other money to work with and no teachers' unions to advocate for more safety for kids and staff, will be having students in schools five days a week, whereas public schools will be doing distance learning, to err on the safe side, to keep scheduling simpler for parents, and to save costs? Is this your experience, if your schools have communicated their plans by now?

[Kindra178]

Our districts (high school district is different than k-8) plan to tell us mid July.


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[gymnbomb]

Our districts have to submit a plan to the state in mid July, but I don’t expect much concrete information until August.


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[mmsmom]

Our private school starts 8/19 and they will announce plans on 7/15. Public school starts 8/17 and plans will be announced this coming week.

ETA: Though I fully expect the plans will have a “subject to change” language.

[Liziz]

School starts in early August for us, and we already know the plans (full LFH or full traditional school). I think a lot of what the school chooses will depend on the virus spread in your school district and the general climate of concern in the area. Virus isn't spreading much here, and people aren't particularly concerned, so schools are going back like normal (i.e. - no real additional resources needed, as they're not requiring PPE, social distancing, etc.).

I think a gauge of how your state and district might react is to look at two things 1) how did they shut down schools and 2) how did they handle high school graduations? In my district, schools were only shut down when the governor required them (which also came late) with lots of messaging before the governor's order with things like "we have no plans to shut down no matter what" and all high schools in this districts also held their high school graduations in person (huge crowds). So through that I was fairly certain they'd open the schools for 5 day a week instruction.

[Dayzy]

My friends with kids in private schools already have their plans for the fall, and their plan is to have students in school five days a week. Is it safe to assume that the private schools, with more tuition/ other money to work with and no teachers' unions to advocate for more safety for kids and staff, will be having students in schools five days a week, whereas public schools will be doing distance learning, to err on the safe side, to keep scheduling simpler for parents, and to save costs? Is this your experience, if your schools have communicated their plans by now?

My children are in a private school but it's a Catholic school. And I feel like we are in the same state. Our school is waiting for any news from the state. We don't have any extra money to work with, we actually have less than the local public schools and most of the extras we have are through fundraising, getting places to sell us things at cost, and a group of dedicated parents who apply for grants. And we also have a teacher's union. What we do have going for us though is small class sizes. The average size of a class in our school is 15. That leaves us plenty of room to work with.

[erosenst]

Public school - start here is August 11. They sent something last week that they plan 5 days a week in person, with an e-learning alternative for those at high risk. They are also coordinating with all the other school districts in the county to have unified plans at start and ongoing.

[smilequeen]

Private schools. Current plan is back in school full time with safety measures in effect. If needed they will go back online.

Yes, it is significantly easier for private schools to go back full time. It's significantly easier for them to make changes as needed as well.

Someone always steps up with the money/supplies.

The class sizes are already smaller.

My youngest goes to a pre-6 school and the largest class size is 15. They also have a very spacious building. They split the classes in half, adjusted how they change classrooms, adjusted how they will do special classes, added touch free everything (light switches, faucets, paper towel dispensers, etc). They have adjusted how they do lunch. Teachers will wear masks, not sure about the older kids? Never have had to deal with a shortage of soap or hand sanitizer. Temps taken in car line. But again, we're talking about a very small school. Less than 130 students.

My older two are in a 6-12 school and they will have to adjust some of their classes to keep kids 6 ft apart, but not many. Their larger classes are in large classrooms already. It's an all boys school, so they've always had things spread out so the boys had some space (especially for the ADHD kids like my middle son...they can spread out, choose a standing desk, etc.). They won't be able to hold assemblies, sports will look different, my kids are not in band so not sure how that will change. They adjusted the schedule to make time to check temps and such in the morning and to spread out lunches more than they already are.

There is so much more that goes into it than I could possibly understand. I feel completely comfortable sending them back.

[gatorsmom]

Our school is a small, nondiocesan private Catholic school. They handled the lockdown well- in order to avoid families coming back from spring break potentially infecting other kids, our school shut down before the rest of the state. However, I’m not impressed with how they are planning for fall issues. They sent home registration forms a few weeks ago with just a paragraph stapled to the back saying their plan for the fall is to ask the state for an exemption if a lockdown is ordered again. Not sure why they think they’d get it. I emailed saying we wouldn’t be enrolling until we knew more. We already asked the school 2 months ago if they would offer remote learning along with their in-person classes because we plan to distance learn for health reasons. They reassured us then that yes, they would find a way for us to take classes via zoom. That was encouraging a few months ago but given their size they have had plenty of time to figure out how this would work. Even if my children zoom learn, the school has to have a plan ready in case their exemption from a lockdown is denied. Or even if they are allowed to stay open, if a child or teacher tests positive, won’t they have to close the school for cleaning for at least a few days? My point is, even if we are zoom learning, our kids’ education will be affected by a lockdown. And we pay too much money for their lack-of basic planning.

We have a backup plan. There is a school very similar to ours about 3 hours away which is now available for zoom learning. We have enrolled our high schooler there for the upcoming year. They are a great school and COVID19 has made it possible for my children to attend. If our local school can’t get their act together, I’ll transfer all my children to this other school. This other school used zoom for all their classes during the COVID19 lockdown and is very confident that they have their issues are ironed out. They will be conducting all their in-school classes also via zoom so that wherever their students are, they will not have an interruption in their learning. The only reason I haven’t already transferred all my kids over is because they want to see their classmates, even if it is only via zoom. I think they are more likely to participate and speak up in class if they know the other kids. If our local school can do it right, remote learning with them could be a better learning experience.

[bisous]

I don't know that I've heard the last from the HS that DS1 attends. Speo is in the district, am I behind? I"m less worried about him. He actually did great with full remote learning. But he's also very cautious and would wear a mask and distance in person learning was to be possible in the Fall/

For the k-8 we're being given full remote and hybrid options. Full remote is for now requiring kids to watch a live stream of what's going on in the classroom. The hybrid options are either a few days on/a few days off. Or half days for half the campus. I feel like half time will be fine for my middle schooler. I don't know how well my littles will do in the classroom with all the new restrictions. They also don't do awesome at remote learning so I'm worried about them.

Basically the smaller they are the more I am concerned for them. All the options are trickier for the younger kids.

Also, I don't know how much of a bearing this will have on the plans my schools are making since this just came out and stands to perhaps change some aspects of the models from the schools:

https://edsource.org/2020/california-schools-must-provide-daily-live-interaction-access-to-technology-this-fall/634452

My sister teachers HS in Northern Virginia. She's satisfied with her schools model. They will have class for half the school on Monday and Tuesday. Be closed Wednesdays for cleaning. The other half of the school will attend the Thursday and Friday. She knows it isn't as good as full day school but feels like with high schoolers this will be good enough. It will definitely be more effective in her opinion than full remote--particularly for the population she teaches.

[Kestrel]

We have heard nothing decided about how school will look, and I think that's a big part of the problem. Last I heard, the were looking at hybrid but I don't think that will work here - far too many people with limited or no access to internet (in our extremely rural area). Our internet is 6mb at best, and during the workday is much less. It works fine for sending/downloading, just very slow, but DS can't be in Zoom meetings or stream. It's not that we don't buy internet, it's the lack of providers - it's not profitable to run cable across large distances here in the country.
AS I said in another tread, more of a concern here is busing. If they're still going to cram 80 kids on the bus for more than an hour twice a day, what they do in school buildings isn't going to make a huge difference. (90%+ of our district kids are bused.)

[mom2binsd]

Nobody is addressing the fact that, in reality, I will guarantee that when the majority of kids are outside of school they will be playing with so many other kids, in parks, at sports, and other activities. So all the "cohorts" or alternating schedules won't really eliminate the kids being around others.

The folks on this board who report they are are strictly keeping themselves from doing social activities, shopping, doing sports etc are not what I see in the rest of the country.

My teacher friends are looking at going back, wearing a mask if required, increasing hand washing and health checks, and hope that the models that show kids aren't going to be transmitting the virus.

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[squimp]

We have two options, online or hybrid. They are giving us the option, and we will go with the hybrid model, which is two days at school and 3 days online. Seems like our state and district are doing their best under these very difficult, rudderless circumstances. Hopefully there will be more data about kid-adult transmission by then, from around the globe. What I am reading says it's the adults that need to keep away from other adults, and elementary kids don't transmit to each other or to adults. But it could change over the summer. Tough times.

[Liziz]

Nobody is addressing the fact that, in reality, I will guarantee that when the majority of kids are outside of school they will be playing with so many other kids, in parks, at sports, and other activities. So all the "cohorts" or alternating schedules won't really eliminate the kids being around others.

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I totally agree with this, and have felt since the beginning that this is the huge flaw in the cohort/hybrid model. I actually think it causes MORE mixing than 5 day a week school, because kids have more time out of school to mix with other kids that aren't in their class. And the cohort/hybrid model only addresses students, not the staff that will be there every single day, mixing with all groups of kids. It really seems to me that schools should be open 5 days a week/full time if at all possible, and if it's not safely possible, then school should be 100% virtual, with all resources going towards making that as strong a program as possible.

[PZMommy]

Nobody is addressing the fact that, in reality, I will guarantee that when the majority of kids are outside of school they will be playing with so many other kids, in parks, at sports, and other activities. So all the "cohorts" or alternating schedules won't really eliminate the kids being around others.

The folks on this board who report they are are strictly keeping themselves from doing social activities, shopping, doing sports etc are not what I see in the rest of the country.

My teacher friends are looking at going back, wearing a mask if required, increasing hand washing and health checks, and hope that the models that show kids aren't going to be transmitting the virus.

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This is true. Out here most of our kid things are still closed. No playgrounds, pools, summer camps, or sports. Most people are still not taking their kids shopping. So the kids are still being kept pretty isolated. If things open, then kids will be mixing no matter how they are grouped in school.

[DualvansMommy]

Our governor released state guidelines that will be left up to the 500 districts in my state which model they’ll do. It’ll be either all back in school 5 days a week or a hybrid model. Complete virtual school is not allowed, as governor felt that caused more harm than good.

My kids district will release their plans by end of July. I live in a suburban to semi rural town with only 14K population and a small district of K-8th, HS is in a completely different district. The school my rising 1st grader only keeps PreK to 3rd grade, and is a newer bigger new build so the class size and classrooms are spacious, each have bathroom in kindergarten/1st grades. Sinks in 2nd and 3rd grades classrooms, so it is entirely possible that school will follow the 5 day in person model. My oldest son will enter 4th grade and going to a different school across town that’s only for 4th and 5th grades, older building but big though. So may be possible there again for 5 day if stay in sane cohort/bubble. The middle school is likely to do the hybrid model due to different numerous classes, teams, etc.

ETA: it’s public district here. In a wealthier neighborhood so parents and PTA are willing to step up to fill in the gaps.



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[georgiegirl]

Nobody is addressing the fact that, in reality, I will guarantee that when the majority of kids are outside of school they will be playing with so many other kids, in parks, at sports, and other activities. So all the "cohorts" or alternating schedules won't really eliminate the kids being around others.

The folks on this board who report they are are strictly keeping themselves from doing social activities, shopping, doing sports etc are not what I see in the rest of the country.

My teacher friends are looking at going back, wearing a mask if required, increasing hand washing and health checks, and hope that the models that show kids aren't going to be transmitting the virus.

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The hybrid model is not only about cohorts, but more about having the ability to distance the kids with fewer kids in the classroom.

Plus, the reason why the country is experiencing a surge is because people are resuming their life as normal.


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[Peaches Keane]

Parent choice: 5 days/week or e-learning. Extra cleaning, sanitizing procedures in school. Lunch schedules changed to allow time between classes (30 min) between group to clean, sanitize, and social distance. Masks required at school. Mask wearing required in certain school area (hallways, for example). Some sort of alternate playground routine, to allow for social distancing and cleaning. No field trips, no volunteers, no visitors beyond the office (and no admittance into the office unless wearing a mask and following sanitary procedures). Back to school parent conferences done virtually instead of in person. School bus cheating charts, family members required to sit together on the bus.

[SnuggleBuggles]

Parent choice: 5 days/week or e-learning. Extra cleaning, sanitizing procedures in school. Lunch schedules changed to allow time between classes (30 min) between group to clean, sanitize, and social distance. Masks required at school. Mask wearing required in certain school area (hallways, for example). Some sort of alternate playground routine, to allow for social distancing and cleaning. No field trips, no volunteers, no visitors beyond the office (and no admittance into the office unless wearing a mask and following sanitary procedures). Back to school parent conferences done virtually instead of in person. School bus cheating charts, family members required to sit together on the bus.

Must be a small school!! Or have a lot of cafeteria capacity. Here lunches start at 10:30 and end at 1:40 with just a 5 minute reset between most groups. That’s with 75 kids/ grade as that’s all that fits at once.


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[meggie t]

Private Catholic schools - my children are in two different schools. Catholic but independent. The diocese has already put out a notice that the intention for fall is to return 5 days in school. Now, depending on how the summer goes, I know that can change. If the schools are required to go with distance learning for an extended period of time, I would consider homeschooling on my own.

[icunurse]

A big reason for the cohort method is to reduce who needs to quarantine when someone ends up positive (notice I said “when”). If a school chooses to quarantine based on contact, they will only have to do a certain number of students in a certain number of classes vs multiple students in multiple classes. People still need to play it reasonably safe, and they aren’t. Stupid is as stupid does, I guess.

Our HS says that we will know what’s going on in three weeks. They sent a short questionnaire that asked about bus needs and if you prefer full time, blended learning, or all remote learning. The lower grades sent out a useless questionnaire asking about bus needs. I think they want to go back as much as possible for childcare needs, which I don’t agree with (we should be finding/creating alternative childcare options for parents). Neither school has room to social distance. It’s going to be a mess. But it will be fine. Everyone is dealing with it.

I will say that we play it pretty safe and stay around others who do, too. When school starts, we will have to be vigilant since children can be silent carriers and we need to protect our older and sicker populations.

[Kindra178]

Our hs district is taking community feedback right now. Once someone makes a statement, all others can rate that statement.


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[bisous]

We just got our survey back. Overall about 65% of families responded and only 1% would like full remote schooling next year. I think it may be the way they’re going to offer remote schooling—it will be a live feed that the child at home would watch. That’s not a great model!

[gymnbomb]

We just got our survey back. Overall about 65% of families responded and only 1% would like full remote schooling next year. I think it may be the way they’re going to offer remote schooling—it will be a live feed that the child at home would watch. That’s not a great model!

Agreed, I would not sign my child up for that model! I would either send them to school or officially home school.


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[hbridge]

Nobody is addressing the fact that, in reality, I will guarantee that when the majority of kids are outside of school they will be playing with so many other kids, in parks, at sports, and other activities. So all the "cohorts" or alternating schedules won't really eliminate the kids being around others.



We have just started (last week) letting DC hang out with a friend in the neighborhood with masks and social distancing. HOWEVER, on Saturday she came home and said that all the neighborhood kids were there playing crochet and she ate a snack while over there. They did stay outside, but she did not wear a mask the whole time. SO, we set more rules...no taking off the mask and no eating food offered. I hate all these rules that any other time would be ridiculous. However, we drove by one of the neighbors earlier today and a few of the kids were out playing without masks... That is why we set the mask and social distancing rule for our DC! I do not want to take away DC's only in person social outlet, so we are just going to set more rules as things come up. DC is a rule follower and will tell me what she does so that is not a concern. However, the masses of teens that are running rampant in town are definitely concerning from a virus spreading point of view.

As for school, our year-round private school is having some in-person time this summer with masks and social distancing. It's going to be interesting. HOWEVER, it is totally doable for a very small private school; I don't know how the larger schools and public school will manage.

[Myira]

Our district said 18% parents wanted remote while some 82% asked for return to school with safety measures in place.
They are looking at the option of committing to remote learning for a semester after which you get the chance to re-evaluate if you want to continue or go back in person.
They are also saying that remote learning will not look anything like it did in the spring.

I am personally liking the option of committing to a semester for either options. That way you are already planning for a change of plans as the situation gets better or worse.

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[speo]

I don't know that I've heard the last from the HS that DS1 attends. Speo is in the district, am I behind? I"m less worried about him. He actually did great with full remote learning. But he's also very cautious and would wear a mask and distance in person learning was to be possible in the Fall.

Have you looked at the ppt for the board meeting last week? That really lays out the possibilities. I think the district was pretty close to agreement on a model for elementary, but secondary is much more challenging. Students will likely have the option of all DL, an already existing academy program that is independent learning guided by teachers, or hybrid. It became impossible to do full time in person once the state required 6 feet of separation. I believe in general the classrooms can get 16 students. The students who choose the academy program will not be able to move back to in person for the entire year as the curriculum doesn't match trimester for trimester. Hybrid and DL will be able to move back and forth at the end of grading periods. This seems like a major challenge that isn't discussed! So often teachers are not matching lessons or standards with each other in time.

The ppt had a great table of the 8 different possible hybrid schedules they are considering. They have worked through many calculations! I think their models may have to change with the new 5 days per week ruling. I think the option they are most likely to pick is having am and pm 5 day per week cohorts. They have a schedule where they do 2 periods per half day. They will see each class every 3 days. What seemed kind of insane to me is that if a teacher has 1 prep, they will give the same lesson 10 times!! That is a bit crazy making.

I am curious to see if we even open up with our rising numbers. We are up in our local mountains and it is the busiest I've ever seen it. Large groups of people everywhere. Many in groups waiting to go into restaurants. Even Denny's!! I think so cal numbers are just going to get worse in the near future. :(

[Kindra178]

I do not understand the hybrid model. Seven year olds will be forced into another daycare situation, with new exposure, and big kids will be running around with various friends. Get these kids back in school.

[bisous]

I do not understand the hybrid model. Seven year olds will be forced into another daycare situation, with new exposure, and big kids will be running around with various friends. Get these kids back in school.

I agree that this is a problem for exposure but I wonder if they count on lots of kids not going to daycare? We’re in an area with a high percentage of SAHP or else multi-generational families.

[speo]

Well, I just read through some recent emails from the teacher's union. The district is moving forward with the am/pm 5 day cohort option. This option has one of the highest numbers for teacher student contacts. It's 180 per week. Survey results of teachers have teachers overwhelmingly concerned about safety and these numbers. The district is unwilling to discuss further. The union is gathering info from it's members on how to proceed, but it doesn't look good. This is all for secondary. Everyone is in agreement with primary schedules.

[westwoodmom04]

I do not understand the hybrid model. Seven year olds will be forced into another daycare situation, with new exposure, and big kids will be running around with various friends. Get these kids back in school.

The hybrid model is the worst of both worlds, still hugely inconvenient and not meeting kids needs with illusory upgrade in safety.

MA and CT both announced within last week they are going back 5 days assuming current conditions hold or improve. MA relied heavily on the AAP report on its press release.

[gatorsmom]

Agreed, I would not sign my child up for that model! I would either send them to school or officially home school.


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I'm concerned I"m missing something here. What age groups is your school proposing the live feed for? Also, when you say it's a live feed, does that mean a zoom-type meeting that the kids can contribute to, or do you mean it's streaming live but they can't ask questions and participate, just hear the teacher speaking?

I'm concerned because I have my children signed up for zoom meeting classes. Essentially they will see their friends and classmates in the classroom while they zoom-in from home. They will be able to ask the teacher a question (and hopefully feel comfortable asking questions in front of their friends) and hopefully answer questions the teacher will ask them during the class. My youngest kids will be in 7th grade.

[o_mom]

The hybrid model is the worst of both worlds, still hugely inconvenient and not meeting kids needs with illusory upgrade in safety.

MA and CT both announced within last week they are going back 5 days assuming current conditions hold or improve. MA relied heavily on the AAP report on its press release.

Hybrid model is probably best used for HS students. It is pretty darn close to how they will be in college where you meet in person a couple times a week, but there is work assigned for the time outside the class. They also are of an age where they can be home alone (though I'm not sure that is always the best environment).

I'm not sure how much it will cut down on mingling outside of school. I know for us, the number of contacts at school is probably 10x or more the number outside of school. Even if they were home every other day, my kids just don't have large groups of friends that get together, it is more like the same set of 5-6 kids.

Currently, my HS kids have 8 class periods with roughly 30-35 students/staff in each of those. That right there is 280 different people that they are in a small indoor space with every week - then add bus and lunch - easily over 300. By contrast, I would be hard-pressed to name more than 30 people that they might come in contact with outside of school in a given week, even pre-pandemic. So, cutting that 300 in half would significantly reduce the number of contacts if they tested positive.

For younger kids - I'm not sure it will have as big of an effect because many will probably end up in a group care situation, though if those are mostly small, in-home type groups (Sally's parent works from home and Janey and Suzie go there every day off...) it may not be as bad. They also are easier to keep cohorted at school since they don't typically move classes, so the disparity in contact in and out of school is not as large.

[PZMommy]

The hybrid is because many areas have restrictions on how many people can gather in one space and also adhere to social distancing rules. Even the AAP encourages social distancing in their guidelines.

[hwin708]

We are in private, which, as expected, has a lot more resources at their disposal. They are moving ahead with plans to open fully. They will only do remote learning if the government insists on closures. They were particularly displeased with the e-learning for the younger students, and hired a firm this summer to research and plan the best platform if they have to do remote learning. They have also had the teachers in training over the summer. A version of this will be available to families who want to continue with remote learning, though the feedback has not indicated very many do. The tuition is on par with a private university; parents want their kids in school reaping the benefit of what they paid for.

They are not considering any hybrid or half-day formats. The only two options are normal operation or a more spread out campus. The campus is large and can accommodate that, but it does change teaching somewhat, so that is only the plan for if cases are rising.

There is already a health center for the nurses, counselors, college counselors and various other support staff. They have hired a "health and safety manager" who will specifically deal with coronovirus policies on campus. There is no plan to shut down if a student tests positive. There will already be increased cleaning, and the new manager will implement contact tracing and extra cleaning in all areas that student has been.

School is starting several weeks earlier to (worst case) get more in-person teaching in before a possible second shutdown or (best case) try to catch younger ones up on what they missed through remote learning.

They also set up a fund to help any families impacted by the current situation, and cover tuition this year for families who may have experienced a loss of income. They are pausing any capital projects this year to pay for the increased expenses, but overall, the school is in a very good financial position and receives a LOT of alumni and family donations, so they do not predict any budgetary issues.

[westwoodmom04]

We just got our private school’s plans — 5 days on campus for lower school, at least 4 days on campus for middle, and at least 3 days on campus for upper school. This is with six feet social distancing between everyone. They are still working out details, and if we continue to improve, probably a scenario where everyone back 5 days. I expect most other private school’s in our city to be similar. No announcement for public schools for another month. There are back up plans for remote learning if the government shuts things down.

I am hoping that all divisions wind up going back 5 days but think having the lower school there the most is fair.

[westwoodmom04]

The hybrid is because many areas have restrictions on how many people can gather in one space and also adhere to social distancing rules. Even the AAP encourages social distancing in their guidelines.

They do, but they also reduce it to three feet, which is the standard in parts of Europe and Asia.

[ang79]

The hybrid model is the worst of both worlds, still hugely inconvenient and not meeting kids needs with illusory upgrade in safety.

MA and CT both announced within last week they are going back 5 days assuming current conditions hold or improve. MA relied heavily on the AAP report on its press release.

My public school district gave three possible options in there parent survey: 1. full week regular school with no restrictions (meaning no distancing, etc. because we don't have room to do that with everyone in school), 2. hybrid model of 2/3 days in school and 2/3 days online, 3. complete online. We had to rank the order we preferred. I chose Hybrid, full online, then full in school because I know there is no way that our schools have the space to spread kids out appropriately. My oldest daughter wants to see her friends some, so she said hybrid would give some of that but also give the kids more space in the classrooms to spread out. I am able to assist with the online learning if needed and my kids are old enough and motivated enough to work on lessons at home. I know that is not the case for others though and imagine it would be more difficult for younger students, especially if parents are working.

My state is now mandating masks every time you leave your house, even for outside events, in hopes of curbing a recent uptick in cases. I'm wondering how this will impact the districts thoughts on students wearing masks (in the survey they said it would probably be optional for students but mandatory for staff - I put that I disagreed with that approach as it isn't very helpful if only some students wear masks and I can see it being a problem if some parents want their kids to wear a mask but then their friends aren't wearing them and it creates peer pressure.

[Dream]

I'm in NY and we don't have a plan yet. But I do want kids in school.

[bisous]

I'm concerned I"m missing something here. What age groups is your school proposing the live feed for? Also, when you say it's a live feed, does that mean a zoom-type meeting that the kids can contribute to, or do you mean it's streaming live but they can't ask questions and participate, just hear the teacher speaking?

I'm concerned because I have my children signed up for zoom meeting classes. Essentially they will see their friends and classmates in the classroom while they zoom-in from home. They will be able to ask the teacher a question (and hopefully feel comfortable asking questions in front of their friends) and hopefully answer questions the teacher will ask them during the class. My youngest kids will be in 7th grade.

This is the plan for the remote learning plan that my children's school is offering (for now!). They would not be able to interact with the teacher--only watch. I think my upcoming 8th grader might be able to get by with this type of learning but not my 6yo or my 8yo. I know if we do end up going full remote and that is what the option is I won't be participating. If I have to I'll run the feed in the background so the school can get their ADA but on no terms will I be requiring 7 hours of watching a live feed for my little kids. I'll probably have to do all the teaching personally but honestly that's easier for me than enforcing them watching something that boring and inappropriate for small children.

[bisous]

Have you looked at the ppt for the board meeting last week? That really lays out the possibilities. I think the district was pretty close to agreement on a model for elementary, but secondary is much more challenging. Students will likely have the option of all DL, an already existing academy program that is independent learning guided by teachers, or hybrid. It became impossible to do full time in person once the state required 6 feet of separation. I believe in general the classrooms can get 16 students. The students who choose the academy program will not be able to move back to in person for the entire year as the curriculum doesn't match trimester for trimester. Hybrid and DL will be able to move back and forth at the end of grading periods. This seems like a major challenge that isn't discussed! So often teachers are not matching lessons or standards with each other in time.

The ppt had a great table of the 8 different possible hybrid schedules they are considering. They have worked through many calculations! I think their models may have to change with the new 5 days per week ruling. I think the option they are most likely to pick is having am and pm 5 day per week cohorts. They have a schedule where they do 2 periods per half day. They will see each class every 3 days. What seemed kind of insane to me is that if a teacher has 1 prep, they will give the same lesson 10 times!! That is a bit crazy making.

I am curious to see if we even open up with our rising numbers. We are up in our local mountains and it is the busiest I've ever seen it. Large groups of people everywhere. Many in groups waiting to go into restaurants. Even Denny's!! I think so cal numbers are just going to get worse in the near future. :(

I should do a lot more research. I did tap through the powerpoint. I just need to go through again, read them all thoroughly, etc. I shouldn't have put you on the spot! I'm a little worried about falling through the cracks since we're from out of the district but I'll wade through it all! It's going to be interesting!

[bisous]

So many people today in my local area who are "on the planning board" for the local school board are really feeling that school will not be opening in August. That's just so disappointing. I'm really quite devastated. I don't know what I want to see but so many kids want to be back in school so I am sad for them!

[PZMommy]

So many people today in my local area who are "on the planning board" for the local school board are really feeling that school will not be opening in August. That's just so disappointing. I'm really quite devastated. I don't know what I want to see but so many kids want to be back in school so I am sad for them!

Garcetti even said that tonight. He said unless numbers go down, schools can’t open. You’re in the county north of me right? Your numbers aren’t even as bad as ours, but I think CA in general is in bad shape right now.

[essnce629]

My DS1's school (independent k-12) released their plans today. There's two separate campuses-- lower school is k-6 and the upper school is 7-12. DS1 will be in 12th grade. We are in the valley of Los Angeles (LAUSD is our home district). It's a hybrid model with plans to go back to full in person whenever that's safe, possibly after winter break. There is also an option for anyone who wants to do 100% remote learning.

Physical Distancing, Sanitation & Face Coverings:
Students, Faculty, and Staff will maintain 6 ft of distance from one another, to the greatest extent possible
Face coverings will be required by all individuals on campus, to the greatest extent possible
Students will be organized in smaller groups & movement will be controlled to minimize contact around campus
Access to hand sanitizer, soap, and water will be available in multiple locations around campus
There will be frequent hand washing/sanitizing breaks: when entering and leaving classrooms, during recess and lunch periods, and during restroom breaks

Health Screenings, Campus Access, Lunch & Student Movement:
All individuals will have their temperature taken prior to entering campus
Completing Health Screening Checklist will be required prior to entering campus
Will limit non-students, faculty, and staff from being on campus
A staggered lunch schedule will be implemented to maintain physical distancing
A grab & go concept for school lunches will be implemented with all items prepared, packaged & delivered by an outside vendor
Personal food delivery services, such as Postmates, will not be permitted on campus
There will be no off-campus privileges for students on days when student groups are doing on-campus learning

If an Individual Becomes Symptomatic While at School:
School will immediately separate that student from others to minimize exposure, and the student will be escorted to a separate waiting room while parents are notified
Parents will be asked to consult with their healthcare provider to determine if testing is needed
The Health & Safety team will evaluate the student, then make a determination on next steps including closing off areas and cleaning/sanitation as appropriate
If an individual tests positive for COVID-19, the school will initiate a protocol for notifying the L.A. County Department of Public Health, isolation, and notifying the community. Details of this protocol are being developed, as public health guidelines are being established.

What Will the Elementary Student Experience Look Like?
Monday-Thursday will be synchronous; Friday will be asynchronous for all students
K-4 students will be on campus Monday-Thursday
5-6 students will be in an A/B Rotation—alternating days or one week on & one week off
Fridays will be a combination of asynchronous, small-group, or 1:1 instruction (as needed), and faculty meetings, professional development, and planning time
Students in each grade level will be divided into one of two cohort groups of 10-12 students each. Criteria for determining cohort groups are still being finalized, but will include: student familiarity with cohort mates, twins, heterogeneous groupings
Classroom spaces will be modified, with front-facing desks positioned 6 feet apart from one another
Teachers and students will be provided with face coverings (masks and/or shields)
Each child’s belongings will be separated from others’ and stored in individually-labeled containers
There will be adequate supplies to minimize sharing of high-touch materials (a no-sharing policy will be implemented)
Field trips & school events will be postponed or conducted virtually when possible

What Will the Secondary Student Experience Look Like?
The secondary campus will be divided into two student groups, alternating weekly, and meeting Monday–Thursday. Fridays will be all remote instruction for all secondary students.
Week A
Learning on Campus: Grades 7, 8, 9
Learning Remotely: Grades 10, 11, 12
Week B
Learning on Campus: Grades 10, 11, 12
Learning Remotely: Grades 7, 8, 9
This model allows us to reduce the overall number of students on campus at any given time—to mitigate potential transmission, to keep class sizes down, and to adhere to physical distancing and other health and safety guidelines.

[MSWR0319]

Rumor has it that we're doing online Monday and then two days in school and two days online. I don't know if we would be allowed to request, but if you had two kids and were a SAHM, would you want them to go on the same days or opposite days? Part of me was thinking it would be nice to have them on opposite days so I could work independently with them if needed and spend some one on one time together that we don't usually get. If they went on the same days then I'd have two days to myself, but since all of my volunteer opportunities are more than likely gone there's really not much for me to do.

[o_mom]

Rumor has it that we're doing online Monday and then two days in school and two days online. I don't know if we would be allowed to request, but if you had two kids and were a SAHM, would you want them to go on the same days or opposite days? Part of me was thinking it would be nice to have them on opposite days so I could work independently with them if needed and spend some one on one time together that we don't usually get. If they went on the same days then I'd have two days to myself, but since all of my volunteer opportunities are more than likely gone there's really not much for me to do.

I would so go with same schedule. In fact, if our school ends up with any sort of hybrid/split (which they have said they aren't, but the internal emails to staff indicate otherwise), I hope they are all on the same days. From a contact perspective, it makes no sense to have family members on different days as it will just increase the number of contacts.

[carolinamama]

Rumor has it that we're doing online Monday and then two days in school and two days online. I don't know if we would be allowed to request, but if you had two kids and were a SAHM, would you want them to go on the same days or opposite days? Part of me was thinking it would be nice to have them on opposite days so I could work independently with them if needed and spend some one on one time together that we don't usually get. If they went on the same days then I'd have two days to myself, but since all of my volunteer opportunities are more than likely gone there's really not much for me to do.

Our district is matching all kids from the same address on the same schedule. I can see this both ways. It would be nice to work individually with a kid but mine also entertain eachother (in between fighting). For me, I would appreciate the separate schedules short-term but for an entire year it may get old. What if you want to head out of town for a long weekend? You can do remote learning from afar but not if one child needs to be in school. I'm sensitive to this concept after spending the last 3 years with 1 kid in year-round and 2 on a traditional schedule. I loved the one-on-one time with DS1 at first but it can get hard to run multiple household schedules.

[MSWR0319]

Our district is matching all kids from the same address on the same schedule. I can see this both ways. It would be nice to work individually with a kid but mine also entertain eachother (in between fighting). For me, I would appreciate the separate schedules short-term but for an entire year it may get old. What if you want to head out of town for a long weekend? You can do remote learning from afar but not if one child needs to be in school. I'm sensitive to this concept after spending the last 3 years with 1 kid in year-round and 2 on a traditional schedule. I loved the one-on-one time with DS1 at first but it can get hard to run multiple household schedules.

You make some great points! We couldn't go to the lake during the week if they weren't on the same schedule. Contact wise, we'd still have the same amount as they're in two different buildings, but it infinitely makes sense for logistics. Plus, during the winter it would be nice to have them be able to go outside and play together when they're getting along ;)

[hbridge]

What happens when a student "weaponizes" social distancing or masks? It is going to happen at every level when frustration levels get extreme. Kids want to be with their friends. Even the littlest children want to hug their friends and just be together.

This is not even considering the child who tries to make a "political" statement about masks and social distancing during class.

As much as I truly want everything to resume, I cannot imagine how schools will keep everyone safe or how parents are going to feel safe sending their kids, even if they really want to.

My family just got home from stopping at a huge tourist town for a quick lunch, they said it was completely deserted...ghost-town deserted. People are not ready to venture forth...

[Kestrel]

Our school just announced that we will most likely being going back hybrid, but refuses to actually make a decision. I have heard through grapevine that they are waiting to see what Seattle school district will do, because they're the largest in the area - it appears that our local district will do whatever they do, even though we are having way better numbers than they are.
Also, they won't even give any specifics of what that might look like - half days, two days a week or alternate weeks - we have no clue.

How do they expect working families to deal with this? Please make a f'ing decision so we can plan!

[jgenie]

Rumor has it that we're doing online Monday and then two days in school and two days online. I don't know if we would be allowed to request, but if you had two kids and were a SAHM, would you want them to go on the same days or opposite days? Part of me was thinking it would be nice to have them on opposite days so I could work independently with them if needed and spend some one on one time together that we don't usually get. If they went on the same days then I'd have two days to myself, but since all of my volunteer opportunities are more than likely gone there's really not much for me to do.

I would want the same schedule for both DC. I can’t schedule anything for myself if either is home as DH is wrapped up in work and can’t get away if we need him unless an emergency.

My DC attend private school and they are leaning towards in person instruction. I’m not sure we’ll send them. They both have risk factors and I just can’t see how they will be protected. So scary.

[essnce629]

Rumor has it that we're doing online Monday and then two days in school and two days online. I don't know if we would be allowed to request, but if you had two kids and were a SAHM, would you want them to go on the same days or opposite days? Part of me was thinking it would be nice to have them on opposite days so I could work independently with them if needed and spend some one on one time together that we don't usually get. If they went on the same days then I'd have two days to myself, but since all of my volunteer opportunities are more than likely gone there's really not much for me to do.

I would definitely want both kids on the same schedule.