Come on School...

[gymnbomb]

It is 4:20 p.m. Friday. I am waiting not very patiently for the email that is supposed to arrive sometime after 4:00 today that will tell me who my son’s teacher is and what we need to know about logging in to distance learning on the first day of school. Which is Monday. There was an “orientation presentation” sent out last night, but it said almost nothing about distance learning other than that some students are doing it and they will start Monday.

I know they have been working very hard on everything. And I am trying to cut hem some slack and be patient. But I find it a little ridiculous that they won’t send out notifications until after the school office has closed on the last business day before school starts. Hope no one has any questions and they don’t get anyone’s email addresses wrong!


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[kimbe]

I get it. I was in the same situation this week. It is so frustrating - even more so for you that school starts Monday! I hope that your email comes soon!

[Liziz]

This is how it was for the distance learners for my school too. I get that it's hard and new and there's a lot going on, but I can appreciate how rough it is for parents (and students!) too. I hope by now you've received it!!

[gymnbomb]

We did finally get an email about 9:00. It was completely useless. It said hello families, I will be your child’s distance learning teacher, I look forward to working with you this year, Mrs. XYZ (name of teacher I don’t recognize). No indication of what to do Monday or when to do it.

Repeating to self: I will be patient. She is doing the best she can. She has probably only known for a week that she was teaching first grade distance learning this year.


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[Green_Tea]

It’s possible that she got the assignment and class list right before she emailed. Our online elementary was hiring teachers the Friday before our Tuesday start, and class lists are still being tweaked a week in because the numbers keep growing. Our in person MS teachers got class lists on Sunday (again for a Tuesday start). The behind the scenes of this school year is extremely complicated and constantly changing. For your own sanity, I would expect there to be many unanswered questions in week one. Embrace the uncertainty.

[wendibird22]

It’s possible that she got the assignment and class list right before she emailed. Our online elementary was hiring teachers the Friday before our Tuesday start, and class lists are still being tweaked a week in because the numbers keep growing. Our in person MS teachers got class lists on Sunday (again for a Tuesday start). The behind the scenes of this school year is extremely complicated and constantly changing. For your own sanity, I would expect there to be many unanswered questions in week one. Embrace the uncertainty.

Agree. My husband is teaching 6th grade remote. They’ve received almost no guidance from the school and he’s teaching from home for two weeks because the remote teacher rooms aren’t even ready yet (all remote teachers still have to teach from a location in district so their work and works hrs can be monitored). His class list changed up until the night before and he has some kids who usually go to school at a different building than he teaches from so he doesn’t have access to their info in the database because he can only access his building.

In my kids’ district there are so few remote learners that they are assigned to an in person class and the teacher just has to give them assignments. So my DD2 5th grade class has 15 kids in person and 2 online. The district basically told parents that they are offering a safe in person exp and that if they chose remote they’ll accommodate them “best we can” which is basically saying you are on your own.


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[doberbrat]

I know for a fact the district is still building the schedules esp for HS ... We start Wed.

Schedules are being released to families on Monday but we've been told not to get attached to anything because they can and likely will change.

Some teachers were expecting to be in person and are being transferred to online.

[DualvansMommy]

I know it’s such a PITA, but it’s very likely your child’s teacher only literally got the class list and assignment day before.

It’s amazing how each district differs cuz I knew my kids teachers and got email from them a week before 1st day. But a friend of mine teaches in different district and she said parents in that school is literally only getting their teachers notifications 1-2 days before cuz so many teachers is opting out, so they’re scrambling to find subs.


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[PZMommy]

As a teacher, I got my teaching assignment at 9pm on a Saturday night, when we started on the next Monday. We got our class list the night before and were sending out zoom codes the night before. It’s crazy this year. Many changes have been made since the start of school with kids moving around, etc. My district is 100% virtual.

[Green_Tea]

I know it’s such a PITA, but it’s very likely your child’s teacher only literally got the class list and assignment day before.

It’s amazing how each district differs cuz I knew my kids teachers and got email from them a week before 1st day. But a friend of mine teaches in different district and she said parents in that school is literally only getting their teachers notifications 1-2 days before cuz so many teachers is opting out, so they’re scrambling to find subs.


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In my district (in New England) the issue isn’t teachers opting out - it’s kids. More than 30% of my class list opted for fully online. They couldn’t recruit and hire online teachers fast enough. So many people anticipated that teachers not wanting to work in person would create a problem, but it’s the exact opposite. Most teacher DO want to work in person and they need more to be online.

[KrisM]

In my district (in New England) the issue isn’t teachers opting out - it’s kids. More than 30% of my class list opted for fully online. They couldn’t recruit and hire online teachers fast enough. So many people anticipated that teachers not wanting to work in person would create a problem, but it’s the exact opposite. Most teacher DO want to work in person and they need more to be online.


Here too. About 25-30% of kids transferred to our online school full-time. Our seated classes are under 20 at elementary now and our middle/high classes are mostly under 25. I know a few online teachers have 40-50 kids assigned to them now while they were anticipating only about 30. They appear to have enough teachers for seated, but can't get enough for online.

[Peaches Keane]

Chiming in to say that my district offered parents a choice. The deadline for the choice was after the first week of school. Originally they only needed two e-teachers. That quickly changed. A couple of weeks in, they decided to have a position for “e-school principal”. They also went from full day instruction 5 days a week to half days on Fridays so e-teachers can have trainings and district meetings. Students are provided various lessons and things to practice to work on their own.

[niccig]

As a teacher, I got my teaching assignment at 9pm on a Saturday night, when we started on the next Monday. We got our class list the night before and were sending out zoom codes the night before. It’s crazy this year. Many changes have been made since the start of school with kids moving around, etc. My district is 100% virtual.

And then norm day is next Friday and classes can change depending on actual class numbers. My assignment probably won’t change, but I’m hoping the extra staff member I’m working with stays at my school, or I’ll have to absorb her students


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[PZMommy]

And then norm day is next Friday and classes can change depending on actual class numbers. My assignment probably won’t change, but I’m hoping the extra staff member I’m working with stays at my school, or I’ll have to absorb her students


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Thankfully they adjusted the norms a bit, as we were 1 kid short in our upper grades, and had the exact amount in our lower grades. Now we won’t lose any positions, as opposed to possibly losing two teachers. Norm day sucks. I’ve been that teacher either displaced or having to change grades at norm day. The district needs to get rid of norm day.

[belovedgandp]

Hope your first day went well.

We started a week ago so today is Day #5. My HS/MS students had schedules released on Friday morning when class started on Tuesday after the holiday weekend. Had general district wide communication but nothing concrete. Then I had 27 emails in six hours that Friday. It was all too much to process.

[Kestrel]

What is norm day, exactly? Are they re-balancing class sizes?

[PZMommy]

What is norm day, exactly? Are they re-balancing class sizes?

The 5th Friday of the school year determines how many teachers can be at each school. There is a formula for K-3, and another for 4th -5th. For x number of students you get y number of teachers. So if your school is under the required number (even if just by 1 student) the school loses a teacher and they have to reorganize the classes. Just losing one teacher could cause 5 or 6 classes to reorganize as they have to shuffle a lot of kids around. Sometimes school have a larger than expected enrollment and they can hire another teacher to help elevate over crowding. Teachers that lose a spot are "displaced" and assigned to help out at another school while looking for a permanent spot. There are already several thousand displaced teachers, and very few open positions. It is a ridiculous practice and it doesn't save any money as the displaced teachers get their full salary, but basically work as a TA or a sub at the school they are assigned to.

This year they are making an exception and if you are with 10 kids short of the K-3 or 5 kids short of the 4th-5th norm number, you will not lose a teacher spot. That helps out my current school as we were 1 short in the upper grades, but a lot of schools are 30+ kids short due to families moving out of the area or Kinders not enrolling.

[Kestrel]

Thank you for explaining, but that sucks! Take kids that are a few weeks into a new school year and switch their class? Goodness, that just sounds insane for the very small benefit of - maybe - getting that teacher to a more-needed place?

[PZMommy]

Thank you for explaining, but that sucks! Take kids that are a few weeks into a new school year and switch their class? Goodness, that just sounds insane for the very small benefit of - maybe - getting that teacher to a more-needed place?

The thing is there are no more needed places as there is already a huge excess of teachers, so it is an outdated policy that needs to go. Years ago, there was a huge shortage of teachers and it made slightly more sense, but it is awful for the students and teachers too.

[niccig]

Thankfully they adjusted the norms a bit, as we were 1 kid short in our upper grades, and had the exact amount in our lower grades. Now we won’t lose any positions, as opposed to possibly losing two teachers. Norm day sucks. I’ve been that teacher either displaced or having to change grades at norm day. The district needs to get rid of norm day.

One of my schools is losing a special Ed teacher. Because of IEPs, you can’t change classes around as much. One teacher will have 4 grades in the class to teach. It’s going to be a mess. And these students need consistency. The displaced teacher is still at our school as the sub teacher, so no salary savings.


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[carolinacool]

My district's Virtual Academy process has been nothing short of a hot mess. We started school on Aug. 17. Last week - Week 4 -- there were still students who didn't have a teacher nor all of the different login information that was required. Communication also switched gears and said students needed to take part in at least some synchronous classes, which is not how the VA was originally presented. I guess this week, the district is walking that requirement back. But parents are still really frustrated. A few in my various FB groups are pulling their kids to home school. Others are pulling their kids from VA and re-enrolling them in their zoned schools. Right now, zoned schools are working remotely, but we're scheduled to return at the end of October.

To clarify, the Virtual Academy is completely online. Those students will not return to in-person instruction.

[doberbrat]

thought of this thread today. School starts tomorrow. HS schedules were supposed to be out yesterday. Then this am. Then noon. I Finally got the schedule at 5:45 tonight(!)

Yesterday we had meet & greet orientations scheduled. Google did some sort of an update which meant that if kids were not signed onto their district usernames, they could not get into the meets. We found that out when more than 50% of the kids couldnt log in. Today, google drives were down. You know, where staff stores all important docs like plans for tomorrow?

Its a Hot Mess but I'm slightly comforted by the fact that most people are in the same boat right now. :grouphug:

[ett]

We have 2 weeks of remote learning before starting hybrid and today was our 2nd day of remote. DS2 could not log into the Zoom meeting for his Advisory (homeroom) this morning which is where they take attendance. But he didn't tell me of the problem until a few hours later which is also when we got a call from the school wondering why he didn't show up at Advisory. I explained what happened so they were able to change the absence to present. But we still don't know what happened this morning. He emailed his teacher and she confirmed that it was the right Zoom link so she is going to check with the tech people. I told DS2 that if this happens tomorrow, to let me know immediately so I can call the school. DS2 has logged into probably over 100 Zoom sessions for school since last Spring, so did not expect to have this issue on the 2nd day of school.

[gymnbomb]

thought of this thread today. School starts tomorrow. HS schedules were supposed to be out yesterday. Then this am. Then noon. I Finally got the schedule at 5:45 tonight(!)

Yesterday we had meet & greet orientations scheduled. Google did some sort of an update which meant that if kids were not signed onto their district usernames, they could not get into the meets. We found that out when more than 50% of the kids couldnt log in. Today, google drives were down. You know, where staff stores all important docs like plans for tomorrow?

Its a Hot Mess but I'm slightly comforted by the fact that most people are in the same boat right now. :grouphug:

Ugh, I hope things are going ok!!

We've survived our first 2 days (short introductory days). We have a schedule but I'm not totally sure I understand it in terms of how much of the time will be live time on Google Meet and how much will be independent work. He's home with our babysitter today so we'll see how that went.

[doberbrat]

We all Survived!!! dd1 started off screaming that I was going to make her late for "fake school". :irked: Then I got 5 emails about study hall being unproctored time for students to do independent work.

dd2 decided she didnt like her workspace .... this morning. I get it Kid. You're seeing all these friends making up fancy 'school rooms'. Sorry. Its not our reality.

Get to school..... Kids cant get onto our google meet. Finally get on then cant get to their specials. spend seriously 50min getting kids to drama..... which is 55min long. Now they cant get back to reg class. :banghead: One kid is crying another tells his mother we kicked him out of the meeting! A 3rd disappeared ..... then we hear from Admin that his family called to say he had to leave early. Um, we haven't seen your kid since 11am!

Oh well, tomorrow will be better.