Going back to school thoughts?

[MSWR0319]

Our county just released it's plan which each school district then will have slight differences. The way it's sounding right now is that you either take the risk and go to school or choose the online option. They're sitting 2-3 kids per bus seat and only "highly encouraging" masks. Our state has a 4 level color map for each county and if we get to red, we all go back to online. I think we may be choosing online because I SAH and can do it. It's not the best for my kids, but they both have asthma and no one around here thinks this is real. There is a small private Catholic school we may consider because the class are small and I think they can social distance well, but if we're all gonna end up back online, no point in paying for that. We're supposed to start school in 5 weeks and the public school says they'll be sending us details in the weeks to come. How are we supposed to make decisions if they're going to wait till right before school starts??

ETA: And it's starting.. Ten minutes after it posted on FB, people started to complain saying they were choosing the online option because they don't want their kid to wear masks (masks would be required if we get the the second stage in our states 4 colored map) because masks brain wash you by causing too much CO2 to get to your brain.

[KpbS]

ETA: And it's starting.. Ten minutes after it posted on FB, people started to complain saying they were choosing the online option because they don't want their kid to wear masks (masks would be required if we get the the second stage in our states 4 colored map) because masks brain wash you by causing too much CO2 to get to your brain.

I really cannot believe anyone actually thinks that! Ridiculous.

I sent you a pm

[Globetrotter]

Our district is going online and will reassess if our county has seven days without any cases and then hope to go hybrid. I don’t see how this will happen as our county has some hotspots like Oakland. They say they will make exceptions for at risk kids to meet in person, which is a good idea. Kids with special needs, etc.
The union was strongly in favor of distance learning and say they will do it properly this time.

[KrisM]

We are still waiting to hear what our district plan is. We go back Aug. 31. I know masks will be required for middle/high school kids, as that's the state requirement. Other than that, we've only gotten the generic info - in person, hybrid, or remote. No details.

But, one of our local urgent care offices just got a 15-minute response test system. That could make a big difference in helping schools stay open it seems.

Our district has a handful of cases but not a lot. Over the past 2 months, we've had 25 for a population of 40,000 or so. The rate was much higher in March/April. But we also have a lot of school-of-choice kids, so are pulling from all over.

[♥ms.pacman♥]

our district just recently released their draft plan. i selected at home-learning for our district for my 4th and 5th grader. Cases are exploding, ICU beds filling up and we go back AUGUST 12, y'all. That's barely a month.the plan was very generic with no details. No temperature scanners at schools, just the onus on all parents to "measure their kids temperature every day". OMG , ARE YOU KIDDING ME??! Kids are going to be coming to school with fevers, no question, just like they always have.

How am i going to do this AND work a regular full-time demanding job from home, not sure. I am super privileged to be able to even consider it, much as it overwhelms me. I found out that another coworker of mine in same district is also keeping her kids home too.

Our district they say the hybrid model of doing 2 or 3 days a week from home and the other in-person (split shifts, to reduce # at school) is forbidden by the state. Which sucks because then it's either fully in-person (5 days a week, 7 hours a day) of 500 students of Kinder - 5th grade at this school, where everyone has to be indoors (no outdoor recess if it's above 94 in August, which it almost always is) or fully at-home. Grades 3 and up required to wear mask all times while at school. Both my kids said hell no to that, and i don't blame them. Our school is Title I, i'm sure many come from households where parents don't have privilege of working from home, so higher likelihood they've been exposed.

Im glad our governor finally said (Friday) that if any school in Texas has a COVID case (confirmed) they will shut the school down for 5 days. Which brings me to the reasoning of selecting online shcool from the get-go. More and more cases keep popping up. Not going to sit around and spend all my time agonizing over kids being at school and disinfecting this or that only to worry about kids needing to switch to virtual learning. It will be too disruptive and anxiety producing for my kids to have to go to school in person and worry about social distancing, mask wearing , about other kids getting sick, only to have to do distance learning anyway.

supposedly the largest association of educators in Texas has really spoken out against re-opening and is pushing to delay the start of schools. which i totally get. it's freaking HOT outside and keeping all kids indoors for the first month, with covid guidelines is going to be a nightmare. Teachers don't have time to plan!! i will see if i can try to find a link. i feel bad how so many teachers were left out of critical conversations.

[Mamma2004]

I read several school opening related articles yesterday. One asked the question how old are your kids? It said that it appears that kids under the age of 10 seem to get sick less often whereas teens seem to pick up the virus more easily and get sicker. Another article was written by a doctor and epidemiologist. He said parents should be questioning what the school’s plan and accessibility is for quick testing and tracing an not just state that sick kids should be referred to their PCPs. Which is exactly what my district has written in their plan (anyone with symptoms will be sent home and told to follow up with PCP and can return to school with PCPs recommendation. No mention of testing or a quarantine period or who else in the class should be quarantined, or at what point the school would consider closing.).

I am leaning to just keeping my kids home. We have the capability to do that, they are pretty self motivated to do their work as assigned, and I can help with a lot of it if they have questions. It helps the teachers in having one less student in their class to figure out how to distance kids. And I feel like it’s pretty much a ticking time bomb until an outbreak and schools get shut down, so if I keep them home at least it will be a consistent program they are getting. My main decision now is do I enroll in the district cyber program (which is still being developed by district staff and most likely uses Google platform) or enroll them in an established public virtual school like Connections Academy that uses their own online platform?


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We are struggling to make a decision for DS. He is a rising junior in Massachusetts, and our district's plan will not come out for another two weeks. It will likely be a hybrid model, challenging for all, but still not able to offer the social aspect that has been lacking since March.

In our high school, a few teachers really did rise to the challenge during the pandemic. Others literally did not appear once for a Zoom lesson, so these students are feeling very removed from academics and unprepared for the fall.

At the moment, we are struggling to choose between the local option - outstanding school, but these are strange times - and a tried and true virtual school such as Connections Academy.

***Is there anyone in MA who can speak to his or her experience with Connections Academy or K-12? TIA!

[doberbrat]

***Is there anyone in MA who can speak to his or her experience with Connections Academy or K-12? TIA!

I have a very good friend who did a couple of years of homeschooling then switched to Connections for 2 of her kids and LOVED it. The oldest is severely dyslexic and it was not a good fit for that. I was impressed with what she told me about the curriculum, projects etc.

It would not help much with socialization however.

[lizzywednesday]

...

supposedly the largest association of educators in Texas has really spoken out against re-opening and is pushing to delay the start of schools. which i totally get. it's freaking HOT outside and keeping all kids indoors for the first month, with covid guidelines is going to be a nightmare. Teachers don't have time to plan!! i will see if i can try to find a link. i feel bad how so many teachers were left out of critical conversations.

I wonder if they're working with the 400+ questions the Garden State Coalition of Schools came up with to bring their petitions forward:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1akE...ew?usp=sharing

[Mamma2004]

I have a very good friend who did a couple of years of homeschooling then switched to Connections for 2 of her kids and LOVED it. The oldest is severely dyslexic and it was not a good fit for that. I was impressed with what she told me about the curriculum, projects etc.

It would not help much with socialization however.

Thank you! It does help to hear that someone was pleased with Connections. The course offerings are superior to those in our high school, so DS is actually getting excited about the possibility.

[AbbysMom]

Thank you! It does help to hear that someone was pleased with Connections. The course offerings are superior to those in our high school, so DS is actually getting excited about the possibility.

Question for you - would you then plan to send him back for his Senior year at his old school? Thinking through this idea with my middle schoolers and wondering how it would work in terms of transitioning back.