What are your reasons for choosing DL this fall?

[gatorsmom]

What state are you in, OP, where in person is a choice? We’re online only for the first 30+ days and then they will re-evaluate. No decision to make. (We’ll be doing the in person hybrid when it becomes available)


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Maybe she means private. Our area Public schools are DL for the first month but the diocesan schools and our private school are teaching in-person classes. So, in-person could still be an option though it would have to be through private schools.

[jennilynn]

We chose it for a few reasons, but I’m still mad about it. Cases in our state, and our county in particular, are spiking. We felt like it would offer a bit more consistency as in person school is very likely to be shut down anyway. And we knew the teacher who is leading the virtual academy at our school, a small k8 with 300 kids. DS had her last year for 5th and she’s great, and she handled the spring switch really well. Plus we can switch to in person at any quarter, so hopefully at some point this year we’ll feel comfortable going back.


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[PZMommy]

I just had to make this decision yesterday. We had to commit to a full semester of online or in person. I was really leaning towards online (and I'm secretly hoping that in the next 1.5 weeks before school starts our state goes to online only) but 2 things swayed me. 1, I am in the middle of and MS relapse and I just don't know if I will be able to provide DS the support he needs or if he will end up on youtube all day. He isn't self-directed and won't do much without me prodding him. 2, our online option truly sucks. The teacher over online also has an in person class and so the online assignments won't be posted until 4:30 pm, but are due by 8:30 the next morning. Teacher available to answer questions by email between 3:15-4:30 (before assignments are even posted!) And basically no 'teaching' happening besides reading the directions on an assignment. They made online as crappy as possible.

That is awful, but if the location listed on your post is accurate, your state’s in person plan isn’t that great either. Students and staff exposed to covid can still attend class. No quarantines, etc. A teacher from Utah posted the state plan, and she is basically being forced to take the year off as she is high risk, and the state’s plan is just awful. Obviously this is not your fault, just pointing out that your state is putting students and staff in a tough spot.

I have a teacher friend in Texas. her district sent them a letter today telling them to make sure their will is in order, and that they have a medical power of attorney who knows what their wishes are. They need to make sure their beneficiaries are up to date on all life insurance policies, etc. It was truly heartbreaking to read. They know staff will get sick and some will die, and they just don’t care.

[Myira]

Safety of course is number one, I do not feel the risks outweigh the benefits, if any at this time. We are in a state that has number trending high and not everyone around us seems to be following social distancing and or masks guidelines. I cannot imagine the anxiety with every single cough, sore throat or worse yet fever if I’m sending the kids.
I also feel given the adherence to masks etc. isn’t so great, there is high likelihood of schools having to close when positives show up. I’d rather my kids have a steady DL going than this unknown if we are not sure when we will have to quarantine or shutdown.
Another thing is that honestly, I doubt the stress of it all, will permit good normal learning to take place.
My kids can do well with DL, they can go at their own pace that’s challenging rather than a one size fits all classroom. The social and peer interaction, after schools clubs, competition of course will be missed.
I’m totally in the camp of let’s all survive this pandemic year and we can catch up academically or socially, if everyone stays alive.


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[JElaineB]

My son will be a senior in high school. We have chosen distance learning for a few reasons.

He has a medical condition on the CDC list so is at increased risk is he gets COVID-19. That's probably the main reason.

Our school district wants to start all online but our governor (likely) won't let them (we're still waiting to hear about a waiver but at most it would be for two weeks), so by choosing online we're also supporting our school district and giving teachers who want to work from home a chance to do that. For those not choosing online the default will be be starting hybrid 50% online, 50% in-person but it could change during the year.

DS only needs 4-5 classes per trimester to graduate and still meet college prep requirements, so he would be physically in school longer each day than needed if he went in-person/hybrid.

His social life at this point is pretty much interacting with his friends online (he talks to them on Discord while gaming mostly), so he won't miss out on much socially.

The school district's regular model calls for moving back and forth between online/hybrid/in-person and it seems simpler to stick with one modality.

It also seems simpler for him not to have to worry about wearing a mask all day, cleaning classrooms, where/how to eat, safety of using the restroom, etc.

We obviously don't have to worry about childcare when/if DH and I go back to work so that didn't need to be part of our decision.

[KrisM]

We haven't decided yet. If we do choose online only, it would be to keep teachers, etc safe. I have meetings set up with the middle school principal and high school assistant principal over the next few days to get my questions answered.

Some districts near us are going to start with remote teaching. I think we would not do that, after listening to the last board meeting. But I could see us moving to remote after a week or so.

[gymnbomb]

My son will be doing distance learning for first grade. Our reasons include of course the obvious health risks for him and our family (they keep finding new longer term problems from even mild cases), the fact school will not look anything like what he thinks he would be going back to, and not insignificant is that we are fairly sure there will be times when he/we would have to quarantine or shift suddenly to distance learning because he or one of us or someone in his class got sick and those interruptions would be very stressful for all of us and cause a lot of interruptions. It was the sudden shift and not knowing if or when he would go back more than the distance learning itself that was difficult for him in the spring.

Edit: I forgot, but our son’s kindergarten teacher said she was choosing distance learning for her kids this year, including one who is the same age as DS, and that spoke strongly to me.


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[ang79]

My two girls (6th and 8th grade) will be using the district’s cyber school this fall. Neither want to deal with wearing masks all day long and our normal class sizes are too big to distance more than 2-3 ft. Apart in the classroom. I’m doing what I can to keep them/us healthy, as well as school staff. We have the ability to keep them home and they did well in the spring, so I figured by keeping them home it may help offer more space for kids that don’t have the ability to stay home/ need to be in school. I also worry about possible long term effects the virus may have that are still not fully known. And I have a feeling that eventually classrooms and school will have to quarantine or shutdown, so by choosing the cyber option from the beginning the kids will be used to it and have more consistency. Our district is planning on using the same curriculum in and out of school, so I think kids in school will be on devices a lot of time anyways (no money to buy more textbooks or materials and they can’t share). May as well have them staring at a screen safely at home than in a school with a mask all day.


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[petesgirl]

That is awful, but if the location listed on your post is accurate, your state’s in person plan isn’t that great either. Students and staff exposed to covid can still attend class. No quarantines, etc. A teacher from Utah posted the state plan, and she is basically being forced to take the year off as she is high risk, and the state’s plan is just awful. Obviously this is not your fault, just pointing out that your state is putting students and staff in a tough spot.

I have a teacher friend in Texas. her district sent them a letter today telling them to make sure their will is in order, and that they have a medical power of attorney who knows what their wishes are. They need to make sure their beneficiaries are up to date on all life insurance policies, etc. It was truly heartbreaking to read. They know staff will get sick and some will die, and they just don’t care.

You are right. Our state’s plan is awful all around. My districts around ours have caved to starting online and I’m hoping ours does too. I just feel like the online option is basically choosing no education at all. So yeah, I’m stuck between choosing health or education and that isn’t right. DS’s school is smaller than most in Utah though, so that helps. He isn’t being exposed to a large student body.

[twowhat?]

Risk factors. Our family has multiple risk factors (asthma, heart issues) and we have grandparents who live nearby that we would like to see at some point, which won't happen if the kids go back to school in person right now. We are naturally risk-averse people. Plus we live in an area that is not doing well. Case numbers are starting to come down, but still - once school starts I am afraid numbers will climb again. We were given the option to choose virtual vs in-person and must commit for the first 9 weeks. Turns out that so far, 75% of people in our district (public) have chosen virtual!!! (this is CLEARLY a reflection of privilege, but even then I was still surprised by this statistic). My thought also is that since we are doing virtual, that should theoretically help the students (and teachers) who aren't able to do virtual. If only 25% of students are actually going back to school in person, that should theoretically be REALLY helpful for the in-person kids and teachers ASSUMING they are adhering to safe practices. After the first 9 weeks we can change our choice...so we will see...

eta: if I had younger kids (K-3rd grade), the choice would be MUCH harder and I would strongly consider in-person. My kids are entering MS and can mostly independently handle remote learning, even though it's not ideal. Our plan is for them to get through whatever schoolwork they can on their own during the workday and anything they need help with, DH and I can help in the evenings after work.