We are officially going back to school

It’s looking like IL will do the same (in person “strongly encouraged”) but with masks (and maybe temp checks).

I guess I won’t see my parents after August. 😣

www.nwherald.com/2020/06/17/illinois-school-guidance-will-require-masks-strongly-encourages-in-person-class/a4asxfx/

Michigan Governor announced yesterday that she expects schools will be in person in the fall. But she didn’t give details other than to say there will be strict safety measures and more info coming on June 30th.

The question is what safety measures and how can those be implemented with huge budget cuts expected.

My small rural district in AR just sent out an email notifying parents that we are offering a Virtual Learning Academy for those who are interested.
I am curious to see how many families will go for this option. I’m a lunch lady at Primary School and student enrollment will definitely affect my job in August.

Colorado will be going back as well

DD’s college has said they will go back, with a modular schedule. They will take one class at a time for 3 weeks, 4 days a week for 3 hours a day. She is still deciding if she will go back. She wants to graduate with her friends, but is worried that one of her roommates won’t social distance. Plus, how the heck do you do a semester of anatomy in 3 weeks?

No decision yet here in NY State. Colleges have announced some plans but school districts have not.

TEA hasn’t released guidelines yet. They are expected to on Tuesday. The commissioner has a call with superintendents so I’m sure they already know what will be said. My district is waiting.

Several districts around me are offering hybrid plans. One of the hybrid plans I saw was only for 6-12 and kids would do all their core classes at home and electives would be done at school. They would also go to school for sports. No transportation would be provided for kids that chose hybrid.

We’re going back but all students will have the option of remote learning for classes. As of now, there has to be health screenings before kids can get on the bus, including temps. I’m not sure how many will be allowed on a bus but it’s staggered seating. Staff must also go through the health check. Kids/staff who are running a fever(100.4) are not allowed. Not sure what will happen if a parent can’t be reached.

I teach high school and right now we have 4 schedules ready. 1 where one class, ie 9th grade, comes in on a day and the 5th day is remote. The second is 2 classes per day/2 days a week each, remote learning the 5th day. The 3rd is everyone in the building. We are switching to a block schedule because they allow more time per class. Block also allows us to go remote easier. Teachers will only be teaching 3or 4 classes. No study halls except for IEP students. The 4th schedule is our current 8 block schedule. This most definitely wont be happening.

There is still so much to work out but we still have limited guidance. No hot lunches. No use of cafeteria except for classroom space. No use of the building other than for school. Masks have to be worn by staff and students. Nothing is ideal but it is what it is and we’ll do the best we can.

I went and found TEA’s announcement from today. While I really want to go back to in person school, it’s completely insane for them to say “it will be safe”. Our numbers have yet to drop. We keep hitting all time highs in hospitalizations in DFW. Sports camps opened 2 weeks ago and all around me they are already starting to close because of kids testing positive. 

We’ve been going back for a few weeks now. The question is what it’ll look like for each district. None of those decisions appear to be solid yet. Looks like most states are the same, including Texas.

It also looks like the Texas governor hasn’t made a formal announcement, the news is coming from what he told state lawmakers. In Virginia, our governor announced it to the people first and so appreciate that.

How many kids are in your district? I’m surprised in our district of 1,000 kids, we have three schools and 3 full time RNs.

I’m impressed. We have about 7-800 in our district, 2 buildings (elementary and a conjoined middle/high) and zero nurses. I have no idea where we’ll put an isolation room in the elementary.

We may hear something next week.

wow!!    

that is waaaay immersive, and I would think would be really tough to do on this schedule, for quite a few subjects!  cramming an entire semester's worth (typically 16 weeks, I think) of cumulative learning into 3 weeks?  I don't think that would be good for the students, or for long-term retention of the material.  It sounds like cramming for a test, only you do it for the entire semester's worth of class info.    (I'm picturing any of my chemistry, physics, or classes involving a lot of hands-on lab work-- some of which had to be done on our own time-- being really difficult to do in a time-compressed 'module' like that.)