If you are supposed to go back to school in August

We start August 5. It will not really get pushed back, but whether we go all in person, half for two days a week and the other half for two days a week, or all virtual is still up in the air. Our director has said he will announce July 31 which way it will be for the first week. He will announce every Friday which plan we will follow for the upcoming week.

Our district is supposed to have students go back August 13. Our Governor announced last week that she will issue a mandate tomorrow (Monday) delaying the start of school statewide, until after Labor Day. Unfortunately, our Republican legislature has pretty much tied her hands. And the Board of Ed has to approve that. Speculation is the Republican majority board of Ed will not support the Governor. Funny thing is my board rep, has publicly said that since she doesn’t know anyone with Covid, it isn’t a big deal. She hasn’t even attended the last couple board meetings in person, instead she attends via Zoom. I’ve heard her cat appears on screen almost more than she does. She also isn’t a believer in masks.

Teacher start date is August 5th.
Original start date for students was August 10th.
Student start date has been pushed out two weeks to August 24th.
Teachers will receive training during the two week student delay.

Students in school 2 days/week with online distant learning remaining 3 days/week.
Students have option of 100% online learning.

I'm not fully convinced we will be back in school by August since we are seeing a spike in cases. Maybe this is just wishful thinking.

I go back August 2nd, kids August 5th.

No talk of delay. 100% in person with option to do 100% distant learning.

My start date is August 12 (students start August 17). Depending on our MOU bargained by our bargaining unit with the district, it looks like the start date with students will be the 17th. I think the bargaining unit (union) is asking for our future pupil-free PD days to be brought to the start of the year. This would definitely benefit teachers (and students) by providing more training before school starts.

So, I hope the student start date is pushed to give our teachers more training for distance learning.

ETA- since my county is a hot spot, we must start virtually.

We start August 3. Our superintendent has already announced that we will be virtual the entire first quarter - so mid-October at the earliest.

I was doing curriculum work this summer and the woman in charge of it was also on one of the committees for planning to come back. There were 9 different committees looking into things like transportation (we use the city bus system), planning for instruction, curriculum, etc. About 4 weeks into planning they realized that with AZ being a hotspot, it just wasn't going to happen without massive illness and loss of life. My district has already lost employees, our students have lost family, and my school is in the worst zip code in the state with 2500+ cases already. They realized that it was wasting time planning for something that wasn't going to happen, instead of planning for distance learning and preparing for that.

He got interviewed by all of the major networks and made it very clear - opening our schools at the cost of student and staff was unacceptable. He has been a forward-thinking leader who has been working with the health department and dept of education through this and I'm glad he's in charge of our district. Other districts are now jumping on board - but there was about a week between the time he announced it and the time when others starting coming to the same realizing.

For those parents out there who are worried about their children doing well this fall in distance learning, I will tell you that many teachers have been spending the summer looking into the best way to teach online. Last spring was NOT distance learning - it was crisis learning, with people doing the best they could with no notice. I think most teachers and districts have prepared for this over the summer, and things will be better organized with more accountability for the 20-21 school year.

Our district's start date is one of the latest in the state, August 31. We have the option of in-class, or signing our kids up for the districts online school. I have one kid in public school, going into 10th grade at a new school. I don't know what might happen in the next 6 weeks that might change the plans as they are now. Whichever method you pick, you have to commit for a full trimester. So if you chose in class and things go bad, you can't transfer into the online program and have to do whatever they come up with. If you register online, and a miracle happens and the school is problem free, you can't show up for classes.

I feel like neither option is a good option and do not know what to do.

I will say this past week has seen a HUGE upswing on locals wearing masks inside stores. Before it was probably 10-20% depending on the store, now it's closer to 80%. Something finally clicked out there.

We were supposed to start August 13, now starting August 24.

School in my county was supposed to start August 10, but it has been retracted and now 100% virtual. They will address in-person start month to month.

I work at a private university and we have been directed to return August 31. Currently, our county and state are major hot spots led by a ridiculous governor.

We go back august 27. No set rules yet. I think they are waiting to see how it goes with our neighboring counties. They are going back august 10.

@merge, yes, it is a nightmare already. I am fortunate that my DD just got her license and we won’t have to worry about the bus. She can do online on her own if necessary.

But the younger kids’ parents are already all worked up because there are no concrete answers regarding busses, childcare, lack of equipment for online, etc.

Just as we have discussed here in numerous threads, there are just no easy answers.

We were originally scheduled to start August 16th.
Our start day has been pushed back to September 8th.
The first three weeks will be 100% virtual.
After that parents can choose to stay 100% virtual or go 1:15 in person instruction.
Choice must be made every nine weeks whether to stay virtual or in-person; Students are allowed to switch back and forth every 9 week grading period.
Learning will be both synchronous and asynchronous.
Attendance will be taken daily (not sure how just yet).
Pacing and grading guides will be the same whether online or in-person.
District is purchasing enough devices (tablets & hot spots) to insure all students have devices and access to internet.
District purchased new LMS to insure all portals used by teachers have a common entry point.
Isolation protocols are in place if a student or teacher starts showing symptoms during the school day.
Hiring more custodial staff for each campus (27 of them) and giving them all raises.
Transportation - Can fit 12 kids on a bus and maintain social distancing. Details still need to be worked out. Earlier survey said 80% of parents can handle transportation if needed.

We are in Texas with over 20,000 students.

Eagerly awaiting news on Wednesday to see what the plan is for 8/24 start.
Our HS is going all virtual. Fortunately for me, I am WFH through 2020.

Our local district starts August 12, and will be completely distance learning until Spet. 2. At that time, they expect kids whose parents chose in person learning to return to campus, and those who chose at home learning will continue on at home

I have never been so thankful that my children are both adults and that I quit teaching than I am right now.