Hellobee Boards

I teach 1st grade in Texas. Our district is still putting a plan together, but it’s looking most likely that we will have some sort of hybrid plan of in person and online schooling. No details have been released, but we are keeping our school calendar the same and our start date is mid August.

Cases in TX are spiking because the state rushed opening and I’m really apprehensive about in person schooling, although the e-learning (really crisis schooling) was really stressful for teachers, students and parents. I don’t really know what the ideal situation is, but I can’t imagine a positive 1st grade experience with such heavy in person restrictions.

My oldest is starting kinder in the fall and I dread having to facilitate e-learning for him. I’m sad that he won’t get a typical kinder experience, but ultimately his health and safety is most important to me.

I work in a middle school, too, but we haven’t heard anything yet. I’m super pro mask, and I finally got my hands on some kn95s in anticipation of having to go back in person in Sept (we are still in school—online—until Thursday of next week).

So I’m actually crossing my fingers that masks will be mandated.

The rest of what AZ is proposing sounds miserable—no Subs? It seems like they are using COVID to further decimate public education in that state (no surprise for Arizona I guess). Why couldn’t they just get permanent subs, or just use regular subs? Let’s get real, a teacher exposed to tons of kids a day and going about their life with their kids in schools elsewhere, a spouse that works, and going to supermarkets and stuff...how is not having a sub reducing risk in a measurable way that outweighs the risk of having a sub? If a sub is also wearing a mask, not touching students, etc. Kind of just seems like they are trying to screw over teachers and get rid of specials and cut benefits.

I am so glad we have a later start. It will be interesting to see what other states do before us. Of course our numbers here have been much higher than the rest of the US, so we may very well end up doing something different but I’d like to think some of our education officials will watch and learn from others mistakes. But I’m also pessimistic about that in general, haha.

Wow - that is so sad and I would be really discouraged too I was very very anxious the past few months as so many possibilities were being thrown out. My youngest is starting Kindergarten this year and I really want her to have a good experience.

They just released our provinces plan today... K-2 will go full day, every day and be maxed at 15 kids per class - which will effectively become their own pod that they will eat with, play with, etc. They don’t have to social distance within their pod. Recess may be staggered to allow the pods to not overlap too much. Music Art and PE will all still happen which makes me happy because I was worried that would be cut. Higher grades are essentially the same idea but may have more than 15 kids per pod. Temperature checks may be a possibility.

It’s basically the best case scenario in my opinion, as a teacher and parent. Our province has had very low numbers of COVID which I am sure plays into it though.

@gotkimchi: We are a small province that is mostly rural, less than a million people total. We’ve only had around 130 total cases .. 1 death. My county itself has only had 1 case.

@Anagram: @charm55: our county has 485 cases, 27 deaths and a population of about 225,000

@Anagram: Wow - that is high... I can see why they may need to make significant changes to schooling in that case. Maybe the numbers will drop over the summer? But then there’s always the risk of a second wave, ugh.

@gotkimchi: I’m with you... so over home schooling. We actually kind of gave up a couple weeks ago. She just reads and spends lot of time outside now 🤷‍♀️. She desperately missed her friends and teacher and it became such a big struggle to get any school work done each morning. Not to mention her schooling is completely in French and so much of that is oral interaction with others. The only bright spot were the weekly zoom calls ... she lived for those !

I live in a NYC suburb and we still have 2 more weeks of the school year. I teach middle school and my oldest is finishing up first grade. Distance learning has been a real struggle for our family.

Our district hasn’t said a word about next year and what school will be like. I’ve obviously read many articles about hybrid learning situations. I have over one hundred students that I teach and multiple grade levels. It will be interesting to see what they propose.

To be honest, I think the district will start the school year in-person (most likely with staggered groupings and social distancing) and most work will be online. I feel like we’ll end up doing distance learning again as the number of cases and infections rise.

NY is only starting phase 2. Things are starting to begin to open up. I see my neighbors and friends having play dates while my family is NOT. I feel like we are way more cautious than most.

I’m nervous that I’ll have to be exposed to so many germs once school begins. There are no “pods” in a middle school. I teach multiple grades and more students than the average teacher as it is, so I am concerned about my health and my family’s health.

I talked to a friend a couple days ago who teaches second grade. Their tentative plan is to give families who want to be fully remote the option, and then the remainder of kids will be divided into two groups that go two days per week to reduce density.

I am struggling to wrap my head around the logistics behind this - how do you simultaneously teach small kids in the classroom and manage remote learning? A large number of teachers have their own kids, which will create a logistical nightmare. Many of the other teachers are older and will still be at significant risk... and then every time a student tests positive, which will I'm sure happen (all the more with widespread testing), I think everyone needs to self-quarantine for two weeks, during which I guess the shift is totally to remote learning...

I work at a university, still no word on our plan yet. But I see a lot of colleagues at universities that have announced they will be back regardless advocating for purchasing plexiglass fencing to separate teaching staff from students in classrooms. No one wants to catch a deadly virus because an ill-advised frat party became a super spreader event on campus

@DesertDreams88: I think it's pretty much a pipe dream to expect school and university openings not to be a fiasco, unless we can somehow drive cases way down (a la South Korea, etc), which is really hard to imagine happening in the US... And as you say, it's not so simple as just having older teachers do remote, as young and healthy people get seriously ill all too often as well... I understand that there's kids going hungry w/o school lunch, kids who have no one to uncover child abuse, kids with no access to wifi... no words, its really, really awful. At the same time, the most horrible thing that can happen is kids losing a parent, a grandparent, a teacher because they caught the virus at school.

@DesertDreams88: My son starts Kinder this year and we haven't heard any plans as of yet, but it makes me sad that this is how he's going to be starting school. The school we picked did lots of outside time & freedom in the classrooms, which he won't get now. I have no clue what we'll do because he didn't do well with learning at home while his preschool was closed when AZ first shut down. Those plans you listed don't sound ideal. I don't trust the parents to self report any fevers or anything. I see so many adults not wearing masks when I do venture out for groceries, I fear for what the Summer/Fall brings.

I read through the plans our school district is putting together this morning - they'll be making a final call by the end of June. It looks like the options are full remote learning, 2 full days a week at 50% capacity (they'd rotate kids in M/T and TH/F groups) or in school at 1 day a week at 25% capacity (kids would be in 4 groups, one group per day of the week). One day would be off for teacher planning and special services for kids who need them. Distanced desks and PPE for teachers but no other details beyond that.

I’m just finishing up the school year in MA. Current guideline calls for max of 10 kids/2 teachers in class - this would require dividing my school into 3 groups. Idk if they will revise this number for the fall if cases continue to go down (obs uncertain with reopening). The state is going to come out with further guidelines before the end of June I believe and I really really hope that schools then announce their plans ASAP. Like @Chuckles: I’m so stressed about how I’m going to coordinate my schedule with my two LOs two schools.

@AngelicOne: My daughter is also starting K and I am so sad about what it will be like I’m just hoping that she’ll be so excited for a lot of the traditional aspects of school that they’ll still adhere to that maybe she won’t be as affected by the restrictions.

@DesertDreams88: The logistics of subs, and teachers needing to be out for sick days potentially for weeks at a time for something that turns out to be minor ...ugh it’s just a disaster. This is the thing that makes me feel like we really shouldn’t go back. Can you imagine sending your kid for their 1-2 days in a week and their teachers are absent? Though maybe there will be less illness spread due to all the restrictions.

My ideal situation wearing my teacher hat would be to see kids twice a week. Even once a week, @wrkbrk: , would allow me to introduce new material, explain work, Answer questions, give feedback on prior work etc. before sending students home to do their remote work for the week. Tho I’m not arguing your point about the risk and lack of childcare dilemmas. My mom hat would be me going fully remote...@gotkimchi: I think having the lower grades go back in part time capacity to reduce classroom size and high school fully remote makes the most sense overall. Older kids can stay home alone (maybe not ideal but it’s much more of an option), they can use a computer by themselves, and work much more independently. It is much more difficult/impossible to keep high schoolers in designated groups. And then I think schools should offer more in person services to kids on IEPs and 504s even if hs is fully remote.

@Mrs. Carrot: It’s very stress inducing (I have anxiety anyway). In no way am I blaming the schools!! They have it the worst in many ways. But the whole situation, no matter how many iterations I turn around in my head, baffles me in terms of logistics.

I really feel for all of the teachers and the situation this creates. I also can't imagine having my incoming Kinder twins at home on virtual learning. They are so much more interested in learning from other people and let's be honest, I don't have the appropriate skills to teach them. Teachers have degrees and levels of certification and continuing education that makes them far more qualified. Even with our state fully opening up, cases have stayed below a certain level so I'm hoping that level keeps dropping and people feel more comfortable/safe.