2 days a week school in the fall?

[Anonymous]

This may have been stated earlier in the thread, but in addition to the difficulties of figuring out how to make the in-class options work, all of these options still require distance learning which adds another layer of complication. Thus far, distance learning seems to be hit-or-miss depending on where you live, the ages of your kids, your home situation, etc. Schools really need to spend time figuring out the plan for distance learning on the days the kids wouldn't be in school - and also to account for any shut-downs in the fall. All it takes is one person at the school coming down with covid to shut down the entire school for 2 weeks, or a city-wide spike in cases to shut everything down again for a longer period of time. What we've been doing for the past 2 months in terms of distance learning isn't going to cut it (at least from my perspective).

The bottom line is that there is no way kids are going to be learning as much as they normally would if they are on a less-than-full-time schedule in the fall. There is no staggered schedule or distance learning that can make up for that fact.

[Anonymous]

I'm a teacher desperately looking online (cause god knows my district isn't providing shit) PD about how to better teach online. I teach young children and while I feel that online instruction for this age is horribly inappropriate developmentally, I still have to teach that way. So far, I'm finding nothing. Fairy dust teaching has something I might look at. But otherwise? It's all trial and error, which is a terrible way to offer an education. If any teachers are reading this and you've found some great online PD about teaching early childhood online, please share.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think the problem is that kids will actually come into contact with more people if they are only in school part-time, since they'll be in child care or with relatives.

In a perfect world, we would hire a massive number of teachers (or at least distance-learning facilitators, who can manage a blended classroom, with a good team making the materials). Rec centers and libraries and other public sites would be used for classrooms. Each classroom would be open every day from 8am-6pm but parents could drop off later and pick up earlier if needed, and instruction would only be from 9-3 with the rest of the time for playing or watching movies or other typical before/aftercare activities. Each classroom would have no more than 10 kids in it, ideally grouped to be on a similar level. Lunch would be delivered to the classrooms; recess would be staggered. Probably it would only be 4 days a week to allow for the longer days. Parents would be able to work better with 4 days of full-time school and kids wouldn't be bouncing as much between grandma and day care and school.

But this would be hard and expensive to pull off. I don't know what you do about teachers whose kids are in other districts or if you shut down a whole room if one person gets sick. There really isn't a good answer here. we're all just picking from a crappy set of choices.

I agree -- not every parent will be able to stay home with their kids on the DL days, so you have kids exposed to one babysitter/family member, several sitters/family members, or group care. Or not being properly supervised at all. Investing in more teachers to permit smaller classes, using more space, would help, but I doubt that the money is in the budget.

I do think it's a bit early to be freaking out. The district seems to be considering several options (like most school districts around the country, I'd imagine) and it makes more sense to see what they announce before going ballistic about it. Whatever it is will not be perfect, and I think parents need to temper their expectations.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:it doesn't make any sense. the point is to have fewer kids in the mix at school. But then those kids will be sent to daycare the other two days mixing with all kinds of kids and not social distancing so....there is no point to doing this unless ALL school aged childcare is also closed..

THIS. We can’t close everything down until there is a widely distributed vaccine. There are no good options here.

The option is mitigation - masks, UV lights, testing weekly, hand sanitizer, kids stay in classoom. The 6 foot nonsense is for sneezes, but if they are wearing masks that takes care of sneezes. This is all much better mitigation than having these kids congregate out in the world without these protections. This is an equity issue. There is a reason you see a difference across wards - some families can afford to stay home with their kdis and some can't.

Can you imagine this happening in lower ES? Instead of teaching, teacher will be pre-occupied with telling kids keep their masks on, not to go close to other kid, wash your hands, etc etc etc. No P.E. class, no Library? No science experiments?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How does the alternating days affect the health of the educators? Seems they will be exposed to everyone and therefore everyone will be exposed to them.

exactly! so teachers will be able to infect the other kids on the alternate days, right? So it does not really make a difference.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:All options are inconvenient. 2 days a week seems most workable. Teachers need relationships with students in order to get them to learn. Seeing adults in smaller class settings consistently will facilitate relationships and teachers knowing students. I pray that discipline problems don’t interfere.

My husband and I both have some flexibility about work hours Work wise 2 days of school also seems the most workable.

2 school days as full 8 hour days at work for both parents - one partner go in early or stay late vice versa.

1 day with a sitter or another family while both parents work a full 8 hour work day.

I work 1 day for 12 hours with the kids with my partner.

My partner works a long day while I am with the kids.

We both put in a few hours over the weekend.

yeah, what about single parents? I am a single parent with twins. What am I going to do?
By the way, I am using a college student since April; and its working greats. She works with my kids 9-12 every weekday and this way they are not behind with school assignments. And meanwhile, I can do some work. But his is a lot of $$$ for me, especially as a single parent. Not sure how long I can keep paying this. I wish the government would reimburse me for this expense.

[Anonymous]

FYI white people! Everyone in ward 8 is not poor! Smh reading this blog is hilarious at best!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There aren't going to be any winners here with any of these options. Teachers will be risking their health, and many will have child care issues of their own. Parents will have to scramble to figure out child care while also continuing to act as substitute teachers at home. Kids -- especially high-poverty kids -- will continue to learn less than they do by actually going to school buildings full-time.

My big worry is employers forcing parents to return to the office, which I'm going to guess will happen before kids go back to school full-time. If DCPS goes forward with any of these plans, DC needs to pass a temporary law banning termination because of inability to physically be at an office. Otherwise a whole lot of people will be losing their jobs because there will be no one to care for their kids on days when they won't be at school.

We can’t stay locked down forever. Eventually we have to move to herd immunity. That’s the only option besides a vaccine or SIP for eternity

I am worried about mental health issues, both for kids and parents. Lack of socialization, also lack of P.E. classes for kids etc. One of my kids is getting really lazy and out of shape, LOL.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:it doesn't make any sense. the point is to have fewer kids in the mix at school. But then those kids will be sent to daycare the other two days mixing with all kinds of kids and not social distancing so....there is no point to doing this unless ALL school aged childcare is also closed..

THIS. We can’t close everything down until there is a widely distributed vaccine. There are no good options here.

The option is mitigation - masks, UV lights, testing weekly, hand sanitizer, kids stay in classoom. The 6 foot nonsense is for sneezes, but if they are wearing masks that takes care of sneezes. This is all much better mitigation than having these kids congregate out in the world without these protections. This is an equity issue. There is a reason you see a difference across wards - some families can afford to stay home with their kdis and some can't.

Can you imagine this happening in lower ES? Instead of teaching, teacher will be pre-occupied with telling kids keep their masks on, not to go close to other kid, wash your hands, etc etc etc. No P.E. class, no Library? No science experiments?

Well, that is all happening now, just with 10 kids in the class and on 1-2 days a week. It's overkill. The 6 foot (10 really) is WITHOUT masks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How does the alternating days affect the health of the educators? Seems they will be exposed to everyone and therefore everyone will be exposed to them.

exactly! so teachers will be able to infect the other kids on the alternate days, right? So it does not really make a difference.

It really depends on the structure. We can't assume that the faculty will be at school everyday. For example if the rotations are grade specific, K to 3 coming the first two days of the week and 4 to 5 the last two days of the week, the teachers for those grade would be home doing virtual learning for the days they aren't teaching in person. We need a lot more information on the options being reviewed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:it doesn't make any sense. the point is to have fewer kids in the mix at school. But then those kids will be sent to daycare the other two days mixing with all kinds of kids and not social distancing so....there is no point to doing this unless ALL school aged childcare is also closed..

THIS. We can’t close everything down until there is a widely distributed vaccine. There are no good options here.

The option is mitigation - masks, UV lights, testing weekly, hand sanitizer, kids stay in classoom. The 6 foot nonsense is for sneezes, but if they are wearing masks that takes care of sneezes. This is all much better mitigation than having these kids congregate out in the world without these protections. This is an equity issue. There is a reason you see a difference across wards - some families can afford to stay home with their kdis and some can't.

Can you imagine this happening in lower ES? Instead of teaching, teacher will be pre-occupied with telling kids keep their masks on, not to go close to other kid, wash your hands, etc etc etc. No P.E. class, no Library? No science experiments?

Well, that is all happening now, just with 10 kids in the class and on 1-2 days a week. It's overkill. The 6 foot (10 really) is WITHOUT masks.

Why do you think that it is without masks? On the diagram posted by the news that shows the 6 foot radius around students, there is the note: "Current planning assumption: students and staff will wear face coverings".

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How about:

Provide homeschooling materials for families that want their kids to use complete DL. Not the thrown together system of completely classes in progress the was done this year, an actual option to complete the content on a home school basis.

2 day a week of in school learning for middle and high school with homework (not virtual classes) for the remaining portion of the week to cover complete content. Roughly 10 students in a classroom at a time, depending on room size.


Divide elementary schools into morning and afternoon groups, 9-noon and 1 to 4, four days a week. facilitate alternative locations with childcare, technology and homework help for kids that need it staffed with paraprofessionals for the times they are not in school. accommodate social distancing.

Once there is a vaccine or execution of other elimination plan (isolation and tracing) go back to normal.

I also thought of this as an option- Divide elementary schools into morning and afternoon groups, 9-noon and 1 to 4, four days a week- but this means that we will all have to work from home, otherwise how do you manage the logistics? Also, they will need to deep clean classes between 12-1pm and then again after 4pm. And if they only are in school for 3 hours, kids will probably be getting assignments to finish at home. So again, you will not be able to work much. Especially if you have more than one kid at the same school.....

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:FYI white people! Everyone in ward 8 is not poor! Smh reading this blog is hilarious at best!

The vast majority of kids attending schools in W8 are poor.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:it doesn't make any sense. the point is to have fewer kids in the mix at school. But then those kids will be sent to daycare the other two days mixing with all kinds of kids and not social distancing so....there is no point to doing this unless ALL school aged childcare is also closed..

THIS. We can’t close everything down until there is a widely distributed vaccine. There are no good options here.

The option is mitigation - masks, UV lights, testing weekly, hand sanitizer, kids stay in classoom. The 6 foot nonsense is for sneezes, but if they are wearing masks that takes care of sneezes. This is all much better mitigation than having these kids congregate out in the world without these protections. This is an equity issue. There is a reason you see a difference across wards - some families can afford to stay home with their kdis and some can't.

Can you imagine this happening in lower ES? Instead of teaching, teacher will be pre-occupied with telling kids keep their masks on, not to go close to other kid, wash your hands, etc etc etc. No P.E. class, no Library? No science experiments?

Well, that is all happening now, just with 10 kids in the class and on 1-2 days a week. It's overkill. The 6 foot (10 really) is WITHOUT masks.

Why do you think that it is without masks? On the diagram posted by the news that shows the 6 foot radius around students, there is the note: "Current planning assumption: students and staff will wear face coverings".

Science doesn't support it. The 6 foot thing was because it was assumed peopel in the west wouldn't wer masks - that was the trajectory of large droplets of a sneeze. This was CDC suggested 6 feet when it didn't recomend masks. Now they do reccomend masks, which stops sneezes. Turns out not only big droplets but arosals are an issue. 6 feet won't help with this. UV lights and ventilation will. The six feet myth hangs around though so now we have masks AND 6 feet. Not touching is important. washing hands is important. Keeping windows open is important. 6 feet - nah.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I get no one likes these plans, but what is your solution? They are trying to get kids back in school the best way they can. They can’t just open up schools with 500 kids and act like nothing happened. I don’t know what the right answer is but most people here won’t be happy with any solution

I have no decision making power here. But if I did, I would propose distance learning for everyone, because I think that a consistent schedule would be better educationally than some kind of frequently changing hybrid. I would also propose that essential worker childcare increases, and that social workers and teachers who are able increase their in-person outreach to families who are struggling. I'm not saying this plan would be perfect, but given the (many) constraints, I think it would be best.

Agree!!!!!