APS - Elementary school -who is opting for virtual in 2021/22

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I only know 1 family at our entire school who plans to stay virtual. It’s paranoia though not a medical issue. I think you have a valid reason op. I would prepare yourself or your child for the fact that the fall will probably not be concurrent if you stay virtual. There will probably be a virtual class made up of kids from all over the county instead of just kids from your school.

It better not be concurrent. No reason to require teachers to do that, should be small numbers not going in person and they can be grouped together. Or at least not requiring every teacher to do it.

No concurrent in the fall - wasn't that said already? Even the schools are telling the kids (bc my MS kids came home and told me) that virtual will be completely separate next year.

APS has already announced that virtual will be separate- you will not “attend” your neighborhood school virtually. Classes will be made up of other students in the county that chose virtual. Teachers will be all virtual and the program will have its own admin.

Correct. The email to staff said there may be some limited concurrent in classes like AP/IB.
" The program will be separate from the school of record with dedicated distance learning staff, allowing full focus on strong, fully optimized distance learning for all enrolled. APS will assign a dedicated administrator and staff to run the program, via an application process. Staffing will be based on enrollment, as determined by the family survey.
Students enrolled in the program will maintain connection and alignment with their school of record for reporting, attendance, counselors, sports and extracurricular activities, and graduation.
In-person workspace may be provided, as needed, to support a limited number of identified full-time distance learning students who need help connecting and academic and social-emotional learning (SEL) support."

What else did the email to staff say? Parents know nothing here. Don't teachers hate concurrent?

Yes most teachers hate concurrent which is why this is a good thing, particularly for elementary school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kid would essentially have to have zero immune system due to chemo and be housebound for me to consider any possibility of virtual. I’m a teacher. Virtual is not an effective way of learning for most kids and another year of it when their peers are back in would be isolating and emotionally challenging on top of academically impactful.

Same. That’s a heartbreaking situation and the only one where I’d consider keeping them home.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kid would essentially have to have zero immune system due to chemo and be housebound for me to consider any possibility of virtual. I’m a teacher. Virtual is not an effective way of learning for most kids and another year of it when their peers are back in would be isolating and emotionally challenging on top of academically impactful.

I agree. I work with a few upper elementary classes. I can only think of two students who are thriving virtually.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kid would essentially have to have zero immune system due to chemo and be housebound for me to consider any possibility of virtual. I’m a teacher. Virtual is not an effective way of learning for most kids and another year of it when their peers are back in would be isolating and emotionally challenging on top of academically impactful.

And in that case, my child would probably be getting home-bound instruction even if we weren’t in a pandemic. That APS is planning to provide a county-wide virtual program for families that do not feel comfortable returning to school next year is a huge step up from what they would have gotten in the past.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If there's a separate admin and virtual teaching staff no longer linked to respective schools, so I gather gifted services will not be offered to virtual students? How about students from option schools like ATS or language immersion schools? Will everyone be mixed together?

They haven't released many details but there is no reason to think there cannot be some gifted enrichment in the virtual program.

+1. It’s all done as push-in, which can absolutely be done in a virtual setting. They’ve been doing it all year this year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If there's a separate admin and virtual teaching staff no longer linked to respective schools, so I gather gifted services will not be offered to virtual students? How about students from option schools like ATS or language immersion schools? Will everyone be mixed together?

We are at an immersion school and i heard yesterday they would not be offering immersion virtually.

We are not at an immersion school, but based on what I’ve heard from friends who are, that doesn’t surprise me. My friends have kids who are not native Spanish speakers in early to mid elementary, and they said this year has basically been lost because their kids weren’t effectively learning Spanish virtually, and therefore weren’t learning the content taught in Spanish.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If there's a separate admin and virtual teaching staff no longer linked to respective schools, so I gather gifted services will not be offered to virtual students? How about students from option schools like ATS or language immersion schools? Will everyone be mixed together?

They haven't released many details but there is no reason to think there cannot be some gifted enrichment in the virtual program.

+1. It’s all done as push-in, which can absolutely be done in a virtual setting. They’ve been doing it all year this year.

Think of the virtual program as a separate school- you won’t be a student at your option school anymore if you choose virtual but there will still be support staff like sped, EL and gifted depending on the students that are enrolled.

[Anonymous]

If you truly need virtual for medical reasons, I wouldn't hesitate to pick virtual. It will be much better when there is a separate DL program and no more concurrent. If they end up doing concurrent, consider VV.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If there's a separate admin and virtual teaching staff no longer linked to respective schools, so I gather gifted services will not be offered to virtual students? How about students from option schools like ATS or language immersion schools? Will everyone be mixed together?

We are at an immersion school and i heard yesterday they would not be offering immersion virtually.

Virtual immersion is virtually useless.

[Anonymous]

Wishing there was a box to check for “yes, my student will attend once vaccinated.” DC will be 14 with respiratory issues.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Wishing there was a box to check for “yes, my student will attend once vaccinated.” DC will be 14 with respiratory issues.

Do you keep your child out of school during flu season? Both my pediatrician and my pulmonologist strongly encouraged us to send our severely asthmatic child to in person school. Children’s did a study showing that asthmatic children with covid did fine, no difference based on asthma

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you truly need virtual for medical reasons, I wouldn't hesitate to pick virtual. It will be much better when there is a separate DL program and no more concurrent. If they end up doing concurrent, consider VV.

No it won't. The only thing keeping my kid going in virtual is that they are with teachers and kids at their regular school.


Signed,

mom of a kid with medical issues

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wishing there was a box to check for “yes, my student will attend once vaccinated.” DC will be 14 with respiratory issues.

Do you keep your child out of school during flu season? Both my pediatrician and my pulmonologist strongly encouraged us to send our severely asthmatic child to in person school. Children’s did a study showing that asthmatic children with covid did fine, no difference based on asthma

not the PP, but there's a vaccine for the flu plus doctors know how to treat it. Totally different scenario.

[Anonymous]

We have had virtual since DD is asthmatc, but are opting for in-person next year, since she is constantly facing frustration with poor virtual teaching. However, our concerns are:

1) With some teachers opting for the virtual academy, there will be fewer teachers in-person, so in-person class size will be bigger. That means more crowded, with 3ft distancing vs 6ft. If schools have a problem opening windows, isn't there a higher risk of outbreak with poor ventilation, should someone be infected in class?

2) Flu season in the fall/winter months - without 6-ft distancing, and again, closed windows - would that be a double-whammy?

3) This would be the first time that APS is allowing 5-day in-person learning when the pandemic is still raging on, and children's vaccines are far from being available. While masks may lower the risk of infection, how many kids really abide mask-wearing throughout the day? I assume APS is reverting to the pre-pandemic class schedule.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We have had virtual since DD is asthmatc, but are opting for in-person next year, since she is constantly facing frustration with poor virtual teaching. However, our concerns are:

1) With some teachers opting for the virtual academy, there will be fewer teachers in-person, so in-person class size will be bigger. That means more crowded, with 3ft distancing vs 6ft. If schools have a problem opening windows, isn't there a higher risk of outbreak with poor ventilation, should someone be infected in class?

2) Flu season in the fall/winter months - without 6-ft distancing, and again, closed windows - would that be a double-whammy?

3) This would be the first time that APS is allowing 5-day in-person learning when the pandemic is still raging on, and children's vaccines are far from being available. While masks may lower the risk of infection, how many kids really abide mask-wearing throughout the day? I assume APS is reverting to the pre-pandemic class schedule.

Teachers are being given the option to do virtual academy?