Time to start loking seriously into Double shift school system.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I like the idea of split shifts and 4 day weeks. School is not daycare. It never was until around 30-40 years ago when families decided it was, because both partners chose to work outside the home and use one income to supplement the job of a homemaker, thinking they would have so much extra money. Fast forward to today and now it is basically forced.

Two overworked parents expecting FT daycare, food, mental health care, etc... with school because the economy caught up to two parents working. Constant cries of days off, no cheap camps, extra holidays, overpriced aftercare etc... Now everything but salaries has risen in the last 30 years and poverty has increased. Parents raising kids instead of daycare providers has decreased. Families barely surviving on two salaries and tons of credit card and mortgage debt. So many depending on the government for help.

Maybe this pandemic will make some families realize priorities need to change. This won’t be the last pandemic. Life can change drastically. Be prepared.

School was never daycare and should never be treated as such. It shouldn’t be a home and a way for kids to be fed for free either. It shouldn’t offer parenting courses, free aftercare, ESOL, parent ESOL classes, and TED talks for free either. The amount of money that is now spent NOT on education in the MCPS budget is disgusting. Let MCPS do the teaching and the county and town budget do social services.

[Anonymous]

I'm not opposed to the idea of the double shift idea as a teacher, but I if my own children were only in school half the day I think I would have to quit so that I could be with them the other half. I unfortunately don't make enough money to pay for that much childcare.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I like the idea of split shifts and 4 day weeks. School is not daycare. It never was until around 30-40 years ago when families decided it was, because both partners chose to work outside the home and use one income to supplement the job of a homemaker, thinking they would have so much extra money. Fast forward to today and now it is basically forced.

Two overworked parents expecting FT daycare, food, mental health care, etc... with school because the economy caught up to two parents working. Constant cries of days off, no cheap camps, extra holidays, overpriced aftercare etc... Now everything but salaries has risen in the last 30 years and poverty has increased. Parents raising kids instead of daycare providers has decreased. Families barely surviving on two salaries and tons of credit card and mortgage debt. So many depending on the government for help.

Maybe this pandemic will make some families realize priorities need to change. This won’t be the last pandemic. Life can change drastically. Be prepared.

School was never daycare and should never be treated as such. It shouldn’t be a home and a way for kids to be fed for free either. It shouldn’t offer parenting courses, free aftercare, ESOL, parent ESOL classes, and TED talks for free either. The amount of money that is now spent NOT on education in the MCPS budget is disgusting. Let MCPS do the teaching and the county and town budget do social services.

I agree with you on all of this. Other agencies should be responsible for feeding/clothing/teaching English. Not schools. MCPS is already too big, and this makes it even harder to run such a large school system.

However, voters and the public support all of this being the responsibility of the schools. It is not favorable public opinion to leave this to other entities.

So, not much you can do.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I like the idea of split shifts and 4 day weeks. School is not daycare. It never was until around 30-40 years ago when families decided it was, because both partners chose to work outside the home and use one income to supplement the job of a homemaker, thinking they would have so much extra money. Fast forward to today and now it is basically forced.

Two overworked parents expecting FT daycare, food, mental health care, etc... with school because the economy caught up to two parents working. Constant cries of days off, no cheap camps, extra holidays, overpriced aftercare etc... Now everything but salaries has risen in the last 30 years and poverty has increased. Parents raising kids instead of daycare providers has decreased. Families barely surviving on two salaries and tons of credit card and mortgage debt. So many depending on the government for help.

Maybe this pandemic will make some families realize priorities need to change. This won’t be the last pandemic. Life can change drastically. Be prepared.

School was never daycare and should never be treated as such. It shouldn’t be a home and a way for kids to be fed for free either. It shouldn’t offer parenting courses, free aftercare, ESOL, parent ESOL classes, and TED talks for free either. The amount of money that is now spent NOT on education in the MCPS budget is disgusting. Let MCPS do the teaching and the county and town budget do social services.

I agree with you on all of this. Other agencies should be responsible for feeding/clothing/teaching English. Not schools. MCPS is already too big, and this makes it even harder to run such a large school system.

However, voters and the public support all of this being the responsibility of the schools. It is not favorable public opinion to leave this to other entities.

So, not much you can do.

Why not? Kids are in school for six hours. It behooves the schools to educate both parents and kids such that the kids have the tools to be better students. Teaching doesn't happen in a vacuum, as much as we want it to. Whether the county/state allocate the funds to CPS or some other organization to provide those services, it's still funds coming out of the budget.

Now, I don't agree that teachers themselves should be providing most of those services, but how do you feed a child lunch during the middle of the school day if the school isn't the one providing it? Should the child leave the school during lunch time to get that meal some place else? Who is going to get that child to that place to get the meal?

It would be great if all parents care and have enough money to provide food and a stable home life to their kids, but that's not reality. If your attitude is "tough sh1t then", well, I'll just remind you that it costs us taxpayers a lot more to pay for someone to be in prison than to pay for wrap around services from K-12 such that the child gets an education, and eventually becomes contributing member of society.


State prison cost per inmate, 2015 - Average cost per inmate $44,601/yr

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I like the idea of split shifts and 4 day weeks. School is not daycare. It never was until around 30-40 years ago when families decided it was, because both partners chose to work outside the home and use one income to supplement the job of a homemaker, thinking they would have so much extra money. Fast forward to today and now it is basically forced.

Two overworked parents expecting FT daycare, food, mental health care, etc... with school because the economy caught up to two parents working. Constant cries of days off, no cheap camps, extra holidays, overpriced aftercare etc... Now everything but salaries has risen in the last 30 years and poverty has increased. Parents raising kids instead of daycare providers has decreased. Families barely surviving on two salaries and tons of credit card and mortgage debt. So many depending on the government for help.

Maybe this pandemic will make some families realize priorities need to change. This won’t be the last pandemic. Life can change drastically. Be prepared.

School was never daycare and should never be treated as such. It shouldn’t be a home and a way for kids to be fed for free either. It shouldn’t offer parenting courses, free aftercare, ESOL, parent ESOL classes, and TED talks for free either. The amount of money that is now spent NOT on education in the MCPS budget is disgusting. Let MCPS do the teaching and the county and town budget do social services.

I agree with you on all of this. Other agencies should be responsible for feeding/clothing/teaching English. Not schools. MCPS is already too big, and this makes it even harder to run such a large school system.

However, voters and the public support all of this being the responsibility of the schools. It is not favorable public opinion to leave this to other entities.

So, not much you can do.

“It is hereby declared to be the policy of Congress, as a measure of national security, to safeguard the health and well-being of the Nation’s children and to encourage the domestic consumption of nutritious agricultural commodities and other food, by assisting the States, through grants-in aid and other means, in providing an adequate supply of food and other facilities for the establishment, maintenance, operation and expansion of nonprofit school lunch programs.”

– Sec. 2 The National School Lunch Act, 1946

[Anonymous]

We are just not going to be able to go back to the 1950's with one parent at home all day, families living near support networks, and one income supporting the whole family.

And, schools do provide childcare. PERIOD. Our kids are there all day. They are children. They sometimes cry, have skinned knees, have a runny nose. They require care. It's part of the frickin job of being gin teaching. These are not college students!!!

If children can't be in school all day every day, and childcare is not free or subsidized for a wide swath of America, then this plan for shift school will NOT work. Most families have 2 working adults -- blame whatever you want to blame for it -- it's just not reality, The train has left the station and is not going back.

American cannot reopen without schools opening back up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We are just not going to be able to go back to the 1950's with one parent at home all day, families living near support networks, and one income supporting the whole family.

And, schools do provide childcare. PERIOD. Our kids are there all day. They are children. They sometimes cry, have skinned knees, have a runny nose. They require care. It's part of the frickin job of being gin teaching. These are not college students!!!

If children can't be in school all day every day, and childcare is not free or subsidized for a wide swath of America, then this plan for shift school will NOT work. Most families have 2 working adults -- blame whatever you want to blame for it -- it's just not reality, The train has left the station and is not going back.

American cannot reopen without schools opening back up.

Actually even the 1950s weren't like that for a lot of people.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I get the point OP, and in theory it makes sense. But where are we going to get all the extra teachers to handle the shifts?

Or perhaps until there’s a vaccine, classes and subjects are shorten. School is only 4 hours maybe because there are no specials and no lunch.

You answered your own question. It would be impossible to have 2 shifts and keep the school day the same length. Elementary/middle school kids simply wouldn’t physically be able to stay late enough to schedule two full shifts. School would have to be shortened to 4 hours or so. A morning and afternoon shift wouldn’t require any extra teachers BUT would require more bus drivers for example.

Back to the social services aspect of school: providing meals to vulnerable populations is a key function of school. Note that even when schools are closed we restructured lunch service so families could come pick up food. With unemployment as high as it is, meals would absolutely need to be factored in to thy ex schedule.

Honestly, such a short school day sounds really difficult for working parents.

It would still require more teachers because teachers are also contractually required to engage in duties other than instruction. They also deserve lunch since they are human beings and not robots. They can’t teach eight 45 min classes a day to make your scheme work. They would still be expected to plan, grade, attend meetings and carry out those other responsibilities of teaching. You would need two shifts of teachers OR you would need to pay teachers extra for a 10-12 hour day on the clock. That could look like this:

7 AM: Meetings normally held during the school day
8 AM: planning PD
9 AM: Class 1
10 AM: Class 2
11 AM: Class 3
12 noon: Class 4
12:45 PM: teacher’s lunch
1:15 PM: Class 5
2:15 PM: Class 6
3:15 PM: Class 7
4:15 PM: Class 8
5:00 PM: planning PD

Teacher’s official day ends at 6 PM. 11 hours, 5 days a week is grueling. This will lead to many teacher absences due to illness or mental health and teachers quitting.
1/2 of children will end their day at 4:45 and be exhausted and overstimulated at the end of the day. They will lose out on sports and other opportunities.
Traffic will be horrendous with buses rolling off parking lots at 5 pm.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are just not going to be able to go back to the 1950's with one parent at home all day, families living near support networks, and one income supporting the whole family.

And, schools do provide childcare. PERIOD. Our kids are there all day. They are children. They sometimes cry, have skinned knees, have a runny nose. They require care. It's part of the frickin job of being gin teaching. These are not college students!!!

If children can't be in school all day every day, and childcare is not free or subsidized for a wide swath of America, then this plan for shift school will NOT work. Most families have 2 working adults -- blame whatever you want to blame for it -- it's just not reality, The train has left the station and is not going back.

American cannot reopen without schools opening back up.

Actually even the 1950s weren't like that for a lot of people.

+1

Poor people, including most people of color.
Farming families.
Widows.
Divorcees.

[Anonymous]

I've been in some counties in South Florida (probably 10 years ago) that had two shifts per day in school. This was mandated due to overcrowding. There were no playgrounds at the schools. The former playgrounds all had temporary classrooms packed onto the former playgrounds.

There were two shifts of children per day to handle the overcrowding of the school districts.

[Anonymous]

No thanks, I'd rather homeschool.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No thanks, I'd rather homeschool.

Please let your elected officials know that before they come up with this plan to foist on those who don’t have a choice.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I've been in some counties in South Florida (probably 10 years ago) that had two shifts per day in school. This was mandated due to overcrowding. There were no playgrounds at the schools. The former playgrounds all had temporary classrooms packed onto the former playgrounds.

There were two shifts of children per day to handle the overcrowding of the school districts.

Soon enough, this will be MCPS. No doubt. With the changing demographics and increase in population.

[Anonymous]

All kids grades 6-12 continue distance learning.

Grades PreK K and 1 go to the elementary schools (and ride the elementary school bus) That cuts the bus rider population down by more than 50% which allows more distancing there.

Grades 2-3 go to the middle school (and ride the middle school buses)

Grades 4-5 go to the high school (and ride the high school buses)

This allows everyone enough room to spread out on the bus and in the schools. Each class is split into half or thirds so only a small number of kids per classroom and per teacher (no specials -- music, pe etc cancelled and those teachers need to take a class)

Kids in grades 6+ are old enough to stay home alone.

When certain triggers are met, bring back grades 2 and 3 to the elementary school, and allow grades 6,7 and 8 to go to the middle school on the middle school buses.

When more triggers are met, put the grads 4 and 5 back on the elementary bus and send them to elementary school, and then the high schoolers can stop distance learning and can go back to high school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I've been in some counties in South Florida (probably 10 years ago) that had two shifts per day in school. This was mandated due to overcrowding. There were no playgrounds at the schools. The former playgrounds all had temporary classrooms packed onto the former playgrounds.

There were two shifts of children per day to handle the overcrowding of the school districts.

Soon enough, this will be MCPS. No doubt. With the changing demographics and increase in population.

I was the PP. Yes, it was due to changing demographics and increase in school age children. The school infrastructure/buildings looked sad. There was nothing cheerful on the exterior about the schools. Portable classrooms were
packed on what used to be the playground. Landscaping was nonexistant. Due to overcrowding in the schools the second shift school system was mandated to reduce the overcrowding.