There WILL (probably) be 5 days a week in-person in all districts this fall

[Anonymous]

Because this language just passed the House of Delegates (bill came from the senate) and is headed to the Governor's desk.

"1. § 1. As used in this act:

"In-person instruction" means any form of instructional interaction between teachers and students that occurs in person and in real time.

"In-person instruction" does not include the act of proctoring remote online learning in a classroom.

§ 2. Each school board shall offer in-person instruction to each student enrolled in the local school division in a public elementary and secondary school for at least the minimum number of required instructional hours and to each student enrolled in the local school division in a public school-based early childhood care and education program for the entirety of the instructional time provided pursuant to such program. For the purposes of this act, each school board shall (i) adopt, implement, and, when appropriate, update specific parameters for the provision of in-person instruction and (ii) provide such in-person instruction in a manner in which it adheres, to the maximum extent practicable, to any currently applicable mitigation strategies for early childhood care and education programs and elementary and secondary schools to reduce the transmission of COVID-19 that have been provided by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention."

https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?212+ful+SB1303H1

[Anonymous]

Wow. This is amazing.

[Anonymous]

GOOD hopefully COVID IS OVER by then

[Anonymous]

How will this be possible if they have to maintain 3 or 6 feet distance between the desks?

[Anonymous]

Will probably is a oxymoron.

[Anonymous]

I’m not that thrilled. I think i and ii still leave it wide open for hybrid. But I’m not saying they could pass anything better.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How will this be possible if they have to maintain 3 or 6 feet distance between the desks?

Covid might be over by then

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How will this be possible if they have to maintain 3 or 6 feet distance between the desks?

They’ll figure it out like all of the other districts nation- and world-wide that are fully open in-person. Either they don’t distance but do mask and wash hands or they get creative with classroom space.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m not that thrilled. I think i and ii still leave it wide open for hybrid. But I’m not saying they could pass anything better.

I don't see how hybrid complies with this sentence:

"Each school board shall offer in-person instruction to each student enrolled in the local school division in a public elementary and secondary school for at least the minimum number of required instructional hours "

The required instruction hours are 990. A full school year. And they narrowly definite in-person instruction to exclude proctoring in the classroom with a remote teacher.

[Anonymous]

I wonder where they'll get enough teachers from to do this? I don't think it will be possible.

[Anonymous]

This is a bad idea. I hope that Northam sees through it and doesn't sign the bill. I don't understand why they are caving to the crazies. They need to leave some room for the school systems to make choices based on their needs and what they have to work with. The PP about the teacher shortage is right to bring that up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How will this be possible if they have to maintain 3 or 6 feet distance between the desks?

every in person district (most of the country) either figured it out or didn't bother. To no one's surprise all the kids didn't die from covid- it worked and the death rates aren't any different than places that refused to open schools

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is a bad idea. I hope that Northam sees through it and doesn't sign the bill. I don't understand why they are caving to the crazies. They need to leave some room for the school systems to make choices based on their needs and what they have to work with. The PP about the teacher shortage is right to bring that up.

We saw what happened when school systems were allowed to make choices- that's the whole reason the language passed

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is a bad idea. I hope that Northam sees through it and doesn't sign the bill. I don't understand why they are caving to the crazies. They need to leave some room for the school systems to make choices based on their needs and what they have to work with. The PP about the teacher shortage is right to bring that up.

We saw what happened when school systems were allowed to make choices- that's the whole reason the language passed

Yep. I'm a Dem and I hope he signs it. If something happened and Covid got really terrible again, he has wiggle room. He could simply waive the requirement for 990 hours to allow for hybrid. But that gives the state the control and not the individual school districts who have proved incompetent at making plans and decisions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is a bad idea. I hope that Northam sees through it and doesn't sign the bill. I don't understand why they are caving to the crazies. They need to leave some room for the school systems to make choices based on their needs and what they have to work with. The PP about the teacher shortage is right to bring that up.

We saw what happened when school systems were allowed to make choices- that's the whole reason the language passed

I don't have a problem with what the school systems have done. I think they've taken the right paths, and that includes ACPS, APS, FCPS, LCPS, etc. The legislature is hamstringing themselves with that language and it is going to bite them in the bottoms. Let the people who know what they're doing, the superintendents, make the right choices.