Reply to Howard County remote until April 2021.

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[quote=Anonymous]In Howard County, as with other jurisdictions, there are extreme voices on either side. On one side, there are some outspoken advocates for reopening, who want schools reopened and have little regard for the level of community spread. Some of these extremists are COVID deniers. On the side are people like the previous posters who view any return to the buildings during the pandemic to be "unsafe" and tantamount to a death sentence for teachers. People espousing extreme anti-reopening view any attempt to discuss or formulate a plan to return students to the building and disrespectful to teachers.

When it voted to remain virtual through April, the HCPSS Board also took two other actions. First, it rejected the hybrid plan offered by the Superintendent and his staff, and it also voted down a motion that would have directed the Superintendent to work on another hybrid plan. Right now, there is no plan on the table to return any students to the buildings for in person learning.

The nature of the hybrid plan was critical in these decisions. The proposal would have had teachers teaching an in person cohort while simultaneously teaching virtual learners. The teachers' union representative said that a concurrent model is impossible - it simply can't be done. In addition, there are serious questions about whether any in person model could be staffed, given that many teachers have said that they will return or take leave if they are required to return to the buildings.

Today, several new board members will be sworn in. Whether at will change anything remains to be seen. The teachers' concerns are not going to change, and therefore, it hardly seems worth it to continue to devote time to a plan that is never going to be implemented, at least not this year.

Throughout these discussions, the Superintendent emphasized that before any transition to a hybrid model, the administration would need 7 weeks to prepare. Therefore, even if, going forward, the Board approves a new plan, that would have to be done by the beginning of February to start the preparations for an April 1 return (if the metrics allow).  Developing a plan that is acceptable to the teachers seems highly unlikely.

It might be possible to develop some hybrid plan that could be implemented next year if the metrics allow.  But feel like that would only work if there is a virtual only option that would make the cohorts of students attending in person smaller. I wish they would focus only on a hybrid plan for small groups of students to see if it is possible to make it work and keep everyone else in virtual learning. The only way to see how a plan works is to try. I worry that if they don't try in the spring, there is no chance of returning in the fall.

7 weeks of lead time 
staggered anyway[/quote]

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