Proposal for elementary school: Eliminate PreK3 and PreK4 until Jan except for children who qualify for FARM or an IEP/504. Use the opened up classroom space, classrooms and teachers to reduce K class size. Give all K students the option of "redshirting". If a parent selects this option, the student will be eligible to start in the PreK4 class in January.

Grades 1 - 5. All students have the option of 100% distance learning for Aug - Dec (and possibly for the entire school year depending on how things unfold). For families that select this option, there will be a dedicated cohort of teachers who will focus on being experts on delivering distance learning to this targeted age group. There will be a "parent / school" commitment to learning which outlines expectations for online learning engagement.
[Level of home learning technology available, home learning environment and learning support]

For the remaining 1-5 students, create a programing alternating weeks of instruction. Week 1 - in school instruction. Week 2 - distance specials + using learning technology apps to reinforce learning. This is a short term design and not intended to be a "redesigned learning". It is purely a proposal to situation we are all currently facing.

Anonymous wrote: I would prefer full time distance learning instead of this nonsense. This is all of the risk of sending children back to school with none of the benefits of having children in school.

And that’s the real plan.
They tossed out a bunch of crazy stuff, so you will all be cool With DL after all.
Don’t forget about the cost of providing PPE for staff & students.
In person isn’t happening.
Buckle up, buttercup

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The problem is the teacher's union which won't agree to having classes anywhere except regular classrooms. If they could use cafeterias, gyms, etc there would be a lot more flexibility.

I don't think that is the issue at all. The issue is that there would need to be at least twice as many teachers to keep the small class size and have every student attend every day. These teachers don't exist and even if they did the city can't afford to pay them.

Make that 3x as many teachers. The classes are going to be 1/3 current size (per what was leaked today).

Isn’t that why they are proposing 2 days per week? Same number of teachers with smaller class sections.

That and trying not to have rolling shutdowns

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.

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.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The problem is the teacher's union which won't agree to having classes anywhere except regular classrooms. If they could use cafeterias, gyms, etc there would be a lot more flexibility.

I don't think that is the issue at all. The issue is that there would need to be at least twice as many teachers to keep the small class size and have every student attend every day. These teachers don't exist and even if they did the city can't afford to pay them.

Make that 3x as many teachers. The classes are going to be 1/3 current size (per what was leaked today).

Isn’t that why they are proposing 2 days per week? Same number of teachers with smaller class sections.

Anonymous wrote:The problem is the teacher's union which won't agree to having classes anywhere except regular classrooms. If they could use cafeterias, gyms, etc there would be a lot more flexibility.

NOt true! Whose responsible when kid wanders off in library, gets accosted at rec center, gets covid from interaction at the gym! Liability issues, what happens if parents don't pick up the kids or they get hurt or hungry.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The problem is the teacher's union which won't agree to having classes anywhere except regular classrooms. If they could use cafeterias, gyms, etc there would be a lot more flexibility.

I don't think that is the issue at all. The issue is that there would need to be at least twice as many teachers to keep the small class size and have every student attend every day. These teachers don't exist and even if they did the city can't afford to pay them.

Make that 3x as many teachers. The classes are going to be 1/3 current size (per what was leaked today).

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What an unbelievably stupid idea

I kind of appreciate comments like this, even though they don't add much to the conversation, just because they so clearly say what many of us are feeling.

+1. Completely sums it up

Anonymous wrote:The problem is the teacher's union which won't agree to having classes anywhere except regular classrooms. If they could use cafeterias, gyms, etc there would be a lot more flexibility.

I don't think that is the issue at all. The issue is that there would need to be at least twice as many teachers to keep the small class size and have every student attend every day. These teachers don't exist and even if they did the city can't afford to pay them.

Anonymous wrote:Why can't they spread kids out by using rec centers and libraries to have classes too? Seems like there is more public space they could put to use with creativity.

They'd have to double/triple the number of teachers to do that.

The problem is the teacher's union which won't agree to having classes anywhere except regular classrooms. If they could use cafeterias, gyms, etc there would be a lot more flexibility.

Why can't they spread kids out by using rec centers and libraries to have classes too? Seems like there is more public space they could put to use with creativity.

https://twitter.com/maustermuhle/status/1262806181027946498?s=

https://twitter.com/maustermuhle/status/1262806455117385729?s=21


It appears this is what she is trying to avoid.

Anonymous wrote:

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

It's really not that hard to come up with ideas. If you're trying to minimize the number of kids present in school, we should be investing heavily in some full year virtual education options--like guided home schooling. In the other thread, I suggested reallocating principals and teachers with health concerns to a new 'virtual school'. Maybe stand up and Elementary, Middle, and High. If 10-20% of families opt into this, it opens up more possibilities for bringing kids back closer to full time at in-person schools.

Additionally, I'd like to see the city planning in lockdown periods to coincide for both school and elsewhere. We know the virus is likely to come back strong in the fall. Why not plan for a citywide cycle of something like 6 weeks on and 3 weeks off to contain the spread before it gets out of control. Right now, we're assuming there will be some unspecified trigger condition. But that's still going to come up on us more quickly than we would like. If we're proactive and go ahead and have occasional strict social distancing periods, we can keep everything from getting bad and hopefully better deal with the lockdown periods.

I like this. The problem is it can't just be the schools - everything woudl have to shut down for 3 weeks. What gets me is that it is JUST our children that are paying the price. THEY will be DL or in a school 2 days a week but the bars and coffee shops and resturants and spas and dog groomers and acupuncturists and churches will be oopen 7 days a week.

agree 100000000%. if its not safe for kids to be in school as normal, then these things also should logically be closed: in restaurant bar or dining, salons, nail places, massage places, churches, hotels...