Are you sending your kids to school next month?

[palavra]

If that was the case, then they need to get out in front of it, you know, like Disney did opening the parks. Here's where things went bad, here's what we are doing to improve it. But no. All we've gotten are surveys. They twisted the survey results all they could, but the results were clear - they had no business doing remote teaching. There were exceptions - my son took a photography class this summer through a different public High Schooland the teacher in that class has been fantastic. That is the extreme exception though.

Oh, and I REALLY don't buy the whole, "we didn't have time to prepare" nonsense. I personally did a presentation to over 30 people less than a week after the shut down. It's not my forte, but it was no problem. How about my Kindergartner's teacher in private Catholic school? THAT school knocked it out of the park. We came home to a phone message Thursday night, school was shut down on Friday and Monday, Tuesday they were doing remote teaching. It was no substitute for having the kids in school, but it was impressive.

Then there was the public High School - OMG I wish I was making this up: They took 2 weeks to think about it, then took Spring Break (break from WHAT exactly?), then took another week to put together some semblance that sort of resembled instruction, then sporadically actually taught...kinda. My Daughter's guitar teacher held 1 Zoom combining all 3 of his classes, then gave up and told them to watch videos. My Son's math teacher never did any live instruction, instead assigning the kids lessons on Khan academy - this was after we personally begged her to give us a lesson plan so my Son's tutor could teach him what he was missing. The entire district went pass-fail, grades can't go down grading, so if you were passing when the shutdown started there was ZERO incentive to do anything. The School district admitted they simply lost 1/3 of the kids - they never logged into anything, never turned in any assignments, just poof - gone. THIS, T-H-I-S is what we are going back to in the Fall. Are you kidding me? I will say this - it can't get worse. Nah, strike that. They are folowing LAUSD's lead, of COURSE it could get worse!

This is to say nothing of what they are really missing. Friends, sports, band, choir, drama, Homecoming, Prom - the whole EXPERIENCE. I am so sick of the "virtual" nonsense. Oh, we gave the kids a virtual commencement and we drove by and honked, aren't we doing a great thing? In a word, NO, no you are not. You have failed the kids in every way and that's just proof that you barely even tried.

I seriously don't know what you expected the schools to do? The whole school experience is going to be different whether the kids return to school or not because of social distancing. Life as we know it has changed. You can be mad at the situation caused by the virus, but why take it out on the schools and teachers who are trying to adjust the best they can?

 

[godisney14]

If that was the case, then they need to get out in front of it, you know, like Disney did opening the parks. Here's where things went bad, here's what we are doing to improve it. But no. All we've gotten are surveys. They twisted the survey results all they could, but the results were clear - they had no business doing remote teaching. There were exceptions - my son took a photography class this summer through a different public High Schooland the teacher in that class has been fantastic. That is the extreme exception though.

Oh, and I REALLY don't buy the whole, "we didn't have time to prepare" nonsense. I personally did a presentation to over 30 people less than a week after the shut down. It's not my forte, but it was no problem. How about my Kindergartner's teacher in private Catholic school? THAT school knocked it out of the park. We came home to a phone message Thursday night, school was shut down on Friday and Monday, Tuesday they were doing remote teaching. It was no substitute for having the kids in school, but it was impressive.

Then there was the public High School - OMG I wish I was making this up: They took 2 weeks to think about it, then took Spring Break (break from WHAT exactly?), then took another week to put together some semblance that sort of resembled instruction, then sporadically actually taught...kinda. My Daughter's guitar teacher held 1 Zoom combining all 3 of his classes, then gave up and told them to watch videos. My Son's math teacher never did any live instruction, instead assigning the kids lessons on Khan academy - this was after we personally begged her to give us a lesson plan so my Son's tutor could teach him what he was missing. The entire district went pass-fail, grades can't go down grading, so if you were passing when the shutdown started there was ZERO incentive to do anything. The School district admitted they simply lost 1/3 of the kids - they never logged into anything, never turned in any assignments, just poof - gone. THIS, T-H-I-S is what we are going back to in the Fall. Are you kidding me? I will say this - it can't get worse. Nah, strike that. They are folowing LAUSD's lead, of COURSE it could get worse!

This is to say nothing of what they are really missing. Friends, sports, band, choir, drama, Homecoming, Prom - the whole EXPERIENCE. I am so sick of the "virtual" nonsense. Oh, we gave the kids a virtual commencement and we drove by and honked, aren't we doing a great thing? In a word, NO, no you are not. You have failed the kids in every way and that's just proof that you barely even tried.

The blame should ultimately be placed on the people driving the surge in cases. I admit that schools in many areas were poor to respond to teaching during shelter in place. But, they wouldn't have been in that position to begin with if adults in our society would stop acting like children and be socially responsible for each other by following all health and safety precautions. But, nope, we have adults taking no precaution, yet demanding that schools open and teachers teach (and babysit).

 

[Lumpy1106]

I seriously don't know what you expected the schools to do? The whole school experience is going to be different whether the kids return to school or not because of social distancing. Life as we know it has changed. You can be mad at the situation caused by the virus, but why take it out on the schools and teachers who are trying to adjust the best they can?

My paragraph 1, "get out in front of it, you know, like Disney did opening the parks. Here's where things went bad, here's what we are doing to improve it." They have done none of that. Do I really believe that teachers, check that, schools in general have done nothing all summer? Yes, yes I do - they have said and done nothing to prove otherwise. YMMV.

 

[OneOftheB's]

Atlanta/Fulton County and DeKalb are going fully online, too.

Yes, but those schools announced remote learning from the first when announcing how they would start the school year. Cobb announced the choices and gave a short deadline, then bumped out the deadline for format choice, then announced that masks might (would?) be optional and today too a hard swing the other way to remote learning only.

 

[DisneyJamieCA]

And we just got official word that our citysnlargest district will start on 100% remote learning with a re-evaluation a month in. And that in discussions with other local districts, they will all be doing the same.

It may not matter anyway as Newsom is making an announcement about return to school and will likely be making the decision for districts. (I know it was mentioned before, but I don't know if it was this thread or the CA one).

 

[monsterkitty]

If that was the case, then they need to get out in front of it, you know, like Disney did opening the parks. Here's where things went bad, here's what we are doing to improve it. But no. All we've gotten are surveys. They twisted the survey results all they could, but the results were clear - they had no business doing remote teaching. There were exceptions - my son took a photography class this summer through a different public High Schooland the teacher in that class has been fantastic. That is the extreme exception though.

Oh, and I REALLY don't buy the whole, "we didn't have time to prepare" nonsense. I personally did a presentation to over 30 people less than a week after the shut down. It's not my forte, but it was no problem. How about my Kindergartner's teacher in private Catholic school? THAT school knocked it out of the park. We came home to a phone message Thursday night, school was shut down on Friday and Monday, Tuesday they were doing remote teaching. It was no substitute for having the kids in school, but it was impressive.

Then there was the public High School - OMG I wish I was making this up: They took 2 weeks to think about it, then took Spring Break (break from WHAT exactly?), then took another week to put together some semblance that sort of resembled instruction, then sporadically actually taught...kinda. My Daughter's guitar teacher held 1 Zoom combining all 3 of his classes, then gave up and told them to watch videos. My Son's math teacher never did any live instruction, instead assigning the kids lessons on Khan academy - this was after we personally begged her to give us a lesson plan so my Son's tutor could teach him what he was missing. The entire district went pass-fail, grades can't go down grading, so if you were passing when the shutdown started there was ZERO incentive to do anything. The School district admitted they simply lost 1/3 of the kids - they never logged into anything, never turned in any assignments, just poof - gone. THIS, T-H-I-S is what we are going back to in the Fall. Are you kidding me? I will say this - it can't get worse. Nah, strike that. They are folowing LAUSD's lead, of COURSE it could get worse!

This is to say nothing of what they are really missing. Friends, sports, band, choir, drama, Homecoming, Prom - the whole EXPERIENCE. I am so sick of the "virtual" nonsense. Oh, we gave the kids a virtual commencement and we drove by and honked, aren't we doing a great thing? In a word, NO, no you are not. You have failed the kids in every way and that's just proof that you barely even tried.

I taught band and orchestra. I don't think you understand how difficult it is using Zoom. With everyone having different connection speeds kids were not together no matter what. It was a jumbled mess. Did I try? Yes I did. I actually muted the kids and one by one I would unmute them so I could listen to them individually.

Then add to the fact that kids weren't allowed to play during "school" hours because their own parents were working from home. Half of my parents emailed me to explain that their child couldn't play during the day because of the noise it created. Add in other students who aren't allowed to practice or play because they live in apartments or multi-family housing. Then you have the kids who weren't at school on March 13 so they didn't have their instruments at home. As a result, I had two sets of lesson plans for each class. I taught 6 totally different classes so I had 12 lesson plans each day for my instrumental classes plus a lesson plan for my academic enrichment class.

Did you ever stop to think what may having been going on in the guitar teacher's life or house? Maybe he or she was dealing with a sick family member.

I understand the losing out on the experience thing. This was my last year. I shed many tears the nights I was supposed to have my last concerts after 31 years at the school.

Do you know why we lost some of the kids at our school? Because they had ill family members in their house they were taking care of. We had students who were taking care of younger siblings. We have a very large Hispanic population and many of them went to live with other family members, where the virus wasn't as prevalent. How do you tell a 12 year-old they need to do their school work when they watched their great-grand parents die from COVID? Those same great-grand parents were the children's' legal guardians. We also had parents using the school-issued devices to do their own work because their workplace did not provide a computer and the family didn't have their own.

Finally, the schools did not decide to do this "virtual nonsense". We had no choice. Stop saying we failed the kids because not everyone did. Did some districts drop the ball? YES! But not as many as you think.

My niece will be a first year teacher starting in August. You know what she's been doing all summer? Planning and picking our brains on how to use online learning as effective as she can.

Teachers worked their butts off this Spring. Most did what they could. Most learned as they went and got better as they went. We don't want this for the kids. We want to be in school. But it has to be safe for everyone!

 

[SamFaniam]

You have to remember that schools especially in the inner city are places where kids get breakfast and lunch; we wash their clothes for them; we provide them with extended child care; we provide mental health sessions for them and the list just goes on and on. Do you see where I am going with this? School for these kids is a whole lot more than just classes. Everyone who is opting for online must have a great internet connection. My students do not have any internet connection or they have been given a free hot spot that will work for 1 kid but not the multiple kids who need to use it. Many of my teacher friends have had to pay to upgrade their band with to support multiple devices. And there will be layoffs..

It is wonderful that schools do all these things for their students, but It is also tragic. Our society really needs to take a look at how we care for each other and do a much better job of taking care of those who are most in need.

 

[Pink Partridge]

It is wonderful that schools do all these things for their students, but It is also tragic. Our society really needs to take a look at how we care for each other and do a much better job of taking care of those who are most in need.

And the saddest thing is some teachers have to get second jobs just to scrape by.

So imagine providing so much for children in need, all the while struggling yourself. I admire teachers. Especially this year.

 

[3 MEN AND A BOAT]

My county just announced no school until September 1st (it was scheduled August 10th), and virtual/online only for the first 9 weeks.

 

[choirfarm]

nm

 

[motherof5]

It's not going to be the kind of social interaction it used to be.

I know and it's sad. I saw a video of 2 friends hugging for the first time since this virus started and it showed how it impacted the kids. This isn't going away any time soon, so hopefully we can figure out a good balance.

 

[EveDallas]

That is the point. Did you read the whole thing? yes, it is incredibly dismissive, but so is telling teachers to suck it up or quit. Things have changed in our world. We have a new normal for now. Why should teachers be sacrificed for the economy any more than people in other professions are?

People in every public facing job everywhere are being "sacrificed for the economy". No one says that those people shouldn't have to work. What makes teachers more important?

 

[CarolAnn856]

Oh, and I REALLY don't buy the whole, "we didn't have time to prepare" nonsense. I personally did a presentation to over 30 people less than a week after the shut down. It's not my forte, but it was no problem.

The fact that you are comparing teaching to some one-off presentation you made, presumably to adults, shows that you know absolutely nothing about the education profession.

No, online learning did not go smoothly for every single school district across this country. I don’t think a single person here is arguing that it did. But, believe it or not, even as an educator I firmly believe that health and safety should come before education. If that can be achieved in school, I am 100% behind that. And I’m willing to give it a chance, both as an educator and as a parent sending two kids off to college. But if it can’t, then I am resigned to the fact that none of us will have anything close to what we had hoped for for the coming year, even with adjusted expectations due to the virus.

 

[Pink Partridge]

People in every public facing job everywhere are being "sacrificed for the economy". No one says that those people shouldn't have to work. What makes teachers more important?

Please name another profession where a worker with insufficient PPE is in a room with 30 people facing them, taking off their masks, coughing, sneezing, crying, etc.

Our own school board still won't meet face to face while making these decisions. Yet they want our beloved teachers to head into schools?

My aunt is the most loving teacher I have ever met. She is going to retire. It's not a happy retirement. But she has no choice. Can you imagine people in a Zoom meeting deciding your fate? Terrified to meet in person, but telling you to head on into school with hundreds of other people in a building. Don't worry, the school board trusts the parents to take temps and keep ill children at home.

 

[tink89]

this is pretty much how I feel about my kid and school.

 

[palavra]

People in every public facing job everywhere are being "sacrificed for the economy". No one says that those people shouldn't have to work. What makes teachers more important?

That is literally the point I made above.

 

[Renarr]

People in every public facing job everywhere are being "sacrificed for the economy". No one says that those people shouldn't have to work. What makes teachers more important?

I don't think anybody is saying that teachers shouldn't have to work. Teachers should have to teach.

The question, IMO, is whether that work can or should be done remotely. I think most would even agree that what happened in the spring was too ineffective for too many, and I think we can debate how well that work can be done, but I don't know that it is realistic to say that the work cannot be done.

Many public-facing jobs simply cannot be done remotely. My grocery worker cannot work remotely. The attendant at my local gas station cannot work remotely. Some of the work of my PCP cannot be done remotely, while some can.

Some of the public-facing jobs that cannot work remotely have some pretty effective mechanisms at reducing transmissions. For instance, bank tellers are public-facing and are probably among the safer-positioned public-facing occupations.

What I think a lot of teachers are advocating for is that they believe the job can be done at a reasonable facsimile remotely in most cases, and they should be given the opportunity to try, in light of current circumstances.

 

[SaintsManiac]

People in every public facing job everywhere are being "sacrificed for the economy". No one says that those people shouldn't have to work. What makes teachers more important?

It's not that they are more "important." It's that we expect them to do EVERYTHING and it better be done perfectly. From active shooter drills to buying cleaning supplies when is enough enough? They at least deserve to have masks be mandatory in their classrooms.

 

[FanforDisney]

Please name another profession where a worker with insufficient PPE is in a room with 30 people facing them, taking off their masks, coughing, sneezing, crying, etc.

Our own school board still won't meet face to face while making these decisions. Yet they want our beloved teachers to head into schools?

My aunt is the most loving teacher I have ever met. She is going to retire. It's not a happy retirement. But she has no choice. Can you imagine people in a Zoom meeting deciding your fate? Terrified to meet in person, but telling you to head on into school with hundreds of other people in a building. Don't worry, the school board trusts the parents to take temps and keep ill children at home.

I guess you forgot about flight attendants. They are in a contained space for hours with many unfriendly people.
Did you see what happen to Sprint employees this week? Being attacked at the counter by 3 young ladies.

 

[tink89]

It's not that they are more "important." It's that we expect them to do EVERYTHING and it better be done perfectly. From active shooter drills to buying cleaning supplies when is enough enough? They at least deserve to have masks be mandatory in their classrooms.

I personally do not expect teachers to DO anything but educate my child. That isn't always the case though and teachers are doing much more than that. They have as much or more contact with our kids than we do. They become our kids teachers, friends, therapist, counselors, advocates, role models. Most people have a teacher they remember because they made an impact on them some way. So I do think teachers are a bit more "important" than other jobs. As far as safety drills yes teachers and everyone else should do what they can to keep our kids safe.

I DO NOT expect teachers to buy all the cleaning supplies and think their district or the govt that is pushy on kids going back should be supplying anything the teachers are asking for in order to feel "safe". Even before all this, I always have known most teachers are underpaid and deserve more much more than what they are given. I have always sent DD with cleaning or office supplies or anything teachers have on their wish list. I always send out emails through out the year asking if there is anything they need for their classroom. I always send thank you gifts and teacher appreciation gifts.

With all that being said, no i do not want my child in the classroom right now. Even if I was ok with it I do not think teachers would have all the necessary supplies they need to keep everything clean. Do I want my child doing online learning? No. Do i want my child going to school and bringing back covid? No. Do I want to home school my child? No.