Is your county's school reopening a mess like mine?

[brockash]

That's amazing, where did the funding come from for that? I'm reading stories that there were districts throughout that weren't given the laptops and internet connectivity. Are you sure that every student actually got them? And that it was at the state level and not county or school district level?

Yes every single student (other than preschool) in Clarksville- Montgomery County in TN was signed out a laptop that they were to transport back and forth to school each day and any family that asked for a hot spot got one. We're a pretty average district, so I don't think it was out of the norm. I know some very small districts did not, but I also know of others who did the same.

I didn't work in finance, so I'm not sure where the funding came from...it was not a grant or anything just part of our struggling budget like most districts encountered with the pandemic.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Yes every single student (other than preschool) in Clarksville- Montgomery County in TN was signed out a laptop that they were to transport back and forth to school each day and any family that asked for a hot spot got one. We're a pretty average district, so I don't think it was out of the norm. I know some very small districts did not, but I also know of others who did the same.

I didn't work in finance, so I'm not sure where the funding came from...it was not a grant or anything just part of our struggling budget like most districts encountered with the pandemic.

I was talking about state level..

Districts can and do what they want if they have the funding. But at the state level was what we were talking about. So was every student in TN at the state level given a laptop and internet connectivity?

You said you worked in TN and every student K-12 was given one.

 

[Katie Dawn]

Yep. It's a mess.

 

[brockash]

I think the intent was to make it as equal as possible especially after the upheaval and behindness that our students across the country have experienced. To make a snow day means all students are out. Virtual puts some students in the position of not being able to do their school work (and for more than just internet/computer issues) or not learn as well. I think an area does what they can do best for their area but my entire point was I can understand how there's a "this is not equal" to in-person instruction which was the conversation.

Nothing has ever been equal for the various students that attend school for a numberof reasons. Attendance in general has always been an issue for many.

On the flip side of your argument; lets say now a district doesn't close a day here or there or a week where they have many out on quarantine because it would entail needing to revise their calendar and again you'd have lots of parents updet or disregard the extended school year...it's also not equal for students who are out on quarantine or those students whos parents disregard the revised calendar who are eligible for 0 instruction at that time.

Obviously I think all agree in person is 99% of the time better/more valuable and should always be the intention, but cutting off the ability to do any virtual schooling is foolish in my opinion. I always strive to get something/learn something/better something in all situations and the ability for nontraditional schooling in cases of emergencies (again not unlike what many districts were doing well before Covid during the every now and then inclement weather day) should've beem something positive that we occasionally utilize.

If there was a need to set a standard/limit; there should have been either certain exceptions made for virtual schooling or a cap at a certain number of days that would count. At least then; there's some progress.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Yeah, I can’t claim to know about every school ever, but this is the first I’ve heard of an entire district closing down multiple days every year because of widespread absences due to yearly illness. Like, definitely heard about this school closing for norovirus, this school closed because too many teachers have the flu... but an entire district with 60,000 students closing every year? C’mon. That just means you have structural and society hygiene issues.

My first thought was related to hygiene or maybe things like flu not enough flu shots being taken in the communities?? Or that the school buildings were in a condition (like mold or something) that would cause illnesses. I agree something is up there.

Yes, this is true, but... there was a big push pre-covid to get students 1:1, each with a laptop and internet access. Part of the reason for that was for occasional use Of virtual learning- say, flooding that causes travel issues but doesn’t widespread knock out power, students who have to be out for periods of time due to medical issues, etc. There was a specific case about how flooding a few years ago closed school for a few days, and one elementary school in particular stayed closed for longer because the school itself flooded, and how great virtual days would have been.

And now it’s been a full tilt in the opposite direction. If the area floods, a virtual day is no longer an option. Students are out sick with covid (or whatever) and my husband is actually forbidden to provide instruction to them via Teams Meetings during his tutoring hours after school because... why? What’s the point of having this tech and paying for software if you can’t use it?

My state a lot of the rural communities (which is the bulk of my state) just lacked the infrastructure for it and lacked the funding to be able to afford it for their communities. Don't even get me started on the mess a prior governor did to our education funding (well can't even really talk about it) Go 10mins from my house (which is the country at that point) and cell service is next to nil and internet costs $300/month for basic and you're still in the wealthiest county in the state.

I wonder if part of the virtual was okay but isn't anymore is about catch up for students due to last year?

 

[brockash]

I was talking about state level..

Districts can and do what they want if they have the funding. But at the state level was what we were talking about. So was every student in TN at the state level given a laptop and internet connectivity?

You said you worked in TN and every student K-12 was given one.

I think you're confused about what we're talking about...I see you've mentioned that a few times I, nor do I imagine you know the inner workings of every district in any given state.

Perhaps the state should differentiate as well then...say no virtual days count for districts that cannot provide that, but for those that can there should be a certain number of acceptable virtual days if needed.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

I think you're confused about what we're talking about...I see you've mentioned that a few times I, nor do I imagine you know the inner workings of every district in any given state.

Perhaps the state should differentiate as well then...say no virtual days count for districts that cannot provide that, but for those that can there should be a certain number of acceptable virtual days if needed.

I'm not confused at all. Here's the conversation:




I am well aware of what individual districts can do, I know what some of the ones in my area did as well. I understand that for some people their districts were able to provide stuff but the conversation started as a state discussion because it was a state rule that determined virtual days won't count. So while an individual district may be able to provide the access and means for virtual learning the state, their job, is to look at all the students in their state. I did consider in my mind about allowing districts that choice if they could, somewhat like my state giving the flexibility to have minimum number of hours instead of only allowing minimum number of days but I do imagine the concern may be equality. The realities may be equality is not there in practice but at least in my state's constitution (not in TN so it may be different) they are required to give equal access to all students (including things like per pupil spending). I can only surmise the state is considering all and individual districts of course are considering just their own students.

 

[Mango7100]

A good point and something others surely have to be encountering. My governor last year removed the state's requirement for number of hours OR days (depending on the district's choice) but that was not extended into this year. This means a minimum number of hours or days are required (also depends on the age of the child). Snow days are something everyone is used to around here, and extending the school year or what seems more common these days to shorten breaks or remove them is par for the course should they be needed. Although I don't know how they will handle things this year.

So far according to the information within my metro no outbreak has occurred in the several weeks that school has been in session. Oh there's cases for sure, chunks of students and staff out on quarantine but so far none tied to school transmission. There's def. not going to be a hybrid, remote, in-person flip flop gating criteria (for all that it was worth), up in the air stuff or at least it would appear. It's early yet on that one but there's not a desire to have a repeat of last year.

Interestingly I can't say that entire districts around my area have closed down for illness in the past, I've heard of this school or that school closing down but even that was rare enough.

Typically once a year our entire school system in my TN county shuts down for a week due to flu “in an abundance of caution” We also close school for a forecast of snow (and when I say snow I mean 1/4 inch). It’s very bizarre how they always are very cautious with weather but with COViD they are just done. Virtual instruction for whole schools is not allowed anymore even though every single student got a chrome book last year. It is beyond nonsensical

 

[Kestryl]

My first thought was related to hygiene or maybe things like flu not enough flu shots being taken in the communities?? Or that the school buildings were in a condition (like mold or something) that would cause illnesses. I agree something is up there.
My state a lot of the rural communities (which is the bulk of my state) just lacked the infrastructure for it and lacked the funding to be able to afford it for their communities. Don't even get me started on the mess a prior governor did to our education funding (well can't even really talk about it) Go 10mins from my house (which is the country at that point) and cell service is next to nil and internet costs $300/month for basic and you're still in the wealthiest county in the state.

I wonder if part of the virtual was okay but isn't anymore is about catch up for students due to last year?

Yeah, at some point I had looked into when all these school cancellations started happened, and there seemed uptake after the schools stopped offering this flu vaccine clinic... That’s probably not the entire cause, but it certainly seems like a contributing factor.

I fully believe the no virtual replacement is politically motivated more than anything, but I probably can’t say more than that. (Example: if it was about catch up/learning loss, my husband would be allowed to offer virtual help during his contracted after school hours... As of now, the student has to wait to return to get any active help.)

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Nothing has ever been equal for the various students that attend school for a numberof reasons.

Yes and this is why there have been numerous legal battles in my state over it, even threats from the Board of Education to not allow ANY student into school unless the budgets were worked out to be more fair. In practice equality isn't there but there's still an intent mostly for that to be there.

On the flip side of your argument; lets say now a district doesn't close a day here or there or a week where they have many out on quarantine because it would entail needing to revise their calendar and again you'd have lots of parents updet or disregard the extended school year

Around here that just happens with snow days, has been for decades and decades. Doesn't seem to be an issue here with parents upset about the calendar needing to be revised, extended school year or minutes or hours added to instructional days to make up snows days. It wouldn't be a good excuse to use at all in my area. They'd be like uhh yeah remember when school was cancelled because it was -5 windchill out? or remember when there was 6 inches of snow and school was out? You're used to it suck it up buttercup lol that may be harsh but it's just something that happens. I think virtual may be great for some of those days for sure but for all the other issues that happened it didn't seem like the pro of virtual instead of just cancelling school was there enough to use it as your first line of defense. Perhaps in your area it's different, I can understand that desire to use virtual if in your area virtual worked out fairly seamlessly.

cutting off the ability to do any virtual schooling is foolish in my opinion.

I think in this case it should be up to the numbers too. If you're in a state where kids didn't fall behind, kids did well with virtual learning, access was much better for as many students as possible, well yes I can understand why virtual is a feasible option. Admittedly I am not aware of the statistics behind TN so perhaps they fared better.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Typically once a year our entire school system in my TN county shuts down for a week due to flu “in an abundance of caution” We also close school for a forecast of snow (and when I say snow I mean 1/4 inch). It’s very bizarre how they always are very cautious with weather but with COViD they are just done. Virtual instruction for whole schools is not allowed anymore even though every single student got a chrome book last year. It is beyond nonsensical

Well I believe it with the snow unless your area is equipped to handle it. With covid I think a lot changed with quarantines and protocols and contact tracing. That also depends on the success rate of contract tracing. Of course ideally it should be done but if you noticed virtually no one was cooperating maybe it wasn't worth it as unfortunate as that may be. So many parents also scream to the rooftops the effects covid is having/not having on kids IDK it's a lot for school boards to deal with. I also remember conversing with someone in CA where their area predominately wanted virtual learning in stark contrast to my area where the bulk of parents want in-person instruction (mainly due to concerns over quality of education). That's something else I didn't mention, if people in one's area want virtual learning and they aren't allowed at the state level I get that frustration level even more.

Have they come out with a press conference for why virtual instruction isn't allowed? At least to give people a better understanding.

 

[Bianca and Bernard]

Duval County FL has an entire middle school doing virtual school, 2 weeks after school started, until Sept 2nd. They had a few cases and are trying to get ahead of the situation.

 

[trvlgirlmq]

Have they come out with a press conference for why virtual instruction isn't allowed? At least to give people a better understanding.

The R governor signed an executive order banning all districts from offering a virtual option.

 

[J'aime Paris]

My DDs university has 90+ percent vaccinated, and they still have to wear masks!!

That's so unreasonable! If over 90 percent isn't good enough, we have ZERO hope of ever getting back to living a normal life.......

 

[trvlgirlmq]

My DDs university has 90+ percent vaccinated, and they still have to wear masks!!

That's so unreasonable! If over 90 percent isn't good enough, we have ZERO hope of ever getting back to living a normal life.......

My entire office is vaccinated and we have to wear masks. It is not unreasonable when it is fully known that the Delta variant can be transmitted to and by vaccinated individuals even if they don't get sick. If I live with a vulnerable person or child too young to be vaccinated then I don't want to be around the unmasked. You should care more about your daughters safety than her vanity. We can get back to normal life faster if everyone would stop witching and moaning and get vaxxed and WEAR A MASK!

 

[DisneyOma]

We're all set for COVID (mask mandate) but we're not ready for actual school since none of the teachers can access the grading software to set up their classrooms!

 

[SmallWorld71]

My DDs university has 90+ percent vaccinated, and they still have to wear masks!!

That's so unreasonable! If over 90 percent isn't good enough, we have ZERO hope of ever getting back to living a normal life.......

At my DDs university vaccines are mandated (with over 90% compliance), masks are mandated inside, and everyone is covid tested once a week. And Covid is not even that bad here right now; last year it really ramped up late fall. We’re fine with it. She saw how awful her brother’s senior year of college was with remote classes and her senior year of high school wasn’t much better with hybrid. She’s willing to do whatever it takes to stay in person. I pray they are successful.

 

[ShirikiUtundu]

My DDs university has 90+ percent vaccinated, and they still have to wear masks!!

That's so unreasonable! If over 90 percent isn't good enough, we have ZERO hope of ever getting back to living a normal life.......

Unfortunately delta changed the game. We can't talk about how or why.

 

[SmallWorld71]

On another note about masks, in the spring I had cut myself off from buying more because I had plenty. Now that I will need them again, I couldn’t resist including them in my back to school shopping. One bonus of teaching at the elementary level is that I get a lot of compliments on my masks. Forky was particularly popular last year, lol. I just bought a Disney castle mask from pixie lee and co.

 

[DisneyOma]

On another note about masks, in the spring I had cut myself off from buying more because I had plenty. Now that I will need them again, I couldn’t resist including them in my back to school shopping. One bonus of teaching at the elementary level is that I get a lot of compliments on my masks. Forky was particularly popular last year, lol. I just bought a Disney castle mask from pixie lee and co.

I made hundreds of masks last school year, and people are bugging me for more. I just don't have the desire to make more masks right now. Glad someone out there is still making them!