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

[DeeBee3]

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?

all our chromebooks and hotspots came from the Covid Funding package last year

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

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

No I know that, I was wondering if he gave a reason for it

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

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.

If you're going to have to wear them or you're choosing to wear them totally get the idea of making them look good. Our cloth ones are just black I'm fine with that but I love to see all the creative designs people have. It makes me think of that kid I mentioned pages back about him feeling like a ninja. While I haven't purchased any themed ones there have been ones I'm mighty tempted to. With kids if that helps them feel more comfortable wearing them I'm all for it

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

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

I agree with you but I also think the vanity comment was unnecessary unless I missed a comment from the poster somewhere else talking about vanity.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

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!

Wait what?

 

[Mango7100]

No I know that, I was wondering if he gave a reason for it

Kids need to be back in school in person to not get behind was the main point (and TN usually ranks toward the bottom anyway)…which I agree with in person is ideal for a lot of kids, but if you are going to do that at least try to take steps to ensure that happens safely. He also is a big advocate of vouchers so there are theories that it’s part of his main goal to undermine the public school system. But our school board and governor also took up the really pressing issue of which bathroom transgender kids should be allowed to use to in the middle of an pandemic, so they aren’t exactly serious about addressing anything COViD related

 

[SmallWorld71]

If you're going to have to wear them or you're choosing to wear them totally get the idea of making them look good. Our cloth ones are just black I'm fine with that but I love to see all the creative designs people have. It makes me think of that kid I mentioned pages back about him feeling like a ninja. While I haven't purchased any themed ones there have been ones I'm mighty tempted to. With kids if that helps them feel more comfortable wearing them I'm all for it

This is the design I ordered:

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

This is the design I ordered:
View attachment 599996

This is very adorable!

 

[jodifla]

My son is a senior. He started back on Monday. Masks are optional and he said hardly anyone is wearing one. He said only one of his teachers wears one. They have gone back to normal lunches this year also. Last year they were full time in person all year but mask were mandatory and lunches were staggered. This year things are pretty much back to “normal”. He is happy with it and so am I. Those who want to wear mask can.

And how long do you think that can last? I don't like masks either but there is nothing to suggest this plan to pretend everything is normal won't be a disaster.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Kids need to be back in school in person to not get behind was the main point (and TN usually ranks toward the bottom anyway)…which I agree with in person is ideal for a lot of kids, but if you are going to do that at least try to take steps to ensure that happens safely. He also is a big advocate of vouchers so there are theories that it’s part of his main goal to undermine the public school system. But our school board and governor also took up the really pressing issue of which bathroom transgender kids should be allowed to use to in the middle of an pandemic, so they aren’t exactly serious about addressing anything COViD related

Well that certainly shed some light on it

I do agree on the safety part, at least be an advocate for safety in that respects. I feel for some of these schools, it's like they thought they had it all figured out and then turns out nope they didn't or they didn't get the tools to figure it out. All I know is no one really wants a repeat of last year and yet somehow (not really a surprise) some of the craziness of last year is happening again this year. Although at least most of the supplies (like masks, hand sanitizer, wipes, etc) aren't in the short short supply they were last year for like the whole nation. I know there's school supplies issues coming up here and there but nothing like last year.

 

[Toolulu22]

We start back next week and just got word from our *new* Governor that masks will be required by all staff and students. While I’m not thrilled to go back into no-air conditioning (it’s 96 degrees today) with a mask, of course its what we need to be doing. I’m nervous about having 6 classes of 30-36 kids (at least that it what my roster shows) in two classrooms, shared with other teachers. My district is starting back with no remote option, though we are able to set up virtual classrooms. Overall, we’ve gotten little information- but it seems we’re going back to normal except for masks. We haven’t been informed of the plan in the event of an outbreak or if someone needs to be quarantined. The community my school is located in was hit hard last year.

Booster shot can’t get here soon enough for me. I’m also hoping eventually to see a vaccine requirement in our HS Now that Pfizers vaccine is approved by the FDA.

 

[Colleen27]

So yeah. Wouldn’t be surprised if the school year got extended this year.

I think we're likely to see another year of instructional hours mandates being relaxed/waived at the state level. I don't see how districts will be able to add enough make-up days to deal with the high likelihood of closures, nor do I see any way ordinary attendance policies (which are supposedly also back in effect) can be enforced in the absence of virtual learning as an equally valid option for kids/classes/buildings that are under quarantine.

We do still have virtual learning here but it is being treated as a separate school. Families had to choose it and commit to it for the entire academic year, and it isn't going to be made available to students on a temporary basis. So kids who are quarantined are just absent (and if they comply with CDC guidance, they're going to exceed the district absence limit in a single incident) with no uniform policy on how they could access their work to keep up while they're out.

 

[dreamin_disney]

My friend is a teacher, and she said its a nightmare....

Not so much with covid she said that for the most part most of the kids are wearing mask, she has only 2 in her class that are not and they both have a note from the doctor... but the issues in the classroom with kids that have completely forgotten how to behave... roaming the room, talking, putting in their head phone or ear buds, disrupting other classmates, not standing in line on the floor markers, getting up to get snacks out of their back packs, pulling their phones out to play games...she said next week she will start taking them away, and mom or dad will have to come and pick them up.

She said that the difference in the kids is very noticeable on where they are all at. She said that trying to figure out how to teach to all of them is stressful, she said that she did some break out groups, and she has already had parents at her door wanting to know why little Billy is not in the good readers group... and why can little Sally can't have a snack, when she was at home she had snacks when she was watching the computer...


The school board in her district is not supporting the teachers at all... the take that they are selling is teach the lesson plan, and whoever can't keep up, will repeat the grade next year... She said on Friday she cried all the way home from work... This is a battle tested teacher, and she has had it... She said it just to much... She said on Friday that she felt like just getting her bag, and backpack and walking out...

God Bless all the teacher's out there... dumping a ton of pixie dust on you...

My dd graduated from college in May and got her BA and credential . She didn’t have all her paperwork in time to put in for jobs that were posted in March-April. During summer no position were posted So she’s been subbing. Today is day 4 at different schools. She subbed Kinder, 1st and 3rd grade. She said the kids are having a difficult time. She said kids are talking, getting up out of their seats, very squirmy, not focused, don’t listen etc. Luckily she had to do hours in the classroom during her college years So she was prepared. My dd heard other teachers saying they are experiencing the same problems.

praying the teachers she’s been subbing for don’t have Covid. I gave her wipes and told her to wipe everything down and give the kids a squirt of sanitizer everytime they come in from recess and before/after lunch. Praying she stays safe

 

[nw6675]

It's a cluster in Tennessee. We have districts with so many kids and teachers out that they are using weather days to close. Hope we don't get snow! Our governor has passed some law that says no remote school and if a district passes a mask mandate parents can opt their kids out (see how he did that?).

We don't live in TN now, but I wish I had never paid a dime to have Lee Company service my HVAC all those years we did.

Our district in VA is bound by a state level mask mandate, but made it clear it would have been optional based on parental input. We homeschool regardless of pandemic, but still interesting to follow.

 

[randumb0]

We start back next week and just got word from our *new* Governor that masks will be required by all staff and students. While I’m not thrilled to go back into no-air conditioning (it’s 96 degrees today) with a mask, of course its what we need to be doing. I’m nervous about having 6 classes of 30-36 kids (at least that it what my roster shows) in two classrooms, shared with other teachers. My district is starting back with no remote option, though we are able to set up virtual classrooms. Overall, we’ve gotten little information- but it seems we’re going back to normal except for masks. We haven’t been informed of the plan in the event of an outbreak or if someone needs to be quarantined. The community my school is located in was hit hard last year.

Booster shot can’t get here soon enough for me. I’m also hoping eventually to see a vaccine requirement in our HS Now that Pfizers vaccine is approved by the FDA.

No air conditioning? Why wouldn't you have air conditioning?

 

[Toolulu22]

No air conditioning? Why wouldn't you have air conditioning?

We only have window air conditioners in rooms if someone has documented asthma. They took them out when the pandemic hit. So no air conditioning. It’s stiffeling.

 

[HeatherC]

No I know that, I was wondering if he gave a reason for it

I believe staffing comes in to play with this. Teachers weren’t hired to teach both in person and remote at the same time. They have enough in their plates as it is.

 

[DisneyOma]

Wait what?

Pretty much all the protocols from school last year are still in place, but the district had a crappy superintendent who switched us to a new software program for scheduling/grading and it stunk. I think he either got some money from them or had a friend who ran the business, IMO. We have a new super now, and she switched us back to the old system but it is taking longer to switch over all the data (grades from last year, IEPS, etc) so there's nothing in there for the teachers to work with yet. If it's not one thing, it's another!

We only have window air conditioners in rooms if someone has documented asthma. They took them out when the pandemic hit. So no air conditioning. It’s stiffeling.

At least you had air conditioners! We don't, and it got up to 92'F in at least one classroom last year. Others were still over the allowed high temperature, but I think 92 was the highest. Classes got moved to the library, cafeteria, and auditorium, as these places had AC.

 

[Toolulu22]

Pretty much all the protocols from school last year are still in place, but the district had a crappy superintendent who switched us to a new software program for scheduling/grading and it stunk. I think he either got some money from them or had a friend who ran the business, IMO. We have a new super now, and she switched us back to the old system but it is taking longer to switch over all the data (grades from last year, IEPS, etc) so there's nothing in there for the teachers to work with yet. If it's not one thing, it's another!




At least you had air conditioners! We don't, and it got up to 92'F in at least one classroom last year. Others were still over the allowed high temperature, but I think 92 was the highest. Classes got moved to the library, cafeteria, and auditorium, as these places had AC.

Most of the rooms don’t have a/c. Only if a student completes the documents, and most do not. The main office and tech rooms have it, the rest of us sweat until November.

We typically don’t get access to our online grade book until the week we return to school. This year, they made it available last week, for a week, it went down again on Monday. I understand your frustration, we have experienced program updates, changes, and more frustrating deletion- with little or no notice. I have learned to copy and save anything even remotely important (my home office is a mass of binders) and otherwise I just go with it. What can you do? They never listen to us anyway.

 

[Toolulu22]

I think we're likely to see another year of instructional hours mandates being relaxed/waived at the state level. I don't see how districts will be able to add enough make-up days to deal with the high likelihood of closures, nor do I see any way ordinary attendance policies (which are supposedly also back in effect) can be enforced in the absence of virtual learning as an equally valid option for kids/classes/buildings that are under quarantine.

We do still have virtual learning here but it is being treated as a separate school. Families had to choose it and commit to it for the entire academic year, and it isn't going to be made available to students on a temporary basis. So kids who are quarantined are just absent (and if they comply with CDC guidance, they're going to exceed the district absence limit in a single incident) with no uniform policy on how they could access their work to keep up while they're out.

Wow, your school having a strictly remote plan is something I wish they had offered to students in our school. While not perfect, the way your district has it structured, it could help students/families with medical concerns or other reasons for being fully virtual this year. Most students suffered being virtual last year, but it worked for certain kids. I just hope we don’t have to be synchronous again. That was one hard year.

The absence issue is going to be hard to address - if we have state assessments to contend with. I teach 2 science classes and last year, all assessments were canceled except the subjects that I teach and one math. Why? The kids were so stressed and we were freaking out trying to get through material (without labs no less). They ended up passing kids who passed the class anyway. It added way to much anxiety on top of everything going on.