What do you think school will be like in the fall? UPDATE page 29 for Mass.

[gotomu212]

I guess what I am wondering and no one else ever seems to questions is if these kids (grade school) aren't going to school in the fall where are they going? Hopefully all parents are back to work by then. My kids are back to daycare now. Is there a difference if my kids go to a daycare center vs elementary school?

My large company with offices across the country will have work from home for each location until schools are reopened (that’s the first criteria a location must meet to consider returning to the offices). We’re also going to have full telework for anyone at high risk indefinitely. Honestly, in our strategic reopening meetings it‘s pretty clear we are going to be full time telework for the next few years. The amount of remodeling needed in open offices to accommodate distancing and the expenses for increased cleaning just don’t offset bringing in people when everything can be remote. On top of that the plans for what we’d need to do if someone was found positive are so disruptive that it doesn’t make sense. For whatever reason, that isn’t being shared widely within the company (which I find annoying because the unknown increases speculation and anxiety).
I know many jobs don’t allow for the same flexible working arrangements, but wanted to share what some companies are thinking/planning.

 

[mefordis]

Luckily, we are not China.

Yet. Getting there though.

 

[Shsmith341]

Both of my daughters colleges have said that they plan to return in the fall to campus. This has eased their minds some but they also know that things can change. As for high school, I am a high school teacher of autistic students. My students are having a very hard time with this. They are not doing well with the distance learning and they really need the routine of a school day even if it is only half a day. My school district is a hot mess. Our new superintendent resigned after 8 months and we have a huge deficient. I don't have answers but I do know that distance and on line learning is not the answer for all kids especially special ed kids. We need to be in person with them and working with them over zoom with shaky connections is a nightmare. Gov. Cuomo decided that he is getting into the education business yesterday and made some statements that have upset all my teacher friends. I hope to be back in the classroom in the fall even with masks and restrictions because I hate this on line learning.

I teach in New York. Cuomo has been making so many poor decisions. It was awful that he cancelled our spring break making schools open on Good Friday and Passover. This would have given teachers time to learn new platforms and prepare lessons. My superintendent announced today that there's a chance Cuomo may make schools stay in session on Memorial Day too. Families and teachers are burning out

 

[Shsmith341]

I would like to see half days or alternating days with half the classroom size, which would be great even without Rona.

This would be impossible for teachers that have children of their own. I cannot stay at school teaching if my own children only attend part-time

 

[Skippy918]

I'm definitely going to catch heat for this but I dont care anymore.
I'm hoping for regular school back to normal in the Fall. I was under the impression that we stayed home locked in to lessen the burden on an otherwise unprepared medical system. Our hospitals are better prepared now, they have the equipment they need and people are stacked up in the hallways without beds. We didn't stay home because the virus goes away if it can't find us in a mall. We stayed home to flatten the curve, it's happening. We didn't stay home to prevent all deaths.
The goal was unburdening the hospitals when we had no resources to help patients. The goal was never to stay home until there was no virus.

That's borderline absurd in my opinion given the timeline of typical viral treatment and vaccine development. The lock down was a bridge to get to manageable spot in terms of resource availability. Not a permanent solution until vaccine development.

I thought the same as well. It was stay at home to flatten the curve so the hospitals wouldn’t get overwhelmed. Not stay at home so no one gets sick or until there’s a vaccine. I want my kids to go back to school in the fall. This distance learning is not sustainable over the long term. I’m still working remotely and it’s very hard to do both. My poor dh wants things to get back to normal because he owns a business that’s closed currently and has no idea if it will survive.

 

[MrsCobraBubbles]

I work at a public school. My students are moderately to severely disabled 3-5 year olds. I have no idea how we can bring them back to school with any level of safety for them and the classroom staff. Our kids are either non-verbal or barely verbal. Some are just learning to exist in a classroom for 3 hours without their parents. When they pass that stage, they might move on to picking up
up or even just looking at a toy. That’s the level of functioning for some of our kids. Others have more skills.

There is no way to keep our kids separated, unless we section off the classroom and confine them to certain areas. But this kind of separation doesn’t allow us to address their social needs. Also, it won’t be possible to have them wear masks. They will rip them off. I also can’t imagine them being ok with the adults in the room wearing masks. I can see them getting scared and reaching for our faces. We have to be physically close to the kids to change diapers and help them with feeding. Plus, a lot of what we teach requires hand-over-hand contact. We have to hold their hands to guide them while teaching various skills.

Our kids put everything in their mouths. It’s part of their developmental level. They cannot wipe their own noses. They cough and sneeze on surfaces and in our faces sometimes. We do a lot of hand-washing and cleaning of surfaces during normal times. I can’t imagine how we can have the kids in a group and be safe. But these kids need access to the classroom and their therapies. Preschool is an important time for development, especially for kids who
are disabled or delayed. It’s going to be quite a process to figure this out.

You bring up some very good points that I honestly wasn't even thinking about. One of my students cries and throws a tantrum if I take off my glasses to clean them, last Halloween I wore a chef's hat and he threw himself on the floor until I took it off. Can you imagine me trying to work with him while wearing a mask? He certainly won't wear one.

We toilet kids in our classroom, but I can't change pull-ups without getting close, and about half of our kids are non-verbal or have a limited ability to communicate, so we have to hand over hand teach them sign language just to be able to communicate. I'm sad to say that social distancing in a special ed classroom with low-functioning kids is going to look like having them sit at separate tables with an ipad in front of them all day--what is the point of them even being there? And it will be impossible for me to keep my distance if one of my kids has a meltdown! I'm worried for the future of special education.

 

[tinkerhon]

I teach in New York. Cuomo has been making so many poor decisions. It was awful that he cancelled our spring break making schools open on Good Friday and Passover. This would have given teachers time to learn new platforms and prepare lessons. My superintendent announced today that there's a chance Cuomo may make schools stay in session on Memorial Day too. Families and teachers are burning out

Not to mention during HIS presser YESTERDAY - 66% of people in NYC that contracted the virus got it at home - not outside - not using mass transit - not at schools - not working - at home !

 

[jlwhitney]

Not to mention during HIS presser YESTERDAY - 66% of people in NYC that contracted the virus got it at home - not outside - not using mass transit - not at schools - not working - at home !

But what he didn't say is where those people are living. That has been a concern with Italy also as well as alot of the low income areas of NYC that has been hit hard.

Many of those areas people live in close quarters as is, so it would only take a few that are going out to bring it back.

 

[MrsPete]

The hard thing is that it's a multi-fauceted problem. We can solve problems when it's a matter of, "Let's do this one thing, and all will be well!" In this situation, we are facing health problems and economy problems, and BOTH matter -- and even that's an oversimplification.

As for school next year, my group of high school teachers talked about it yesterday. We kinda expect to be online in the fall. Things -- beyond the obvious -- that concern us about being back in the classroom:

- We literally can't space students 6' apart in the classroom -- the space doesn't exist. - Even if we had the 6', students need to move in the classroom -- go to the shelf to take a book, go to the cart to put away your computer.
- We can't put students into partners or groups in the classroom.
- PE pretty much can't happen. Weights absolutely can't happen.
- We'd have to have lunches delivered to the classroom.
- Students changing classes /being in the halls together is a problem.
- It's impossible to clean the bathrooms between each class, much less each use.

We're just waiting for a directive, and we'll work with it.

 

[Notrealname]

Here’s an interview I found interesting. It’s long so if you aren’t wondering about higher ed, it’s probably not worth your time

 

[Tattylou]

I would like to see half days or alternating days with half the classroom size, which would be great even without Rona.

I've heard that idea thrown around and it is good in theory, but realistically how is that going work for parents who work full time and don't have flexible schedules?

 

[jlwhitney]

I've heard that idea thrown around and it is good in theory, but realistically how is that going work for parents who work full time and don't have flexible schedules?

It won't. I don't suspect a whole lot will change. The media blasts worst case scenarios all the time.

 

[DisneyDebbie]

When this thread first started, I was surprised (even annoyed) about discussing these procedures for the FALL -as in 4.5 months away(6 months from the start of our shutdown)!!! I don't agree with keeping these measures in place for the foreseeable future. But now, I'm almost resigned to the fact that it may happen (hopefully not)... I'm more stressed about this 'new normal' than anything else.

On topic, my hope is for school to resume with extra cleaning procedures, and maybe even extra ventilation processes somehow.

 

[Minniesgal]

closed if we have any sense

 

[AP1209]

My hope at this point is school will start on time with a normal schedule. I think we should expect temperature checks and lots of extra cleaning. All schools should have a backup plan in case closures are needed. I think in person school in really important and that should be the focus. I just don't see how working parents will be able to continue with this online schooling into the fall.

 

[HeatherC]

Well, California which has the biggest university system in the country announced they are not having kids in campus in the fall. The saga continues...

 

[DopeyDame]

Cal State University announced that they'll be all online for the fall.... That's the first shoe to drop, I think.

It would be great to have more hard science about transmissibility from kids to adults. Because if kids aren't the vector that we're assuming them to be, then schools can go back to mostly-normal.

Our district has said that to maintain six feet separation, the average class size would have to be SIX kids. That's just not possible, even with half day or every other day scheudles. If they insist on six feet distancing, then online is the only option.

 

[mrs. magoo]

Honest question... for those who do not want kids to be back in person... what do you want as the requirement to attend school in person? Are you looking for zero cases? Do you expect a vaccine before we go back to in person school? A reliable treatment? Those things may not happen for years and we are going to let this farce of on line learning continue. I know that I may get raked across the coals but let's go back to school with masks and modified schedules but I need to be in my classroom. I had to go in yesterday to pack up my room. I was given 90 minutes to do everything. It was sad and made me appreciate the classroom even more.

 

[jaybirdsmommy]

Honest question... for those who do not want kids to be back in person... what do you want as the requirement to attend school in person? Are you looking for zero cases? Do you expect a vaccine before we go back to in person school? A reliable treatment? Those things may not happen for years and we are going to let this farce of on line learning continue. I know that I may get raked across the coals but let's go back to school with masks and modified schedules but I need to be in my classroom. I had to go in yesterday to pack up my room. I was given 90 minutes to do everything. It was sad and made me appreciate the classroom even more.

Honestly? I'd like to see it set up like our online classes here at the college I work for. Set up classrooms with video equipment and some type of live computer stream so that kids at home can participate and ask questions along with their classmates. Then, allow the kids whose parents are comfortable to return to school and those who can't for whatever reason can learn remotely.

Now, is this realistic - probably not, it would cost a fortune but it would be a good way to balance everyone's needs and comfort level.

 

[mrs. magoo]

Honestly? I'd like to see it set up like our online classes here at the college I work for. Set up classrooms with video equipment and some type of live computer stream so that kids at home can participate and ask questions along with their classmates. Then, allow the kids whose parents are comfortable to return to school and those who can't for whatever reason can learn remotely.

Now, is this realistic - probably not, it would cost a fortune but it would be a good way to balance everyone's needs and comfort level.

That would be great but so many kids do not have access to the internet or if they do it is very shaky. It also does not address the needs of many special education students. As you can see from the discussion earlier many districts are facing lawsuits if the needs of special ed kids are not met. The problem is that IEPs are written with the idea that we are in person. I know that I can not meet the needs of my special ed kids in an online format. For those who can I would love to hear what you are doing to meet some very specific needs for some kids.