Covid and School This Fall (2 Viewers)

[pinequick]

Maybe staggered class changes where the whole school doesn't change rooms at the same time but perhaps Pod A, B, C, D change and then 5 min later Pod E, F, G, H, etc

Yup, that is the plan (or my understanding of it).  So hopefully that alleviates having all the kids in the hall at the same time, which you have to do.  Of course extended passing time leads to a loss of--you guessed it--instruction time. 

Add to that loss of time that teachers are to clean/disinfect high-traffic areas every period.  I wouldn't want to sit at a cool, flat smooth surface that someone had been breathing on for the past half hour--i.e. a desk surface.  So now build in time to clean.  Leads to--you guessed it--more lost instruction time.

The "in-person teaching is so much better" argument in some ways sets up a false dichotomy between:

1. Remote learned as it was (slapped together on the fly in 2-3 weeks in the spring)--it won't be that way now, and

2. In-person teaching as it was (there is no way I can provide the level/depth of instruction under today's circumstances that I did a year ago).

I'm becoming more and more comfortable with the notion that people just want me to babysit their kids this year, and readjust my expectations of myself and my performance at work based on that scale.  Trying to discuss Federalist 10 in 35 minutes simply just doesn't cut it.

 

[desert rose]

Yesterday, our governor announced that high schools will not start the in-person hybrid until at least October 5.  My district is going ahead with online August 3, following the exact same schedule we'll be using for hybrid, minus the "Acceleration/Intervention" (i.e. babysitting) between arrival and instruction.  I feel sorry for parents who have to work and have to find supervision for their kids, but am glad we're starting online only as opposed to juggling both.

 

[Otis]

Just found out today our two youngest will be going back regular full time in September. The 5th grader either will be hybrid or full time we think, not sure yet. 

 

[shadyridr]

Just found out today our two youngest will be going back regular full time in September. The 5th grader either will be hybrid or full time we think, not sure yet. 

Lucky you

 

[Nugget]

Just found out today our two youngest will be going back regular full time in September. The 5th grader either will be hybrid or full time we think, not sure yet. 

Do you think this will stick?  I see a lot of schools posturing and then as the date gets closer they will pull back and end up virtual (hybrid best case scenario).

 

[Otis]

Do you think this will stick?  I see a lot of schools posturing and then as the date gets closer they will pull back and end up virtual (hybrid best case scenario).

I don’t know. My school district is intense. These parents are nutso. I can’t imagine they can roll it back now without people going absolutely ballistic. Unless something changes with the numbers etc., or we have local infections.  New York suburb numbers have been low and steady for a long while now. 

 

[MAC_32]

Do you think this will stick?  I see a lot of schools posturing and then as the date gets closer they will pull back and end up virtual (hybrid best case scenario).

I don't think most making this plan right now intend to pull back unless there is a localized outbreak forcing their hand or govt shuts them down. Whether before or after school actually starts. 

 

[Blick]

Our Southwestern PA school district is going back in person with the option of remote learning. 

Update.  Now it seems our school is going to a hybrid schedule because too many parents want to send their kids to school to allow adequate social distancing.  Hope this goes better than in the spring or my kids won't learn much.

 

[Ilov80s]

Sounds like I will find out Monday what my district's plan is. A couple of the larger districts around here have announced in no in person school for first semester. I do kind of get that, it's the only way for the districts to be in control of the situation and give everyone time to plan for the semester. Anything in person just invites potential changes in plans, adjustments, confusion, short notice, unpredictability, etc. 

 

[rockaction]

LA Unified and San Diego County schools are distance through the first half of the year, if I'm not mistaken. My brother is a SD teacher. I'm happy for him, though he's not happy for the kids but relieved about his own safety. It's a tricky situation with tons of variables, the day care aspect not least among them. 

 

[roarlions]

My wife is a 6th grade teacher. Our district originally offered parents a choice between a hybrid experience or online only, but in the past 2 weeks the superintendent and school board decided to switch to online only for the 1st quarter. My question is whether anyone knows of websites where teachers and students can get free access to read books online? The school district has already provided a lot of online resources for teaching math but next to nothing for teaching reading in this situation. I don't think they are going to be distributing free books to students so my wife is trying to find a site where she could direct her students to go to read books online. Any suggestions?

 

[phowler13]

 Try Epic or Sora

Im pretty sure epic is free. Some of the others have offered free access during all the distance learning. 

 

[acarey50]

I found this FactCheck.org article to do what I thought was a pretty good job of pulling in the various studies and current data on Covid, children and schools, including looking at the flaws, bias and assumptions in play.

Curious if anyone else has read that article, and if so what you're thoughts are on it.

 

[The Gator]

I found this FactCheck.org article to do what I thought was a pretty good job of pulling in the various studies and current data on Covid, children and schools, including looking at the flaws, bias and assumptions in play.

Curious if anyone else has read that article, and if so what you're thoughts are on it.

Thats a lot of words to say: "We don't really know  "

My personal bias is not to trust any of the data coming from schools in other countries - unless those countries currently have the level of community spread in the US.  Otherwise, it feels like you are not comparing similar environments.  So, low transmission numbers in countries where the community transmission numbers are low - leaves an open question about transmission differences in kids.

 

[acarey50]

Thats a lot of words to say: "We don't really know  "

My personal bias is not to trust any of the data coming from schools in other countries - unless those countries currently have the level of community spread in the US.  Otherwise, it feels like you are not comparing similar environments.  So, low transmission numbers in countries where the community transmission numbers are low - leaves an open question about transmission differences in kids.

Agreed on the community levels, which is one of the main reasons I am more supportive of starting school online, especially since here in Orange County (CA) the numbers are not coming down and are not close to the low levels these other countries had.

Per the article"

Encouragingly, numerous other countries, including Japan, South Korea, Germany, Finland, France, Denmark, Austria and Norway, have successfully reopened their schools using a variety of mitigation tactics, and have not observed subsequent outbreaks.

Experts, however, caution that those results may not apply to the U.S.

“Those are also regions that had much lower community transmission on the date that they reopened,” said Anita Cicero, deputy director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, in a July 16 press call dedicated to the subject of school reopenings.

“So for instance, in Japan, South Korea and Finland and France, each of those countries had about 1 or fewer cases per 100,000 people when they reopened,” she said. “In contrast, there are U.S. counties now reporting 60 cases per 100,000; others have 80 cases or more.”

“In communities where the case numbers are rapidly increasing, it may not be possible to safely reopen schools until disease transmission has lowered,” said Johns Hopkins’ Nuzzo in the same briefing. “But in communities where disease rates are declining or stable, it may be possible to think about reopening schools, provided schools are able to put in place measures to reduce the likelihood of transmission.”

 

[culdeus]

I'd love to see these 40 ish page response plans some of you are talking about, can they be put on a google drive or something?

My wife teaches at the school where my kids go.  They are having her teach from inside the school, and my kids and all faculty kids get to go, but nobody else does.  

They intend to maintain this for at least the month of September.  

I would have doubts the school has a full roster of kids present until the following school year.  MLB basically shows what a ####show this can turn into in a hurry.

 

[leftcoastguy7]

I've read that some teachers around the country are demanding that there be NO new cases in their districts for fourteen consecutive days before they will return to in-person classes. 

This movement now picking up speed in Oregon. I predict most if not all Oregon kids will be learn from home until January at the least. 

"We are Oregon educators, school staff, parents, students, and concerned individuals who demand a safe return to campus. We refuse to return to campus until our counties report no new cases of COVID-19 for at least 14 days. Until then, we demand that our students and school staff have adequate access to all necessary technology to resume distance learning."

Will surging cases keep schools closed this fall?

 

[Grace Under Pressure]

I'd love to see these 40 ish page response plans some of you are talking about, can they be put on a google drive or something?

My wife teaches at the school where my kids go.  They are having her teach from inside the school, and my kids and all faculty kids get to go, but nobody else does.  

They intend to maintain this for at least the month of September.  

I would have doubts the school has a full roster of kids present until the following school year.  MLB basically shows what a ####show this can turn into in a hurry.

Where are you located? Pitchforks and torches would be out if that was proposed here.

 

[culdeus]

Where are you located? Pitchforks and torches would be out if that was proposed here.

It's by far the most common arrangement across my area.  Surprised you haven't seen this.  

 

[Galileo]

This movement now picking up speed in Oregon. I predict most if not all Oregon kids will be learn from home until January at the least. 

Will surging cases keep schools closed this fall?

Let's say they  get their wish and they wait until 14 days go by without a new case.  They return to school.  A couple days later they get a new case in the county, would they shut down again?  Seem a little excessive.

 

[OrtonToOlsen]

Just found out today our two youngest will be going back regular full time in September. The 5th grader either will be hybrid or full time we think, not sure yet. 

 

 

[Nathan R. Jessep]

Heard on the radio this AM as they were announcing public school start dates in the area. There were at least 5 different ones. What a cluster. 

AFAIK, our school is still on target to start on 8/21. Have already heard reports of southern LA schools pushing back until after Labor Day. 

 

[ChiefD]

So our district came out with the options last night. We can choose either 100% remote learning or in-school learning. If you choose 100% remote you have to stay in that group through the semester.

We are probably going to choose in-school for our three kids. I have one kid starting high school, and one starting middle school. To me in-school is a no-brainer for those two - we feel these are important years to get acclimated to increased educational demands, and they need the social interaction so they will be prepared going forward.

The younger child is still in elementary school, so we could do either way with her. But we are choosing the same option for all three.

To be honest I don't know how comfortable I am with all of this, but we have to move forward somehow. I would be lying if I said I wasn't a little bit scared about all of this.

 

[Grace Under Pressure]

It's by far the most common arrangement across my area.  Surprised you haven't seen this.  

I see you're in Dallas. No, I hadn't heard of the "only students of faculty members are allowed in-person" approach. No way that would fly here on Long Island.

 

[culdeus]

I see you're in Dallas. No, I hadn't heard of the "only students of faculty members are allowed in-person" approach. No way that would fly here on Long Island.

Why?  This is a very popular plan in the area.

How else do you get teachers to come to school?  Otherwise they would have to abandon their kids at home.  

 

[The Gator]

Let's say they  get their wish and they wait until 14 days go by without a new case.  They return to school.  A couple days later they get a new case in the county, would they shut down again?  Seem a little excessive.

Our school district has opted for a plan that is dependent on community spread.  We are starting out all-virtual, but could move to a hybrid or even all in-person approach if numbers improve.

But the district has identified specific windows throughout the year when they will evaluate community spread numbers - meaning there will be some continuity, and less risk of ever-changing options.  The first window is at the end of September, then early November, then Winter Break, then February, and finally over Spring Break.

The plan would be to go from virtual to hybrid first, so that also buys time to evaluate how numbers change during that next window, before making the change to in-person.  But, it also gives flexibility to drop back to virtual if numbers spike in the fall/winter months.

 

[Courtjester]

I  really feel bad for people having to balance jobs vs sending kids to school.. I don't know what my wife and I would have done if it were us now. When our kids were younger, we both needed to work to keep food on the table,, so this is just a terrible situation all the way around. 

We took our 15 year old daughter out of regular school last December before this all started. She is in Connections Academy on-line. This has been an incredible and positive experience so far. The sign up process was a little bit labor intensive as far as paperwork, but once she was accepted, a huge box of her text books arrived and away she went. Massive selection of classes to choose from--she is learning Japanese this year for example. The teachers have been beyond responsive. She can either watch a live lesson or view it recorded later. The classes are self paced  and can be quite intensive, My daughter is in advanced/AP level classes. Last year she chose to approach it as a block plan--so she spent three weeks on one subject and finished it and then went on to the next subject. It does take parental involvement as a learning coach to assist, but it wasn't too much. They offer clubs and activities for the kids to keep them involved and the best part is it is free. My daughter just finished taking French over the summer just to get an extra Foreign Language Credit (we did have to pay $200 for this class). For those of you looking for an on-line option, we would highly recommend Connections.

 

[shadyridr]

Just curious why did you take her out of school?

 

[Courtjester]

Just curious why did you take her out of school?

She was a popular, straight A student, but she was struggling emotionally (I went into a lot more detail in another thread) The short of the long story is she was diagnosed with depression and anxiety, so getting her out of the pressure of the mainstream school was in her best interest and something she requested. 

 

[belljr]

Sorry if I missed it.

Middle School in Tennessee was open a week before their first case

https://www.wate.com/health/coronavirus/alcoa-city-schools-announced-someone-has-tested-positive-for-covid-19-at-its-middle-school/

 

[Grace Under Pressure]

Why?  This is a very popular plan in the area.

How else do you get teachers to come to school?  Otherwise they would have to abandon their kids at home.  

Yes I realize their kids need to go somewhere, but I believe the "but no one else's kids are allowed in person except for teacher's kids" part of that would receive push-back, because teachers aren't the only people who need to go to work who have kids at home. That's fine if it works in your area, but I don't see that passing muster here at all and hadn't heard it proposed in any way until seeing this post. Interesting approach and thanks for sharing. 

 

[MAC_32]

I  really feel bad for people having to balance jobs vs sending kids to school.. I don't know what my wife and I would have done if it were us now. When our kids were younger, we both needed to work to keep food on the table,, so this is just a terrible situation all the way around. 

I have 8 vacation days that expire Sep 30 plus 15 more that just became available (and dozens of sick days accumulated). The 8 vacation days were previously approved during summer, but I asked for them back because we opted out of our vacation and I wanted them back just in case I needed them. I will use them beginning Sep 21 if I don't end up needing them prior, but our kids school is re-opening. So I talked to my boss about the potential for needing them sooner should things go sideways. Cause my wife is an asst principal at another school that's re-opening and there isn't anyway she'll be able to facilitate anything.

I wouldn't bother trying to work while the kids are doing school, but one good thing with my job is I can do most of it just about anytime - anywhere. So worst case I start working half day's then do my work from 6-8 am and again from 5-7 pm (or something like that). I can field phone calls and emails in between, but there is no point in trying to do any of my project work. I'll get distracted before I get anywhere with it. With 23 vacation days (and those sick days) at my disposal I think we can figure out a better solution before I come close to running out.

One down side to this though - my boss would figure out that I can get my work done in half the time.

 

[Biff84]

Well the reality of this school year is coming up very quickly. School district isn’t very prepared but hard to fault them right now. AZ has delayed in-person until September but going ahead with online learning starting a week from tomorrow. Got some details today with a more specific email from the teacher expected by the end of the week. Monday there’s a virtual open house and apparently a 1-on-1 with the teacher. Seems a lot to squeeze into a few days. Not sure why they are forcing the online start date now and not waiting until September when in-person starts.

When in-person starts in September, we have the option of in-person or continuing online. We’re doing online but have the option of switching on a quarterly basis.

So far they’ve given broad schedule outlines for K-5 and the plan appears to be live stream most of the activities with approximately 3.5 hours of live engaged activities. That might work for 5th graders but Kindergarten, that’s going to be nearly impossible to do on a regular basis online. I’m hoping that a more flexible schedule is coming for the younger kids.

My wife is going to have to abandon her WFH when I’m not home to make this work with a kindergartener and 2 year old at home. And with the most time-consuming and stressful time of year for me coming up (flu season with potential of COVID vaccine), I think we’re gonna have to consider holding her back for the year.

 

[culdeus]

Yes I realize their kids need to go somewhere, but I believe the "but no one else's kids are allowed in person except for teacher's kids" part of that would receive push-back, because teachers aren't the only people who need to go to work who have kids at home. That's fine if it works in your area, but I don't see that passing muster here at all and hadn't heard it proposed in any way until seeing this post. Interesting approach and thanks for sharing. 

I probably should clarify that the kids would be remote learning at school, not just going to classes like normal, reading this again I can see where that was confusing if you aren't from here.  And likely (I suppose by math) not at the schools they normally attend.

The biggest schools in the area are going this way.  

There isn't a good solution for working parents that aren't teachers.  I assume many will be simply alone.

 

[Rustoleum]

Yeah I’m glad the district I work for (we are planning for the 50/50 hybrid model but you can go full-virtual if you wish). Isn’t planning these daily 3-4 hour marathon Zoom sessions. Child-care is going to cause a lot of our kids to move around or shift hours they can connect to do school work, and internet access is a real issue (90% free and reduced lunch but we are fortunate to have 1:1 devices)..

I don’t think trying to recreate the in-school environment at home is the way to go with remote learning and we are working hard to redesign the whole experience so it isn’t the mess we had 1 day to plan for in the spring.

 

[The Gator]

So, we just got an interesting survey request from one of our schools.

Our schools operate on an A/B block schedule, and for anyone not familiar - that is 4 classes on A days, rotating with 4 other classes on B days.

We have already been told we will be starting the year remotely, and, depending on community spread, moving to a hybrid approach at some point.

Now, the school is interested in which option we prefer:

1.  Take only A day classes in the fall semester, and only B day classes in the spring semester.

2.  Keep it normal, rotating A/B days all year

I can't imagine many pros to option 1.  Two negatives that jump to mind are things like AP classes - and preparing for AP exams next spring when you last took the class in the fall; and, science labs - kids who go to take science in the spring are far more likely to have hands-on lab experiences that the kids who take the class in the fall would not get.

 

[Grace Under Pressure]

I probably should clarify that the kids would be remote learning at school, not just going to classes like normal, reading this again I can see where that was confusing if you aren't from here.  And likely (I suppose by math) not at the schools they normally attend.

The biggest schools in the area are going this way.  

There isn't a good solution for working parents that aren't teachers.  I assume many will be simply alone.

Ah, got it, that approach provides their kids another place to learn from remotely while they teach. Maybe if it goes well they can open it up for more kids to attend that way if the parents need it. 

 

[acarey50]

So, we just got an interesting survey request from one of our schools.

Our schools operate on an A/B block schedule, and for anyone not familiar - that is 4 classes on A days, rotating with 4 other classes on B days.

We have already been told we will be starting the year remotely, and, depending on community spread, moving to a hybrid approach at some point.

Now, the school is interested in which option we prefer:

1.  Take only A day classes in the fall semester, and only B day classes in the spring semester.

2.  Keep it normal, rotating A/B days all year

I can't imagine many pros to option 1.  Two negatives that jump to mind are things like AP classes - and preparing for AP exams next spring when you last took the class in the fall; and, science labs - kids who go to take science in the spring are far more likely to have hands-on lab experiences that the kids who take the class in the fall would not get.

Our school has the same as you, the A/B odd/even schedule.  They have also opted for the option 1 - A classes in fall, B classes in winter, and have lots of the same questions that you brought up regarding AP classes. I know from what I have been told and how it was laid out, that format makes the eventual transition to in person learning much easier, as, at least for our district, even when schools start opening up, parents will still be given the option of staying all online. The logistics of having to rework every single kids schedule for every period, plus factor in some staying online and others not is very difficult, only having to rework half the classes makes that a bit smoother, and the split schedule makes it so that there are more natural return to school opportunities - after the 1st set of classes, after the semester, etc. (I believe an earlier post mentioned certain dates for their district). In addition to the transition back ideally being easier, the thought process is also that with remote learning still being fairly new for both staff and students, this approach allows both staff and student to be able to better focus on a smaller number of subjects/students, rather than have to put in the work on 6-8 classes simultaneously while still adjusting to remote learning.

AP is a bit more difficult, but, there are already semester long classes that would end after the first semester and not have the AP test until May. And those in districts that run through June already do cram in the work to have the kids prepared for the test in May. That being said, anecdotally from talking to students this past spring, what a lot of the classes did was conduct AP test "boot camps" to prep for the test and keep the kids caught up on the material. Many of the students said it was by far the best they felt prepared for the AP tests and that they hoped they could have something similar in place this year even if school was "normal". Obviously not all kids would respond as well, but have heard the same from multiple students, and the scores indicate that there was not much, if any, detriment to the method.

That all said, one of the local school districts (Newport Mesa - who does not do block schedule usually) has voted for and announced they would be doing the option 1 - and there was enough parent/community push back that they sent our a letter last night that all but on of the high schools would now not do that, but instead would do the 6-8 classes online at the same time.

Personally, especially since the expectation is daily contact/interaction/zoom classes, the fewer classes for a longer period of daily time makes more sense - call in to 3 80 minute classes rather than 6 60 minute classes, only have to focus on 3 subjects of homework rather than balance all 6. I would think that if a school opted for the taking all classes at a time they should at least go to a block schedule on that, maybe even only have classes Monday-Thursday with Friday being office hours/catch up.

No matter what there will be a contingent that is displeased with whatever option is chosen.

 

[ProstheticRGK]

So our district came out with the options last night. We can choose either 100% remote learning or in-school learning. If you choose 100% remote you have to stay in that group through the semester.

We are probably going to choose in-school for our three kids. I have one kid starting high school, and one starting middle school. To me in-school is a no-brainer for those two - we feel these are important years to get acclimated to increased educational demands, and they need the social interaction so they will be prepared going forward.

The younger child is still in elementary school, so we could do either way with her. But we are choosing the same option for all three.

To be honest I don't know how comfortable I am with all of this, but we have to move forward somehow. I would be lying if I said I wasn't a little bit scared about all of this.

Same here. I have a 6th grader. I really wanted him to have the option to go back in person, but Northern California (probably all of CA) is distance only for Fall. I'm stressed out about how it will affect him, scholastically and socially, but I'm relieved I don't have to agonize over the decision, anymore. 

 

[ProstheticRGK]

I  really feel bad for people having to balance jobs vs sending kids to school.. I don't know what my wife and I would have done if it were us now. When our kids were younger, we both needed to work to keep food on the table,, so this is just a terrible situation all the way around. 

We took our 15 year old daughter out of regular school last December before this all started. She is in Connections Academy on-line. This has been an incredible and positive experience so far. The sign up process was a little bit labor intensive as far as paperwork, but once she was accepted, a huge box of her text books arrived and away she went. Massive selection of classes to choose from--she is learning Japanese this year for example. The teachers have been beyond responsive. She can either watch a live lesson or view it recorded later. The classes are self paced  and can be quite intensive, My daughter is in advanced/AP level classes. Last year she chose to approach it as a block plan--so she spent three weeks on one subject and finished it and then went on to the next subject. It does take parental involvement as a learning coach to assist, but it wasn't too much. They offer clubs and activities for the kids to keep them involved and the best part is it is free. My daughter just finished taking French over the summer just to get an extra Foreign Language Credit (we did have to pay $200 for this class). For those of you looking for an on-line option, we would highly recommend Connections.

What't their college placement percentage like?

 

[acarey50]

Same here. I have a 6th grader. I really wanted him to have the option to go back in person, but Northern California (probably all of CA) is distance only for Fall. I'm stressed out about how it will affect him, scholastically and socially, but I'm relieved I don't have to agonize over the decision, anymore. 

Yes, all of California (save a few private schools that have been able to get exemptions) is starting off online.

For our district, we also have to let them know what our intent is once in person class becomes available - basically come back to class or stay online full time (and in our district, there already was an online home school academy separate from the schools, and parents have the choice of choosing that for the year or choosing to do distance learning with their home school - a few wrinkles I won't get into here).

They are using those responses to resource plan for when schools can open back up, as they need an idea of how they will need to staff up (in person vs. online), what classes will need to be offered in person (and how many sessions of each), etc.   If you say you will be staying online year round, you are essentially locked in to that. If you say you intend to return to school but then when it comes time decide not to, you can remain online. This is because it would be nearly impossible for them to adjust the other way (upscale for a bunch of kids that said they weren't going to come back suddenly deciding to come back), vs. having "open spots" from those that were going to come back choosing not to.

For all of our kids, we have stated that we would lean towards returning in person, that way we have that option once we get to see what the actual return plan is (not just the school plan, but also what the community rates are, etc., as that appears to have been a major factor in school spread when they have reopened in other countries).

 

[The Z Machine]

What are the expected hours of screen time / live teaching for your kids?  Please specify what grade they will be going into.

 

[acarey50]

What are the expected hours of screen time / live teaching for your kids?  Please specify what grade they will be going into.

I have kids that will be in elementary, middle and high school this fall. Times given are "sample times" and may still move a little when school launches, but these are good ideas

Elementary School - 8:10 AM until 1:10 PM (5 hours total - though with 2 10-minute breaks and a 40 minute lunch, so 4 hours of instruction time)   The documents for our district state that 4th-6th grade are to get a minimum of 240 minutes of instruction time/day, 1st-3rd grade are required to have a minimum of 230 minutes per day and kindergarten is required to have a minimum of 180 minutes per day. The sample schedule that I saw though only shows the 240 minutes schedule, so I do not know if they are applying that for all grades (thus hitting minimum for all), or if they will have adjusted schedules for the younger grades.

Middle School - 8:15 AM to 1:30 PM (5.25 hours total - though with 2 15-minute breaks and a 40 minute lunch, so 4 hours total instruction time) They are using a system where they have the same first period all trimester, but then have periods 2, 3 and 4 for first half of trimester, then periods 5, 6 and 7 for second half of trimester. 1st period is 35 minutes, the other classes are 70 minutes each

High School - For most students, it will be 8:45 to 1:35 (5 hours, 10 minutes, with 2 10 minute breaks and a 30 minute lunch, so 4 hours and 20 minutes of instruction time) Many students however take a zero period either in lieu of a 5th or 6th period, or to have an extra class. Those with a Zero Period will start at 7:55 each day. Similar to middle school, they are splitting the semester - zero period is a semester long class for 40 minutes/day, then you have periods 1, 3 and 5 for first half of semester, periods 2, 4 and 6 for second half of semester (each an 80 minute class). If you have Zero Period and no say 5th period (for first half of semester, then your day is done at 11:35 AM (start of lunch).

My high school son will most likely have a zero period and no 5th period, so he will be online from 7:55 to 11:35 each day for the first half of the semester. For the 2nd half, 6th period will be basketball (he is on team, this takes place of a PE class), but it is unsure how this will work if teams are not allowed to meet/practice yet in California (or at least in Orange County).

For all 3 school levels, there is a 1 hour period at the end of each day described as "Structured Office Hours/Teacher Planning/Professional Development" - need to learn more, but pretty sure this is when teachers will be available to answer extra questions, etc., ie "drop in" to the classroom so to speak.

 

[gobrowns33]

Why?  This is a very popular plan in the area.

How else do you get teachers to come to school?  Otherwise they would have to abandon their kids at home.  

i agree...my wife is a teacher and I am in South Korea.  That is also why i think the hybrid models are a terrible idea for teachers with kids and/or two working parents.  How can working parents handle kids going to school a couple days a week and then online learning the other days of the week. 

 

[Don't Toews Me]

Dr. Gottlieb discussed a number of topics pertaining to schools this morning on CNBC: https://twitter.com/CNBC/status/1288451017944768513

 

[shadyridr]

https://www.dailywire.com/news/cdc-director-threat-of-suicide-drugs-flu-to-youth-far-greater-than-covid/

 

[shadyridr]

“But I think that’s important because what that means, actually, is the risk per 100,000, so far, you know, into the outbreak, six months into it, is, in fact, that we’re looking at about .1 per 100,000. So another way to say that, it’s one in a million,” Redfield said in reference to the death rate among children.

“Now, I’m not trying to belittle that, I’m just trying to make sure we look at it proportional,” he said. “Because if you do the same thing for influenza deaths for school-age children over the last five years, they’re anywhere from five to 10 times greater.”

 

[bushdocda]

We are remote through first semester which is until ~February. District has a plan that basically says ‘the spring remote experience sucked, this will be better because we are doing ....’. I agree with the first part.

I’ll consider it a win if kids go back for 2nd semester, they need to be around kids socially for sure but I’m fine with the call. Fortunately, as of now, we’ll be able to juggle work remote schedules as I’ll be in office part of the time going forward. 

 

[The Z Machine]

“But I think that’s important because what that means, actually, is the risk per 100,000, so far, you know, into the outbreak, six months into it, is, in fact, that we’re looking at about .1 per 100,000. So another way to say that, it’s one in a million,” Redfield said in reference to the death rate among children.

“Now, I’m not trying to belittle that, I’m just trying to make sure we look at it proportional,” he said. “Because if you do the same thing for influenza deaths for school-age children over the last five years, they’re anywhere from five to 10 times greater.”

That might be true, but what is undetermined is the transmission rate from infected (but asymptomatic or presymptomatic) children and their adult caretakers (like teachers, staff, etc.).  If children rarely have adverse health consequences, but the adults around them do have adverse health outcomes, opening schools puts those adults and the community at large at risk.

 

[Nugget]

First day backed up from Aug 17 until Sep 9.  First 6 weeks all remote.

They will take a look in late September and make another call based on latest info.