Are you sending your kids to school next month?

[Lumpy1106]

U of San Fran. So having her in off campus housing rather than in the dorms stings, financially. She's a sophomore biology major and has already had no in-person labs for 3.5 of her 4 semesters of college, so she's understandably alarmed at the possibility that they could still be full virtual with no in-person lab or field studies for her junior year too.

OUCH! Yeah, if she can take a gap year I'd seriously consider that. My DS got accepted there - I don't think that's his top choice though.

 

[we"reofftoneverland]

If only it was that easy. Of note: Oregon kicked of their high school football season this week - making CA the ONLY state in the nation that has not allowed HS sports to resume (OK golf, cross country, skiing and cornhole (I kid you not), but no team sports). HS kids are rallying @ the State Capitol today. The level of effort HS football (all sports, but Football has taken the lead) has gone to to get ANY season in is both stunning and heartbreaking.

Then there's school.

I am SO GLAD I moved my 1st grader to a private school a county away (literally about 5 miles). She is elated every single day. Full days, 5 days a week. My HS kids continue to suffer away in their bedrooms though. The state is making a big deal about re-opening schools in the next couple of weeks - that's K-5, 2 HOURS A DAY ONLY, no socialization - nothing even close to "normal", no plans for Middle or High school until we reach "red" tier. We (LA County) have YET to be in red tier. Even the schools are not taking that possibility seriously.

How anyone can look at what is going on and say, yeah, that's what is best for the kids is beyond me. I don't want to hear about the risk to kids or teachers. It has not happened in the +40 other states that have schools open. The cases discovered in the schools here have all originated outside the schools and have not spread in the schools. That alone should be enough for the state to admit they have made a terrible mistake, but no. I take no comfort in the fact that I have been right all along - the schools should have never closed. Believe it or not, the talk now is they may not open in the Fall either. No idea what we will do, but not this - we will make a move, one way or the other. I sounded crazy for suggesting it last summer, now I feel stupid for not doing it.

I feel for you and your family. I don’t know if I could survive living in one of the lockdown states. It is simply ridiculous. What will happen when we have a really serious virus, one where 99.99% of people do not survive it. Our school district had meetings over the summer and even though our state had a mask mandate and the district said masks must be worn at the meetings, 75% of parents did not wear masks and they made it clear they wanted school open. The district opened schools on time in August with an online option. They are requiring masks but not for sports. Parents in the district are not happy about the masks. Only about 10% of students took the online option, as reported by the district. My senior year son said, “Everyone is there except the stoners.” The district announced in December that online would no longer be an option in January because students who had taken the online option were doing very poorly. Everything has been on since August except the homecoming dance. All sports, all extra curricular. We refuse to pay for an online college experience, so we told our son he was only allowed to apply to colleges South of the Mason Dixon line lol. Every college he applied to told us applications were through the roof, so I guess everyone is coming down here.
I know many people on here will think it is obnoxious to push back on the mask mandate. But if you do not push back on these people in government they will walk all over you. Check and balance.

 

[goodeats]

A lot of school districts in CA (maybe not exactly where you live) just opened its doors for hybrid learning this week. No idea why there’s rumors from someone about CA possibly not opening schools in the Fall.

The point is that hybrid is not sufficient and in CA the public schools will most likely be hybrid in the fall. If the conversation is still about social distancing then they will have to. I’m grateful I live in Orange County and my girls have been in person since Sep, but they only go 2 1/2 hours a day. I don’t even want to think about what they are not learning. I really hope they still do the state testing so the state can see what a failure this is all around.

The high schools (and Jr highs) are even worse. They go twice a week for 3 hrs a day. They see each period’s teacher in person once. You can’t teach math on a block schedule and we’re going to have a huge group of kids so far behind that they are going to have to dumb down the standards.

 

[firefly_ris]

Hybrid is going okay here overall and the kids enjoy their in person days -- which are 2 or 3 full days per week every other week (thurs, fri and every other wed, so the opposite group goes mon, tues and every other wed). But my youngest is in catholic school and that's 5 days per week. All have been going continuously since September, neither school has had to close.

We love our district but decided that if they are still planning to do hybrid in the fall we will be trying to get the money together to send all 3 to the catholic school. The district is doing its very best job with the restrictions they are required to follow, but I don't want to continue this into fall. One school year is enough.

 

[ski_mom]

The point is that hybrid is not sufficient and in CA the public schools will most likely be hybrid in the fall. If the conversation is still about social distancing then they will have to. I’m grateful I live in Orange County and my girls have been in person since Sep, but they only go 2 1/2 hours a day. I don’t even want to think about what they are not learning. I really hope they still do the state testing so the state can see what a failure this is all around.

The high schools (and Jr highs) are even worse. They go twice a week for 3 hrs a day. They see each period’s teacher in person once. You can’t teach math on a block schedule and we’re going to have a huge group of kids so far behind that they are going to have to dumb down the standards.

I agree, it's terrible. Some people say that the whole country is in the same situation, but that's really not the case. Some are still going to school and learning as usual. Does anyone know what other parts of the world are doing for schooling?

 

[Renarr]

You can’t teach math on a block schedule...

Just to speak to this part, you actually can (I've done it), and with a bit of intentionality around class structures, you can make it work about as well as with a more traditional timing structure. With upper-level math classes, it can be better, especially in the Precalculus to Calculus range. I would agree that it's probably worse at the Algebra 1 level, and potentially at the Geometry level.

A lot of teachers structure this as a double period where they just try to teach twice as many concepts within the period. Sometimes, that even works to a degree when the topics are disconnected enough. But one of the keys to block days (across multiple subject areas) is to "chunk" the topics into smaller pieces. In math, one of the easier ways to do this is to teach for about 10-15 minutes, and then give 10-15 minutes of work time on some exercises, rinse-repeat. It also gives more flexibility in terms of assessment windows.

---

My district is also one of those where in the elementary, they're doing 2.5 hours in the morning for hybrid group A and 2.5 hours in the afternoon for hybrid group B. They haven't announced formal plans and structures for grades 3 - 5 yet. It's been rough all around.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

. You can’t teach math on a block schedule

Just wanted to give some information. My entire high school class schedule was block scheduling and so was my middle school. This was in 2000-2006.

Each day was 4 classes IIRC plus study hall. MWF=A day (or whatever it was called can't remember) and TuTh was B day (or whatever it was called can't remember) then the following week MWF was B day and TuTh was A day. Classes were like 1hr 15min long or something like that.

I do believe after I graduated high school they had 4 days be block scheduling and then Friday being all classes with shorter classes.

It actually helped us for college at least for me. In college your classes often follow a MWF, TuTh schedule, I did have a few that were M-F but that was less common.

 

[DopeyDame]

I can finally answer yes to this! Yes, I am sending my kids to school next month. WOOHOO

2 days per week, hybrid concurrent teaching. It's gonna be crazy, but I'm thrilled to have a step in the right direction.

 

[design_mom]

Our superintendent announced last night that we'll be returning to full-time school as of 3/15. I'm pretty conflicted. The teachers will get their 2nd dose of vaccine in early March, which is the reason for the return. However, the hybrid model has been working pretty well for my student. She's in high school and although I know we keep hearing "kids don't spread it like adults do" I think they're talking about younger students. (And honestly, I'm not that worried about her getting it -- but I don't want her to miss school because she's quarantined because the kid who sits next to her in english got sick. And our county is requiring household contacts of a positive case to quarantine for an additional 14 days after their household member has recovered (so, minimum 24 days from the time the original person gets sick.)

 

[soccerdad72]

Son's school is returning to full time in person on Tuesday (they've been hybrid most of the school year).

 

[DLgal]

A lot of school districts in CA (maybe not exactly where you live) just opened its doors for hybrid learning this week. No idea why there’s rumors from someone about CA possibly not opening schools in the Fall.

San Francisco teacher's unions are demanding full distance learning to continue through July 2022.

Freaking nuts...

 

[Lumpy1106]

I agree, it's terrible. Some people say that the whole country is in the same situation, but that's really not the case. Some are still going to school and learning as usual. Does anyone know what other parts of the world are doing for schooling?

If you can, spend a 1/2 hour watching the Florida Fiscal report that came out last week (I found it on YouTube - and do watch the full 30 minute presentation) It is JAW-DROPPING for those of us here in CA. Schools have been open since August, the school budgets went up and teachers got raises. No, the entire country is most definitely not in the same situation. That's easy to forget when all you see is the situation in CA.

 

[amylevan]

San Francisco teacher's unions are demanding full distance learning to continue through July 2022.

Freaking nuts...

Through 2022???????

Is it going that much better out there or do they not care about the students at all? Because on this side of the country there are A LOT of kids falling through the cracks. Our middle school administrators are making house calls to find out why some kids are still not engaged. High schoolers are failing.

 

[DLgal]

Through 2022???????

Is it going that much better out there or do they not care about the students at all? Because on this side of the country there are A LOT of kids falling through the cracks. Our middle school administrators are making house calls to find out why some kids are still not engaged. High schoolers are failing.

San Francisco is nuts. I don't know what to tell you. I live in southern CA in a district that actually started in person back in September because they were willing to spend the money on implementing a safety plan. My sister has elementary kids in San Francisco and no, things are not going well.

I truly don't understand this bizarre demand from that teacher's union, but it seems Los Angeles Unified is making similar requests.

This overblown fear of Covid transmission in schools is so ridiculous. Those 5 steps outlined by the CDC today are NOT hard to implement. This has been our district's guideline this whole time and IT WORKS. It's mainly a matter of masks and distancing, which is really not hard to accomplish. It's like they don't even want to try.

 

[Lumpy1106]

San Francisco is nuts. I don't know what to tell you. I live in southern CA in a district that actually started in person back in September because they were willing to spend the money on implementing a safety plan. My sister has elementary kids in San Francisco and no, things are not going well.

I truly don't understand this bizarre demand from that teacher's union, but it seems Los Angeles Unified is making similar requests.

This overblown fear of Covid transmission in schools is so ridiculous. Those 5 steps outlined by the CDC today are NOT hard to implement. This has been our district's guideline this whole time and IT WORKS. It's mainly a matter of masks and distancing, which is really not hard to accomplish. It's like they don't even want to try.

I wish Long Beach Unified would just make the very short drive across to the other side of the San Gabriel river and see how the private schools in OC are doing it. I think I already mentioned I moved my 1st grader. She's in school, full days, 5 days a week, temperature checks, hand washing, reduced classes, reduced cohorts during recess - basically all the same mitigation measures we saw in WDW in August. They have seen just a handful of cases, all originating outside the school. She LOVES it! Did I mention they've been open K-8 since September?

You would think educators would take more of an interest in learning what really works - but no.

 

[Lumpy1106]

Through 2022???????

Is it going that much better out there or do they not care about the students at all? Because on this side of the country there are A LOT of kids falling through the cracks. Our middle school administrators are making house calls to find out why some kids are still not engaged. High schoolers are failing.

They don't care. We have had Zoom conferences with my DD15 counselor and the school superintendent. Their advice - find an open school in another county - good luck. I don't even respond to the automated messages about my kids missing a class. I'm not about to freak out about a computer generated voice telling me my kid didn't log in from his own bedroom. He/she was there, they are not truant - I've been here the whole time. Open the schools, then we can talk.

 

[godisney14]

San Francisco teacher's unions are demanding full distance learning to continue through July 2022.

Freaking nuts...

I think there needs to be a choice for either remote, hybrid, or in-person if the schools can properly support all methods of teaching.

I live not in SF, but very close by. The survey responses from parents in my district and nearby districts have more than a majority of families wanting to continue remote learning at least through this school year. No surveys yet for next year.

 

[Colleen27]

OUCH! Yeah, if she can take a gap year I'd seriously consider that. My DS got accepted there - I don't think that's his top choice though.

We talked about it, but no one can/will give us a straight answer about how it would effect her financial aid so at this point it is unlikely that she'll take the chance. She has a very large combination of merit and need-based aid that covers the majority of her costs, without which we wouldn't be sending her somewhere so pricey, and she's got an RA position lined up for fall which will cover almost everything we've paid for OOP these past two years. So really she doesn't have much choice but to roll with it and be aggressive about finding summer programs to give her some field experience if it comes down to the worst-case of another year of remote learning. But as of right now, the school administration is striking a pretty defiant tone in their communications to parents... I think Newsom or Mayor Breed will have to expressly order them to stay closed, otherwise the dorms will be open and at least lab sciences and fine/performing arts classes will be meeting in person.

In normal times, DD absolutely loves both the school and the city so I do really hope things get back to semi-normal for fall. She doesn't mind where she's living now but she's further from Golden Gate and Haight Ashbury and has been missing some of her usual habits and hangouts in that part of the city.

San Francisco teacher's unions are demanding full distance learning to continue through July 2022.

Freaking nuts...

That is nuts. By all predictions, teachers should be vaccinated well before the start of the coming year. Even in my rural Michigan county, where the vaccine rollout has been troublingly slow, school staff is now eligible and the county is dedicating 500 first doses per week to schools. Which isn't great - at that rate, it would take 7 weeks to get all eligible school employees their first jab (with the seconds being scheduled separately and not coming out of the just-for-schools count) - but certainly isn't so slow that it would impact next academic year!

 

[monsterkitty]

San Francisco teacher's unions are demanding full distance learning to continue through July 2022.

Freaking nuts...

That's beyond nuts!

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

I think there needs to be a choice for either remote, hybrid, or in-person if the schools can properly support all methods of teaching.

I live not in SF, but very close by. The survey responses from parents in my district and nearby districts have more than a majority of families wanting to continue remote learning at least through this school year. No surveys yet for next year.

I suspect rhetoric ties into this as in the messages being floated around; low confidence of safe opening parents respond to that, higher confidence of safe opening parents respond to that. I guess too if one's area has evidence of high spread within school that would also seem warning to parents. I can understand teachers being concerned about being in classes but more often than not parents generally have been wanting at least a choice. All remote however is generally speaking leading to higher failure rates.