Back to School?

Mine are going back. Two in High School and one in Elementary. 

How does the school districts doing a better job with putting together an online program help families where both parents work?  That's one of the main issues here.  Both my wife and I are considered essential workers and we can't work from home.  Having heard from many of my patients who can work from home, its basically impossible for them to do so AND take care of their kids/schooling at the same time.

I'd like to point out that I don't expect teachers to fall on their swords here but there has to be some sort of middle ground that can be reached.

Our school district has pushed the starting date back from August 13 to August 24th now.  Some other neighboring districts are doing the first several weeks as on line, then plan to go back to school.

In reply to docwyte :

If they did a decent job with an online program, all kids who used it would get educated. 
 

Many kids can self guide and don't need a parent directing. 
 

For those parents that must both work AND need to direct their kids, a decent online program would at least give the parents the ability to utilize it in the evenings and weekends. 
 

A bad online program helps no one. 

In reply to ProDarwin :

I only have what I've heard or observed to go by but the elementary school my sister's kids go to seems to be doing well. They basically have what look like zoom meetings a few times a day and the workbooks they normally use in class.   The kids seem to not need a lot of input from my sister to do anything besides the normal homework whining they'd do anyway. 

In our rural county the school board says 68% of the students have no on-line access.

In reply to Purple Frog (Forum Supporter) :

Huh. I'll bet they all have cellphones with unlimited data plans. 
 

I agree- that's a big problem. But I think what they mean is that a large percentage don't have broadband, or access in the home. 
 

Everyone can go to a McDonalds or a library. 
 

Ive been on the road for 6 years in rural areas of the South. I've never found a place I couldn't get internet access- but sometimes I have to work at it. 

And if those places are open, then you're clumping a ton of people together in one area for an data-intensive service, since chances are you're not the only one who needs it. You're back to needing schools open.

In reply to GIRTHQUAKE :

yep.  Also I'm betting that many people without internet also means most of those families do not have work-from home capabilities, so there is not supervision or assistance for remote learning.  Can't just drop your 6 year old off at Starbucks with a chromebook on the way into work.

Our schools (second largest teachers union in USA), have decided to be full online only in fall 

hope there is more online training for staff. March - June online left a lot  to be desired 

"online " opens August 13. 

In reply to GIRTHQUAKE :

So, Hot spots don't work?

There are a ton of options. It's a bad excuse for poor leadership. 
 

Im not denying it's a crisis. So is a war zone. They still have leadership. 
 

The schools are about control. They don't know how to function without it. 

SVreX (Forum Supporter) said:

In reply to GIRTHQUAKE :

So, Hot spots don't work?

Our school system provides these.  I spoke with a local teacher about it and he said there are numerous issues with them.  Their bandwidth is limited.  Its problematic with multiple users in the same household.  Then of course the standard connectivity issues with a cell-connection - it isn't a reliable high speed connection like hard wired broadband.

Not hotspot related, but the teacher also said a big issue is multiple children households where older kids may be watching younger kids (who can't go to daycare), and how that doesn't allow them to focus on school.  Additionally special needs kids, and of course kids at the younger end of elementary school age do not have the knowledge or skillset to deal with technology if there are hiccups. 

The teacher I spoke with basically said something to the effect of:  Kids, especially older, of well-off families will be fine.  Lower income families are going to struggle.  Special needs kids are screwed.  (He taught ~9th grade children that are at a 2nd/3rd grade reading level)

In reply to ProDarwin :

Yes.  I understand.  There is a long list of issues and problems with working remotely.

There is also a long list of issues and problems with going back to school.  Possible spread of a deadly disease is one of them.

In reply to SVreX (Forum Supporter) :

Totally agreed.  Like I said earlier, there is no right answer only an array of wrong answers to choose from.

I know the challenges and difficulties.  This sucks for everyone.

But when a school board says "We can't teach remotely because in our rural county 68% of the students have no on-line access", I'm calling BS.

It's bad leadership.  It's an excuse.  It's a failure to make an effort to  come up with alternatives and assess the situation well.  It's having no idea what to do other than what "we've always done in the past", and no willingness to make the effort.

The school board is passing the buck.  They are blaming their inability to educate on the utility infrastructure and  people's economic status.  That's not ok.  They have a mandate to educate the kids.

I'll bet if they asked the children, 98% of them know how to access online in some manner so they can watch a YouTube video or SnapChat with their friends.

Just give parents vouchers to help pay for internet service.

Maybe children should run the schools.

STM317 said:

In reply to ProDarwin :

I think if you read the referenced studies most of your concerns will be addressed in some way.

I did read several of the studies referenced in your post (see my post on page 3). 

My concern is the cherry picking of studies. People who have a political agenda are cherry picking studies supporting one side or the other.  There are clearly cases indicating that A) it is possible to have outbreaks in schools and B) that children present an extremely low transmission risk.  It seems like people read 1 or 2 sentences of the summary and go:  "See!?"

Of the two you posted at the top of page 4:  1 is not peer reviewed.

The second is only a commentary (a summary of a commentary, but I read the commentary here), but I found this to be important:

Schools can reopen in fall, they say, if safety guidelines are observed and community transmission is low

43 states increased in cases this week.  I'm not sure what qualifies as low transmission, but I'm guessing that a large part of the US does not qualify.

Unfortunately the commentary is unclear about what qualifies as low transmission (and safety guidelines as well).

We're going to have technology issues in our area. We're over 70% free school lunches in our school. There is not a lot of home internet/computers in that group. Some, but not a lot. Basically everyone has a couple cell phones for the family but leaving one home for kids to do work means that a parent just went to work without their phone, which is not ideal if their kids (who might be home alone or with an older sibling in charge) need to reach them. Then there is the issue of more kids than phones and trying to do homework/meetings on phones because there isn't a computer or laptop in the house. Most of this got swept under the rug when school stopped after spring break, but now they have to deal with it. No easy answers. 

My school system outfitted the buses with mobile hot spots and drove them into poor neighborhoods and parked them within range of large numbers of students.

They also had the buses continue to run their routes to deliver lunches to the students who needed them.

SVreX (Forum Supporter) said:

My school system outfitted the buses with mobile hot spots and drove them into poor neighborhoods and parked them within range of large numbers of students.

They also had the buses continue to run their routes to deliver lunches to the students who needed them.

Ours did as well.

Our county is offering 3 options:  Florida Virtual School-an online school run by the state, An online school run by the teachers as they teach their classes (not sure how they are going to manage that), and brick and mortar face to face instruction. The current numbers have about 50% of the students doing brick and mortar. That is a number that with social distancing and mask wearing makes me comfortable enough to send ours back. 

In reply to MrJoshua :

50% is not a bad number. 
 

Our school is expecting 84%.  That's not a number I feel comfortable with.   I suspect it's that high largely because their online execution was so abysmal. 

In reply to SVreX (Forum Supporter) :

That doesn't address my main point, which is you can't leave an elementary school kid home alone while both parents are out of the house working.  Online programs simply don't work for people who are also relying on the schools for child care, which are the vast majority of dual income families.

In reply to docwyte :

I did address that point. I suggested that you may need to consider a flexible schedule for school time. 
 

I recognize that "child care" is an issue, but I don't think it is credible in a discussion about education. Education is compulsory. Child care is not. Every parent that has ever existed on the planet has had to figure out how to care for their children. I'm not convinced the schools are the solution to that problem (though I recognize they have filled the role)

For younger kids school is less about learning and more about child care. As the kids age, school shifts slowly from child care to learning.

Right now parents are having the child care portion ripped out from under them. That effects all kids, but the youngest kids the most.

It's kinda funny to me in an ironic way that school systems don't seem to recognize one of the largest (if not THE largest) services they provide.

In reply to SVreX (Forum Supporter) :

No, you didn't.  You said have the kid take online school at night.  Ok, what are the kids supposed to do during the day?  Once again, you can't leave elementary school aged kids home alone all day while both parents are at work.  Hire a nanny?  What are the families who can't afford to pay a nanny $20-30/hour for 40 hours a week supposed to do?  Even the families who can afford to do that, its a huge hardship and finding a nanny that you can trust and is good with the kids isn't exactly easy, especially at the last minute.

Flexible work schedule?  That's simply not possible for most people, if they could work from home they'd be doing it already.  My wife and I aren't in the minority of people who simply can't work from home...

So again, what's your solution here?

In reply to docwyte :

I have no intention of offering a solution to that problem. You won't like my answers. 

Are you asking about your personal situation, or a general question about 2 income families?

My opinion is that it is sad that school be viewed as a child care service.