Parents of school children learning at home do not necessarily have to rely on reclaiming the dining room table quickly.
After two academic years were thrown off course by the pandemic, school leaders across the country are planning for the possibility of more distance education next year at the start of another school year.
“We have no illusions that COVID will be eradicated by the beginning of the school year,” said William “Chip” Sudderth III, a spokesman for Durham, North Carolina schools, whose students have been out of school buildings since March. .
President Joe Biden has made the reopening of schools a top priority, but administrators say much needs to be considered as new strains of the coronavirus appear and teachers in turn wait for vaccinations.
And while many parents are demanding that schools reopen fully, others say they will not feel safe sending children back to classrooms until even young students have vaccinations available. Dr. Anthony Fauci, the government’s leading expert on health in the government, said late last month that Biden’s government hopes to be vaccinated by late spring or early summer.
Districts will be deeply prepared for the next school year.
“By 2021-22, at least a portion of the school year is likely to continue to respond to the pandemic, assuming children will not have access to the vaccine, or at least many will,” said Superintendent Brian Woods, of Northside Independent School District, one of the largest districts in Texas.
This could mean a more teacher-friendly version of the mix of personal and distance learning that is taking place now, one that does not require teachers to teach two groups simultaneously. This can be done by splitting staff or rearranging schedules, he said adding a longer term could be an overall option for students who have moved permanently from traditional school.
“There’s going to be some element of genius in the bottle,” Woods said. ‘I think there will now always be a group of families who want a virtual option. … We know we can, but are we willing to do it? ‘
Faced with the same reality, the West Contra Costa Unified School District in California is planning a new K-12 Virtual Academy for 2021-22.
“One thing we learned during the pandemic is that teaching and learning are different now, and that it would not always be ‘normal’ what we thought,” reads the January agenda before the Education Council.
The turning point of distance education this past March has been a lifeline for the education system, but with each passing month, concerns have grown about the effects on racial inequalities, students’ academic performance, attendance and their overall well-being.
In Durham, North Carolina, schools – which have been completely remote since March – announced last month that it would remain so at the end of the current academic year.
In addition, Sudderth said: “the incidence of the disease will determine what we can do.”
The guideline for whether the 32,000 student district could move from remote to hybrid learning in January was a test positivity below 4%. But it is unclear whether the benchmark or others set up so far by states or districts will apply.
Biden, in an early executive order, instructed his education secretary to provide ‘evidence-based guidance’ and advice to schools to learn safely.
“I hope we do not have to do hybrid, but I do not want to be in a position where we did not think it through,” said Eva Moskowitz, whose 47 Success Academy Charter Schools enroll 20,000 students. in New York City.
Since the beginning of the school year, successful students have been signing up for full-time live distance learning on laptops and tablets provided by the school, an exhausting venture that Moskowitz plans to end on May 28 for the current school year. The school 2021-22 years will then start on August 2, possibly in a hybrid format.
“I honestly do not know what the chances are” of continuing to study next school year, she says.
“Logic would tell me we do not have to do this, but my knowledge of government makes me a little more hesitant,” she said, noting the sometimes contradictory leadership of the city and state and the slow start of the introduction of vaccines.
New York Mayor Bill de Blasio has promised that schools in the country’s largest school district will ‘be full again in September’.
“Everyone wants to be back,” he said.
But the head of the powerful teachers’ union, Michael Mulgrew, says it is too soon to commit. Schools currently offer personalized lessons for basic and pre-K students who want them. A plan announced by De Blasio on Monday will be rebuilt in the middle building on February 25, but there is no plan for high schools yet.
“This is a goal of mine, but I can not say that they are going to open,” the president of the United Federation of Teachers said in an interview. His view of the mayor’s promise: “It’s not about what you want. This is about what you can do safely. ”
Chancellor Richard Carranza acknowledged that while the goal is a personal school, distance education ‘will stay with us’ beyond the pandemic.
“We look at this as a component,” he told a news conference with de Blasio.
Mulgrew said more than vaccines from teachers are needed to fully and safely open schools.
He noted that scientists are not yet sure if vaccinated people can still spread the virus, even if they are not sick themselves. And he wonders how comfortable families will feel about starting children who have not been vaccinated and young teens without the vaccination.
“This is where it gets tough. How can you say that you open in September when we have to answer these questions? he asks.
A parent coalition in Evanston, Illinois, has asked Superintendent Eric Witherspoon what assurance he can give that Evanston Township High School will personally teach in the 2021-22 academic year.
“We are witnessing a real crisis in our community,” Laurel O’Sullivan, the parent of an Evanston High School junior, said by telephone. ‘We are a coalition that includes medical and mental health experts who see in their community practice on a daily basis how children are experiencing a tremendous increase in mental and emotional health crises. … This is a social, emotional and academic crisis we are seeing. ‘
The district did not respond to a request for comment.
———
Thompson reports from Buffalo, New York. Associated Press author Jennifer Peltz in New York City contributed to this report.