Let’s look forward to a new academic year!

Wow! How do we begin to look forward to a new academic year when we aren’t sure what it will look like? Many districts are still in the planning stages of how to roll out instruction amid the recommended guidelines of the 2020 pandemic.

I want to Look forward to a new academic year!

From what I’ve been reading, districts are debating if students should return a few days a week and the rest of the time online learning. Or if they want students to attend half days at school and half days at home online working.

I wrote a recent article about teachers returning to close their rooms for the summers. You can read it here:

A Bittersweet Return to Classrooms + Hope for the New School Year!

Or if they should just go back to having the full class with accommodations such as masks and hand sanitizer. These major decisions don’t come lightly, as there are so many small (and large) details that go into making all the decisions.

These details include student meals, transportation, cleaning of classrooms and facilities (and I’m sure there are more that I can’t think of right now). It is much more than how many kids should be in each classroom at a time.

How can teachers move forward

One thing that teachers need to consider as they begin to prepare to move forward is – that this situation is not permanent. A great majority of the nation want students to return to school as usual. Knowing this, you can be relatively assured that as soon as a vaccine is available, students will return to school full time.

But in the meantime, this is our reality. And I’m wondering what the “at-risk” teachers are having to decide. Many of them are approaching retirement, but may now need to postpone that decision since spouses and other family members have lost their jobs due to the pandemic closures. Some teachers will have to return with no choice due to financial concerns. And yet, if there truly is an outbreak, they should not be exposed.

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And what about the children?

But, what about the children? First of all, who will watch them during their two-three days at home with online instruction? Will there be childcare places that pop up to accommodate this concern? If so, how will these facilities help the students? And how will they keep them 6 feet apart?

When the whole nation went on “lock down” our children had mom or dad at home to help with any computer technology issues or with assignments they weren’t getting. But what happens when parents begin to return to work? Who helps the children then?

And school (and districts) need to re-assess how much learning is actually taking place with the online components. Is it comparable to in-class schooling? If not, are grade-level expectations going to be fewer or time to learn extended? These are all considerations that states and districts will need to consider as we move into the 2020-2021 school year.

I read that one state has already said they have eliminated state testing for 2020-2021. In my opinion, this is a wise decision. I think other states should follow suit. Teachers will all have enough to work out without having to also prepare for state testing.

I’m hearing many teachers on social media that are quite upset about also having to figure out what to do with their own children while they are teaching two groups on alternate days.

If children are sent to childcare facilities, isn’t that actually worse since they are now being exposed to a whole other group of students (and adults) whereas if they had stayed with just their own class, at least it would just be that group of people they are around.

I don’t envy the decision makers in our school systems right now. It is such a difficult issue to resolve with so many different factors to take into consideration.

Let’s sit back, wait, and hope for the best.

Until Next Time,