Yesterday was July 19th. My first day with students is August 19th. I’m officially one month away from the start of the school year.
On Friday Governor Newsom announced that schools cannot invite students back to classroom until their county has been off the state’s “watchlist” for 14 days (being placed on the watchlist involves a number of metrics such as percentage of positive tests and how that number is trending, number of hospital beds available, etc). San Mateo County, where my district resides, is currently the only county in the Bay Area that is NOT on the watchlist, though the SF Chronicle reported that it will probably be added early this coming week.
Late Friday evening our superintendent sent out an email to staff and families explaining the new state mandate and promising that our district will start with in-person learning if at all possible.
If they maintain that stance, we will spend the next month preparing for both a return to in-person learning and distance learning, ensuring we will fail to launch the school year successfully in either scenario.
Our union will also probably be in a stressful struggle with our superintendent and board, as we request a return to distance learning while they ensure we can return safely in person (despite not being able to promise that in any way shape or form).
I sent an email on to both asking them to please relieve us, both staff and families, of this unnecessary burden of uncertainty. Spending the next month watching the numbers and our status on the watchlist will make it impossible for anyone to plan effectively for the start of the school year. Our district has a long track record of ignoring staff concerns, so hopefully parents will start communicating their desire for a clear course of action soon too, otherwise it probably won’t happen.
Of course, my district is also currently requiring that teachers return to their classrooms in the fall, even if we are teaching entirely online, despite the governors recommendation that all work that can be done remotely take place at home.
I know there is a still a month left until we start, and there is still hope that my district will announce we are at least starting the school year with distance learning regardless of our status on the watchlist, AND that we will be allowed to work from home if we are using distance learning. The fact that we have to wait for either decision is already a mark against them in my book.
I hope your district wises up soon. I’m glad the governor finally took action. But also I’m unlikely to send kids to school in a scenario where we barely meet a metric for 15 days. I think the state should be bolder and say no return to school until there’s a definite long term downward curve.
Our school year is supposed to start in 2.5 weeks and our board voted only last week to start online (then a couple days later the governor’s announcement cemented that decision since we are on the monitoring list).
Other people’s dead or permanently disabled or impaired children. I bet the decision maker’s personal family members are not on an approved list of children or staff that should be exposed, and become disabled or buried.
I am SO VERY SORRY. I absolutely want to see NO SCHOOLS OPEN without 2 months of steady state below .75 R estimated infection rates. Below .5 would be even more desirable. Because I care about not only my own family but also Other People … unlike many elected governmental people….
And, insisting teachers come in to the school building and not do distance teaching from their homes is a clear statement that the district does not think of their teachers as professionals but as cheaters who cannot be trusted without direct supervision. The ugliness of this is apalling and speaks to what those district people do in their personal lives, not to what the majority of teachers do.