The second day of camp was fine. My son had a great time, though he evidently got VERY upset about “getting out” in a couple of games and had to be talked down by his “pod leader” (which is not surprising and one of the things he needs to learn how to manage away from home)! My daughter and her two friends spent four hours in our backyard making clothes for old Barbies I found and painting with acrylics. It was another good day.
Then my husband sent me an article about San Francisco’s school opening plan, which will not be officially announced until very late July, less than three weeks before the school year starts.
While they aren’t announcing anything yet, the message is clear. Only some students – the ones who most need to be in the classroom – will be invited back in the fall. The rest of the students will be taught entirely online for at least 1-2 months, maybe longer.
This means my kids won’t be going to school, but I WILL be four times a week.
I’m really not sure how we’re going to make that work.
My husband won’t be able to work full time if this is our scenario. I was able to make it work because I only had five zoom meetings a week, and could do the rest of my work in the evenings and after my kids went to bed. My husband has calls and meetings all day long, there is no way he can be working and being with our kids all day, let alone helping them learn.
I was already planning on trying to find someone who could help my kids with online learning 2-3 times a week (a group of us were going to pool financial resources and have the person meet with a our kids together in a backyard), but there is no way that will cover the amount of time I’ll be away.
I would ask my mom for help, but I don’t feel comfortable with her being near my kids while I’m at school seeing an increasing number of students who are old enough to transmit the virus (most studies show kids 10 and under aren’t big transmitters, but middle schools are 11-13 years old).
I’m really not sure what I’m going to do. Perhaps there will be day care available for essential workers, though I don’t know if I qualify if I’m not a teacher in the city’s district (it would be really messed up if that were the case).
I knew this was a possibility, but seeing other district’s plans I assumed SFUSD would also manage to bring all students back for at least a couple mornings a week. Evidently that won’t be happening. And what exactly are my kids’ teachers supposed to be doing… teaching one group for part of the day in the classroom and then transitioning to online for the rest? There is no way teachers can manage that.
Ugh, this is going to be so, so hard. I don’t know what we’re going to do.
All I can say is that I’m so thankful we got our son in camp this session, because it’s very likely he won’t be in a classroom setting for a long, long time.
That sounds really difficult. Any possibility your kids could do school with one of the families of friends that they’ve been playing with?
It wouldn’t really work for my son, and he’s the one I’m worried about.
If you’re curious about what other states are doing, I’m in Georgia and in my county parents are being given a choice (for now) for their kids – either in person schooling or virtual schooling. We have to commit for the first half of the year (though in extreme situations they will allow a change after nine weeks). Most teachers will not have both formats – they will either teach in person classes or they will teach virtual classes. Parents have to make their choice by 7/10 so the schools can see numbers by preference and split teachers/plan accordingly. We were supposed to start 8/5 but last night the Board voted to push the start date to 8/12 and give teachers five extra pre-planning days. Originally masks were encouraged but not required for in person but last night they changed that and masks are now required.
We’re going the virtual route. Numbers here are skyrocketing and with necessary quarantine periods, I don’t believe much in person school will end up taking place at all (especially once flu season rolls around and people can’t tell symptoms apart). Thankful I can work from home but I am lining up some part time help so I can work and help my kindergartener with school while someone else helps my three year old son burn off energy (and then I won’t feel as guilty about later tv/tablet time).
I am going to look into hiring help, but it’s so expensive here – probably around $50 an hour if I want help with academic. Just for being with my son it would be more like $25-$30. I was hoping to share someone with other families to help with academics (outside) but that was for the older kids. My first grader son would make it hard for attention to be given to the 5th graders. So I’ll need another plan.
Who knows, maybe everything will change in a month and all this will be for naught. If I am home like my kids I can make it work, even though I’ll have a lot more in person zooms to do. I can still work it. But being on campus for 5-7 hours a day is going to really screw me.
Sorry. Wish I could trade places. My district had all these town halls re 2 days per week or all distance option. Now despite surging cases they’re suddenly looking at 4 days per week for elementary. Fuck no. School starts in 4 weeks. If school is 4 days a week I can’t use fmla leave. Fuck the AAP.
Parents can use FMLA in this scenario? So I could potentially use FMLA to take off some time if my work requires I go back but my kids are not invited back? I did not realize that was an option. I don’t know if I can actually afford to take off much time, but it’s definitely something I should look into.
Interestingly, neither my or my kids’ districts are basing anything on the AAP. My district committed to their plan in June, and parents are actually pushing for much more in-class time. Only 4% of survey parents in my district wanted online only, and a large portion want thing to go back to normal. Maybe that has changed now, I don’t know. At SFUSD some of the buildings don’t even have windows that open, so they are truly fucked. They also don’t have a lot of outside space. So that is why not everyone gets to go back for a while.
The Familes First act allowed people who were caregivers to use FMLA under some circumstances- https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/ffcra
My friend at work told me that outschool has online resources for children who needed special services, and that he had started using them for his daughter who has autism. He was able to get her the 1:1 attention she needed in this way. It wasn’t perfect, but he said it helped his family a lot. It’s a little pricier than their regular stuff (which ranges from free to pretty darn cheap), but perhaps that is something you can look into? It seems like it might be easier to do that than to hire a local tutor, but maybe I am wrong. I love the idea of pooling resources to have a group of students be taught outside in your neighborhood. I should look into something like that around here.
I’ve never heard of the outschool. I will check it out. Thanks. Now that I know my kids will almost certainly be at home for at least 2 months, I am trying to brainstorm pooling resources with families of younger kids for my son. I didn’t keep in touch with many of the families he was friends with in Pre-K, and he doesn’t really have any friends we could do that with in his current school, so it will be harder. But it’s definitely worth looking into.
Or (this may be a little crazy), take FMLA to teach your son this fall, and then offer your skills to other families at a rate of $50 per hour. If you teach two other kids per day you’d make $500 per week. Become an entrepreneur! Put those skills to good use!
I didn’t realize I could use FMLA right now until someone commented about it. I definitely need to look into that. It might be the right call.
You can use EPSL first-80 hrs. Then FMLA PHEL which is 12 weeks, first two weeks unpaid. You can start them concurrently so you don’t have two weeks unpaid. Pay is crappy but better than nothing. You can use accruals to augment pay but I’m choosing not to bc I need to keep as much leave on the books as possible. Lack of childcare/school is a qualifying reason to use both leaves (which come under FFCRA). Caveat, they expire Dec 31 unless congress extends.
Thanks for the info. I don’t think I get any pay for FMLA (at least I didn’t when I took it after my kids were born but maybe that has changed?) but it’s really good to know that might be an option for me. I will look into it.
I am honestly not at all concerned about academics. He can read pretty well and is already working on 2nd grade math. I just need something for him to do while I’m away so everyone doesn’t go nuts. But you’re right, it could all change in the month before school starts, for them and for me. I spiraled for a bit last night but then I calmed down. You’re right that there are a lot of unknowns and stressing now will not affect the eventual outcome.
Wow.
Thank you for sharing.
GRIM.
Have you read Deb Perelman’s (of smitten kitchen fame!) recent article in the NY Times? With your insights and your writing skills, you could write a fantastic follow-up piece from the perspective of a teacher with school age kids.
Wow, thank you so much for the accolades. I will definitely consider writing something and publishing it somewhere.
That is a great idea- and CNN is doing perspective pieces daily. I know I’ve found them quite interesting.
This is the paragraph from the article I thought you could respond to really well:
And lest you think it’s everyone vs. teachers, I cannot imagine a group this situation is less fair to. Teachers are supposed to teach in the classroom full-time but simultaneously manage remote learning? Even in non-pandemic times, teachers would tell you that they already work unpaid overtime on nights and weekends, just planning and grading. Where, exactly, will the extra hours come from? For teachers with their own school-age children, the situation isn’t just untenable, it’s impossible.
I’m definitely rooting for you to go for it!
We’re in the east bay and being told there will be no in-school person until mid-September, at the earliest, and even then, it won’t be full time. When in-person school starts, my elementary child will be in either AM or PM with virtual the rest of the day but only four days a week. The middle schooler schedule is not firmed up yet, either cohort A/B or the 10-4 model, again still not all days! I have NO IDEA how a family with two working parents is supposed to make this work. And they’re planning to offer an all online version for the whole year for those that choose. It is exposing privilege to even be able to consider the online only option. That means there’s either a stay at home parent or a very flexible job in the mix. I honestly feel like if people want to homeschool, then homeschool but don’t be taking resources and money from the people that need their children to be in school. I know it’s more nuanced than that for many, but it still rubs the wrong way.
I’m sorry. Even if it changes, it’s so stressful being in this moment of not knowing what can or will change and figuring out how we adapt at the last minute when we have to figure out how on earth to manage their proposed schedules and our various work situations. Everyone has such different needs, too, it’s so frustrating that there are simply no good answers.
I was expecting that SFUSD would have a sensible plan but it sounds like yours screws you up as much as the proposed plans our district’s. None of our options are good.
We started using outschool recently for our 5 year old and we like it so far. We were given a referral link for $20 off a first class to test and I forgot to use it, happy to give it to you instead if you want to try it.