Parents of schoolchildren learning from home should not necessarily rely on the recovery of the meal table soon.
After seeing two academic years triggered by the pandemic, school leaders across the country plan to have the opportunity to learn distance next fall at the beginning 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 schools in Durham, North Carolina, whose students left school buildings in March. .
President Joe Biden has reopened schools an absolute priority, but administrators say there is much to consider, as new strains of coronavirus appear, and teachers are waiting their turn for vaccinations.
And while many parents are calling for a full reopening of schools, others say they will not feel safe sending their children back to classrooms until vaccines are available even to young students. Dr Anthony Fauci, the government’s top public health expert, said late last month that the Biden administration hopes to start vaccinating children until late spring or early summer.
Until then, the districts will be deep in preparation for the next school year.
“By 2021-22, at least part of that school year will likely continue to be linked to the pandemic response, assuming children will not have access to the vaccine, or at least many will not,” 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 personal and distance learning mix that is happening now, one that does not require teachers to train two groups at the same time. This could be done either by dividing staff or rearranging schedules, he said, adding that in the longer term a distance option can be seen for students who have permanently dropped out of traditional school.
“There will be an element of genius that cannot be put back in the bottle,” Woods said. “I think there will always be a group of families who want a virtual option. … We know we are capable, but are we willing to do it? ”
Faced with the same reality, California’s West Contra Costa Unified School District is planning a new K-12 virtual academy for 2021-22.
“One thing I learned during the pandemic is that teaching and learning are now different and will not be fully what I thought was ‘normal’ again,” read the January agenda item. Board of Education.
The pivot of distance education last March proved to be a lifeline for the education system, but concerns have grown with each passing month about the effects on racial inequities., student academic performance, their presence and general well-being.
In Durham, North Carolina, schools – which have been completely removed since March – announced last month that they will remain so until the end of this academic year.
Beyond that, Sudderth said, “the prevalence of the disease will determine what we are able to do.”
The guideline for determining whether the district’s 32,000 students could move from distance learning to hybrid learning in January was a test positive rate below 4%. But it is not clear whether that metric or others that have so far been established by states or districts will hold.
Biden, in an early executive order, directed his education secretary to provide “evidence-based guidance” and advice to schools to conduct in-person learning safely.
“I hope we don’t have to hybridize, but I don’t want to be in a position where we haven’t thought of everything,” said Eva Moskowitz, whose 47 successful Academy schools enroll 20,000 students in New York.
Since the beginning of the school year, successful students have connected for days of direct distance learning on laptops and tablets provided by the school, an exhausting undertaking that Moskowitz intends to close for the current school year on May 28th. The 2021-22 school year will then begin on August 2, possibly in a hybrid format.
“I honestly don’t know what the chances are” of continuing distance learning in the next school year, she said.
“Logic would tell me we shouldn’t do this, but my knowledge of government makes me a little more hesitant,” she said, noting the sometimes contradictory directions in the city and state and the slow start of vaccine launches.
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio has promised that schools in the nation’s largest school district “will be back in full swing in September.”
“Everyone wants to come back,” he said.
But the head of the powerful teachers’ union, Michael Mulgrew, says it is too early to get hired. Currently, schools offer in-person courses to elementary and pre-K students who want them. A plan announced on Monday by De Blasio will reopen the gymnasium buildings February 25, but there is no plan for high school yet.
“It’s my goal, but I can’t say they’ll open it,” the president of the United Teachers’ Federation said in an interview. His opinion on the mayor’s commitment: “It’s not about what you want. It’s about what you can do safely. ”
Chancellor Richard Carranza acknowledged that while the goal is personal schooling, distance education will “stay with us” beyond the pandemic.
“We are looking at the fact that this is a component,” he told a news conference Monday with de Blasio.
Mulgrew said it would take more than teachers’ vaccines to open schools completely and safely.
He noted that scientists are not yet clear on whether vaccinated people may still be able to spread the virus, even if they are not sick. And one wonders how comfortable families will feel to have unvaccinated children and young teenagers who start the new year unvaccinated.
“It simply came to our notice then. So how do you say you open in September, when we need to get these questions answered? He asked.
A coalition of parents in Evanston, Illinois, asked Superintendent Eric Witherspoon what assurances he could provide that Evanston Township High School would provide personal learning in the 2021-22 school year.
“We are witnessing a real crisis in our community,” said Laurel O’Sullivan, a parent at Evanston High School. “We are a coalition that includes experts in mental and medical health, who, in their community practices, see children on a daily basis facing a huge increase in mental and emotional health crises. … It is a social, emotional and academic crisis that we are seeing. ”
The district did not respond to a request for comment.
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Thompson reported from Buffalo, New York. Associated Press writer Jennifer Peltz of New York contributed to this report.