Back to School ?

My Father is a retired HS math teacher. He regularly subs about 1-2 days/week during the academic school year at multiple school districts near his home. He’s 68.

I asked him what he thought they should do. His opinion was that of a hybrid model to start and to treat districts differently. In some areas, there is a higher rate of infection either because there’s simply more people or there’s a local outbreak at a meat packing plant, etc. So treating those the same as a rural district with minimal cases is not a great idea he said.

He also said that they can count him completely out of subbing, at least until January, maybe longer. And he could sub every single day of the week if he wanted too because the demand was very high even before this. I have a feeling that there just won’t be enough bodies to tackle this if other teachers, staff, bus drivers, etc feel the same way he does.

I feel for the situation that the teachers are in here. However their wages are paid for out of my taxes. My home taxes went up over 1500 in 2 years. The first time was when they passed a referendum to build a new school ( Old school was less than 25 years old by the way ) the 2nd referendum was to fund the new school ( Including teachers pay ) If a Teacher believes their life is as risk because of this virus and they don’t want to go to work that’s fine, But they should not be paid in anyway and that includes unemployment. Health care workers, Police officers, military people, Firemen, and many other workers go to work everyday with what I believe to be far higher risk to their lives that a school teacher ( even with this virus )

gim wrote:

My Father is a retired HS math teacher. He regularly subs about 1-2 days/week during the academic school year at multiple school districts near his home. He’s 68.

I asked him what he thought they should do. His opinion was that of a hybrid model to start and to treat districts differently. In some areas, there is a higher rate of infection either because there’s simply more people or there’s a local outbreak at a meat packing plant, etc. So treating those the same as a rural district with minimal cases is not a great idea he said.

He also said that they can count him completely out of subbing, at least until January, maybe longer. And he could sub every single day of the week if he wanted too because the demand was very high even before this. I have a feeling that there just won’t be enough bodies to tackle this if other teachers, staff, bus drivers, etc feel the same way he does.

I respect that opinion and stance. I’m also glad it sounds like your Dad does not need the paycheck.

If anything, this highlights that we may need to bend the rules… get younger and able bodies ready to go

lindyrig79 wrote:

If anything, this highlights that we may need to bend the rules… get younger and able bodies ready to go

My wife was furloughed 2.5 weeks ago. She has 18 years in early childhood development..

We looked into our school district and there were 17 open jobs for para’s alone. She has an interview tomorrow. We are not going to wait on decisions from her work if they cannot give them to us by the end of the month. That’s about the same time we will have answers on our topic here.

greig john wrote:

Good game, fellas.
My internet time is up and Mom needs to use the computer now.

I knew there was a good explanation for your maturity level.

So you’re one of the few students that I’ve heard of that don’t want to go back to school this fall? Lol

Another random question:

Should teachers, counselors, bus drivers, paraprofessionals, etc who work with hundreds of kids and dozens of staff each day be tested before school starts?

This question has been floated around in area districts. I can see both sides of it. If schools are going to open as usual with other practices in place (which is my prediction), would having staff who are tested be a good idea to be sure weeks later things aren’t shut down?

I don’t teach in a classroom being an athletic director, but our district has already shared that we will likely not have any (as in 0) substitute teachers and to plan accordingly. Sick children, positive tests, earned vacation, etc will then essentially leave kids in substantially larger classes. Imagine a section of 60 instead of 30 in one room. The dynamics of that without Covid are basically impossible.

lindyrig79 wrote:

I respect that opinion and stance. I’m also glad it sounds like your Dad does not need the paycheck.

If anything, this highlights that we may need to bend the rules… get younger and able bodies ready to go

Ya he doesn’t need to sub he really only does it to help other teachers and school districts in a pinch.

B-man wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>greig john wrote:</div>
Good game, fellas.
My internet time is up and Mom needs to use the computer now.

I knew there was a good explanation for your maturity level.

So you’re one of the few students that I’ve heard of that don’t want to go back to school this fall? Lol

Derp.
I reckon it’s about as mature as posing little children for a photo giving the finger to a pandemic sign.

buckybadger wrote:

Another random question:

Should teachers, counselors, bus drivers, paraprofessionals, etc who work with hundreds of kids and dozens of staff each day be tested before school starts?

I don’t see that being feasible. Heck, wasn’t Major League Baseball even having issues getting tests back within a couple days? I don’t think that’s going to be in the cards for public schools. My district alone (not metro) has over 2000 staff. Plus, if you aren’t testing the kids which outnumber the staff 10-1, what would be the point of testing only the staff?

buckybadger wrote:

I don’t teach in a classroom being an athletic director, but our district has already shared that we will likely not have any (as in 0) substitute teachers and to plan accordingly. Sick children, positive tests, earned vacation, etc will then essentially leave kids in substantially larger classes. Imagine a section of 60 instead of 30 in one room. The dynamics of that without Covid are basically impossible.

So you’re saying you think they might increase class sizes if substitute teachers aren’t available? That seems asinine under these circumstances. Probably almost lawsuit worthy.

Slough, Bucky wrote “Imagine a section of 60 instead of 30 in one room. The dynamics of that without Covid are basically impossible”

Read it again. He is with ya.. Even if we did not have Covid it would be impossible to increase class size.

fishthumper wrote:

I feel for the situation that the teachers are in here. However their wages are paid for out of my taxes. My home taxes went up over 1500 in 2 years. The first time was when they passed a referendum to build a new school ( Old school was less than 25 years old by the way ) the 2nd referendum was to fund the new school ( Including teachers pay ) If a Teacher believes their life is as risk because of this virus and they don’t want to go to work that’s fine, But they should not be paid in anyway and that includes unemployment. Health care workers, Police officers, military people, Firemen, and many other workers go to work everyday with what I believe to be far higher risk to their lives that a school teacher ( even with this virus )

X2

fishthumper wrote:

I feel for the situation that the teachers are in here. However their wages are paid for out of my taxes. My home taxes went up over 1500 in 2 years. The first time was when they passed a referendum to build a new school ( Old school was less than 25 years old by the way ) the 2nd referendum was to fund the new school ( Including teachers pay ) If a Teacher believes their life is as risk because of this virus and they don’t want to go to work that’s fine, But they should not be paid in anyway and that includes unemployment. <nobr style=”font-size: inherit”>Health care</nobr> workers, Police officers, military people, Firemen, and many other workers go to work everyday with what I believe to be far higher risk to their lives that a school teacher ( even with this virus )

not real sure about the not to distant future, but as of now if a teacher feels unsafe and has a medical issue or underlying condition……….your not going to win the no unemployment arguement.

glenn57 wrote:

not real sure about the not to distant future, but as of now if a teacher feels unsafe and has a medical issue or underlying condition……….your not going to win the no unemployment arguement.

The executive order on the whole underlying health thing is set to expire here soon. Rather not it will be extended or not is yet to be determined. As far as the feeling unsafe. I don’t know if that will work. I’d like to think if a business or organization is allowed to be open and offers you a job to return to, You cant simply say I don’t feel safe and you will continue to get your unemployment. With the extra 600.00 added to unemployment set to end here at the end of July ( Also not know if it is going to be extended or not ) I’m not sure how many people will continue to think this whole unemployment thing is a good deal.

i agree, and thats why i said not sure about the near future. i do know of a few that are checking in with there doctors, the extra 600 hundy or not that have real legit medical concerns.

My cousin who has been out of work due to his underlying health has been told by his employer that if the current executive order is not extended, they expect him to return to work the next day. He was told is he does not they will replace him and fight his unemployment.

being forced to return to work is being determined by the individual employers from what i can tell. We are doing a phased approach at my office. I am due to go back in Mid August but was told that if any of my 40 employees have an issue with going back into the office find out the reason and exceptions may be made. We have the ability to work remote though which can obviously make a difference. Whether you think teachers can do their job from home is a matter of debate.

Spoke with a teacher yesterday who told me the union is expecting quite a few retirements from teachers that are close. It will be interesting to see if they can be replaced or mostly replaced. She also told me that the rumor is a decision could come this week. After speaking with her I will be shocked if it isn’t one of the hybrid models they have been talking about.

Fish To Escape wrote:

Spoke with a teacher yesterday who told me the union is expecting quite a few retirements from teachers that are close. It will be interesting to see if they can be replaced or mostly replaced. She also told me that the rumor is a decision could come this week. After speaking with her I will be shocked if it isn’t one of the hybrid models they have been talking about.

I wonder why they wouldn’t have retired by now then?? Not like COVID is gonna be gone by the end of the year.

Talking with a couple teachers, they feel the union is gonna have push back with the hybrid due to teachers having to do twice the work (lesson for those in school and lesson for those at home) every day. So Walzy institutes hybrid, union pushes back, distance learning is brought back. Unfortunately, I feel like we are in for something like this.

Maybe have kids and teachers that don’t want to come to school do the distance thing. The rest go to schools traditionally (with some safety measures)??

I assume the biggest push back is staff safety. As a parent I would gladly sign a waiver to not hold school liable if my kid tested positive.

I would assume any potential retirees would wait till a decision is announced. I could be wrong but it wouldn’t be more work would it? Each kid would have 2 days in school, 2 days out. Teacher has to make 2 in school lessons, 2 out of school lessons and each gets used twice. I don’t know though I guess, could be missing something

Fish To Escape wrote:

I would assume any potential retirees would wait till a decision is announced. I could be wrong but it wouldn’t be more work would it? Each kid would have 2 days in school, 2 days out. Teacher has to make 2 in school lessons, 2 out of school lessons and each gets used twice. I don’t know though I guess, could be missing something

Just relaying what they had said. I’m not sure myself. But it soundS like they would have to tend to both each day?

Yeah I suppose there is work associated with the kids at home that would have to be done after teaching the kids in school.

We did receive a vague update from our district.

Our district is going back if the governor doesn’t forebid it. If he orders a hybrid plan ours will involve classes of no more than 14, and groups of students watching the classroom via live stream from a separate area. Students will attend the building 5 days a week (but are not guaranteed to be with their specific teachers each day). By using the gyms, auditorium, library, and some hallways they can meet the sq. footage requirements to be socially distanced (allegedly). Fall athletics are “on as of now”, but expect that to change.

The devil is in the details. Which kids get to be “with” the teacher? How does this solve the issues with a teacher seeing dozens of kids still every 45 minutes? How does bussing work? Who supervises the half of the entire student population that is NOT with their teachers? How does subbing work? What happens when a teacher tests positive? (We currently have 1 with a positive test from a weekend getaway). Where do we find substitutes as staff absences will likely be at record highs? Will kids get anywhere near the same education? What happens if all this planning is done and the state orders the school to move to Distance Learning?

I don’t know the answers nor do I agree 100% with any options or assume they will be perfect, but thought I’d share what we’ve been told. It breaks my heart for my seniors who pour their free time into the weight room and captains practices to lead our football team knowing it could likely be for not.

Well if they dont open up there will be a LOT of parents that will need to quit their job and stay home to supervise their kids while distancing learning. My family included. If that be the case then why would we need to pay those teachers,janitors and bus drivers at all since we would be home schooling anyway?

catnip wrote:

If that be the case then why would we need to pay those teachers,janitors and bus drivers at all since we would be home schooling anyway?

Don’t the teachers still work if there’s online/distant classes? I guess I don’t know if its just a standard curriculum or if the teacher is still providing daily schooling on the computer.

Obviously the janitors, bus drivers, and other staff won’t be getting paid if they aren’t working. Do you get paid if you don’t work? I don’t. Unless I’m using paid time off, of course.

catnip wrote:

Well if they dont open up there will be a LOT of parents that will need to quit their job and stay home to supervise their kids while distancing learning. My family included. If that be the case then why would we need to pay those teachers,janitors and bus drivers at all since we would be home schooling anyway?

Really? If that is your logic then why has ANYONE gotten paid for working from home during Covid?

When the school year was still going, my wife was in constant virtual meetings/check-ins with her kids, grading work, or working on next week’s lessons from 8:00 am Monday until 3:00 pm Friday. If that wasn’t enough time, she was meeting with the other same grade teachers over the weekend to put together their curriculum.

All I know is that “distance learning” is a circle jerk waste of time for elementary kids. I may as well teach them myself or send them to daycare, it just doesn’t work.

Secretary of Education said that kids mental well being, overall health at risk, if schools do not open.

Really not much of a choice here people, gotta get the schools open

lindyrig79 wrote:

All I know is that “distance learning” is a circle jerk waste of time for elementary kids. I may as well teach them myself or send them to daycare, it just doesn’t work.

Secretary of Education said that kids mental well being, overall health at risk, if schools do not open.

Really not much of a choice here people, gotta get the schools open

Agreed.

Really struggled with the 6yr old this spring. 2 older ones did well with distance learning, they missed their friends terribly tho.

lindyrig79 wrote:

All I know is that “distance learning” is a circle jerk waste of time for elementary kids. I may as well teach them myself or send them to daycare, it just doesn’t work.

Secretary of Education said that kids mental well being, overall health at risk, if schools do not open.

Really not much of a choice here people, gotta get the schools open

Couldn’t agree more with this.

B-man wrote:

The risk is worth the reward

67,000 Pediatricians agree.

Kids aren’t “superspreaders” of the virus (very, very few get sick enough to even become contagious)

I’d rather hang out around 50,000 kids in a school than ONE person in a nursing home.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.usnews.com/news/education-news/articles/2020-06-29/pediatric-group-calls-for-children-to-return-to-schools-despite-coronavirus%3fcontext=amp

This. I saw a story and they said that children just don’t spread it or it is very rare. Teachers and staff are far more likely to get it from each other than the children.