@Golfgr8 We seven days ago receive a very encouraging letter sent to all parents (by email) which shared that they were planning on being on campus in the fall and with a regular start date. It really got our hopes up. Then a day later, an invite to an all-parents Zoom in two more days, set up in response to the school receiving a lot of parent questions as a result of that letter.
The Zoom felt distant, formal: parents were set to mute for the entirety, the chat was disabled, and participant view (video feed) was disabled. So it was just watching school leadership speak. It was not interactive in the slightest, even the leadership did not really talk back and forth amongst each other. It was very scripted. Also, my red recording light was on the whole time and I had no way to disable it (all the standard Zoom features I am familiar with when I am a participant or host were totally different, missing, or disabled). They didn’t ask our permission to record us, and we were not told if the recorded Zoom would be made available.
Why Zoom if we cannot ask questions? If there is no back-and-forth or conversation, and if we cannot or speak? I think the school should have just sent a follow up email addressing parent concerns or sent out a pre-recorded video message, if the Zoom was going to be not interactive.
Now they are taking back a lot of what was said in last week’s communication about hoping to be on campus, and there are other factors which make me really disappointed.
@sunandclouds , our Zoom was not interactive. Chat was open and questions were gathered and then “themes” were passed on to the HOS to answer at the end.
As a LPS school committee member, I can tell you that admin is constantly caught between giving as much information as early as they can and holding off giving information because if things change, people are then unhappy.
I have to say, I was really hopeful after hearing our school’s plans, but after seeing the large crowds gathering in other states this weekend, I’m really starting to think things won’t go as planned.
I have to say, it’s not practical to have an interactive Zoom meeting with hundreds of parents. People would be talking on top of people, and an agenda would never be completed.
Almost every meeting I’ve seen conducted with large groups (work, virtual information sessions, school meetings) have all muted and turned off video capabilities for the invitees to limit distractions. As @vwlizard indicated, the Q&A feature would be available and at the end of the presentation, the most popular concerns addressed.
No school will be able to present a plan with 100% certainty during this fluid, unpredictable time. It is unrealistic to expect them to. It’s also unreasonable to hold their feet to the fire for every proposed approach for fall. I’d say that in this difficult time, everyone deserves an additional amount of grace.
The epidemiology suggests that our kids are going to get C19 (or >80% of them will). Parents just need to decide if they are comfortable with that happening away at school or if they insist it be at home. Schools will undoubtedly have state-mandated measures in place to slow the spread of infection, but infection on campus should be assumed. The new norm will be how BSs, like colleges, continue to teach and provide a healthy social and athletic experience, with a baseline level of infection and illness in the background.
This anxiety-provoking communication dance between BSs and many parents is part of the process of coming to accept that the school cannot (and should not be expected to) keep our kids from getting C19.
@sunandclouds I do think that incoming Freshman are going to receive less communication than current students. That being said, it appears that some schools have communicated well and some have not communicated at all or up to the standards some parents expect. And some schools are likely still making many plans and are of the type that don’t communicate until they have a final decision vs. a school that says hey we don’t know yet but this is where we are so far.
Our school has had multiple zoom meetings on a variety of topics ( they even broke out by class year). They also allowed chat during the zoom call and left plenty of time to answer questions. I think a lot of communication depends on the head of school. When we decided on a school several years ago part of the decision was the school admin. Who knew how important that would be.
I have been very impressed by the communication and ability of our BS school to incorporate various viewpoints. While in the decision phase regarding pass/fail, the school apparently got lots of feedback. Parents ( myself included) felt the need to contact the school with their opinions prior to a final decision being made. Apparently, there were lots of views and admin had to discuss them all.
My younger child attends a school where the head of school makes all decisions with zero input from anyone. It is very didactic and was a large factor for moving to another school for high school. I could not stand that type of communication while paying a large sum for private education.
@sunandclouds - does your school have a parents network or host family program? If so, do take advantage of those resources for information, communication, Regional networking and support. Is your school in CT?
@CHEMAM I think your source (MA college student) is mistaken. I know from experience ( our with 2 kids) that the Governor has no control over private schools. Will they listen, perhaps. But many colleges are opening with or without the Governor’s ok. There is nothing legal or otherwise that the Governor can do when it comes to this. Also, phase 2 is coming up soon so its a moot point. ( However, might not be in the Fall if cases ramp up and the MA governor wants to close again. I think the same thing will happen as this Spring, colleges will close based on their schedule and needs.
Couple of our friends and we have received word school will be open in the Fall. Got a schedule and all. And our Dean friend says they are opening their college.
“While each campus will need to make its own decisions concerning operations in the coming academic year based on their own planning and needs, we hope this framework provides guidance in their work to repopulate their campuses at the appropriate time,” Laurie Leshin, president of Worcester Polytechnic Institute, wrote to the advisory board.
There is a framework but colleges and private schools make their own decisions. I think we can assume MA public schools ( and maybe Public U’s as well) will follow the Governor’s lead. Very important distinction as private schools have very different needs and some colleges and Universities can accommodations vs. some others.
The distinction is important as to who makes the ultimate decision the school or the Governor. I’m happy in MA it’s the schools. Others may feel differently.
@ChemAM Well, I think most will be aligned by Sept. But if not, there might be difficulties as parents decide whether to let their kids attend private schools and colleges. Going to be a rough ride. It’s hard for a parent to know what is happening in that state without being there.
Even if this is technically the case, reality is a bit different. A good friend of mine works at a MA boarding school and has attended the reopening plan meetings. I asked that very question and she said there is no way they are going against public health recommendations. If there is second wave, they will be online. The legal liability is too high, but also they are in the greater Boston area where the rate of infections is quite high if the virus is not well under control. They simply can’t risk not following the public health recommendations for schools and then having a big outbreak. And this is one of the well known schools with deep pockets. Also, she told me that the parent survey they did suggests vast majority of parents do want to send their kids, but also want the school to ensure that their kids will be safe. Which is not an easy task by any means but they are trying to do the best they can to prepare. And her take is the schools are all communicating and making same preparations and will likely make the same call about the fall.
As for MA schools reopening…
One thing they have to consider is available healthcare centers if students were to be sick. As we saw with this wave, hospitals in the Boston area were overwhelmed. One of the considerations of DS school (in CT) opening and remaining open is the availability of hospital beds. The school will be in touch daily with the nearby medical center.
@vwlizard Well, Boston area hospitals weren’t at ICU capacity which is the real issue everyone has been trying to avoid. Though there were many cases. I think Worcester hospitals actually had more of an issue. There were also many tent/convention type facilities that were not used at all or were used at 1-2% of capacity. Boston has a lot of hospitals and has been hit pretty hard so it’s unlikely that round 2 ( if an when it comes) will be as bad as in areas which don’t have a lot of folks who have already gotten it. But once they open up the subway and schools, it’s anyone’s guess.
The issue for MA hospitals will be if students are in session they will likely not be as exposed as MA residents have already been ( except NY/NJ students). That being said while few teens and 20 somethings get hospitalized, there are over 250 colleges in the state so it could still get overwhelmed. The risk hasn’t gone away.
All the talk I’ve heard says most if not all Universities are going back. I think BS will too. As someone noted above, BS might have reservations and some might even have admin’s who lean to No. But it does seem like it will be tough to keep schools shut down forever. It’s been six months. People are ready to get back to their lives.
In terms of liabilities, many companies are having people sign a waiver. Our orthodontist had one. If you want to use the service you have to sign. I think that’s wise. Businesses and schools have no control over Covid and they can’t be held responsible for someone getting it. People can decide for themselves what their priorities are and have ample notice to make other choices. I think many BS will have an online choice for those who can’t take the risk or are international.
We’ve heard that a lot of internationals aren’t coming back ( not only due to Covid but the recent demonstrations and rioting ). My kid has several international friends whose parents don’t like the latest US news. They are thinking of other options. None have made final decisions but they are likely following along closely to recent reports.
^to add to that, I’ve heard of some schools proposing the option of online for those who dont feel comfortable physically returning to campus. They’d pay day student rates, from what I’ve heard. It’s just brainstorming at this point, but a possible option.
I think virtually all schools will have hybrid model because:
1/ most of the pushback against reopening is actually coming from the older staff, schools have a fair number of teachers old enough to be in the high risk category. Most of them want/need to continue to teach online.
2/ Given the social distancing requirements and the need to keep desks 6 feet apart in particular, odds are some classes will have to be offered online even if all students return. Even though class sizes are not large, most BSs have smallish classrooms where you can’t fit 12-14 kids plus teacher while following the social distancing requirements.
3/ International students may not be able to return (plus quite possibly some domestic students with health issues etc. ) so will need to be offered an online option if the school wants to keep them at all. While I think this makes sense for returning seniors, odds are the incoming or underclass international students will think long and hard about the value of Zoom classes in the middle of the night and could well make other plans instead.
4/ Having an online option in place would make transition to online classes a lot more seamless should all students have to leave campus due to an outbreak/health concerns in the middle of the year/term.
From what I read most colleges are looking at variations of the hybrid model as well, for similar reasons.
-Boston area hospitals did hit ICU capacity and had to add capacity by basically turning non-ICU beds into ICU beds. They call that ICU surge capacity. The number of hospitals in the greater Boston area that are still at ICU surge capacity (meaning all regular ICU beds are filled, and then some) is, as I type this, 6. That’s down from a high of 26. The stat is among many updated daily here:
