I was able to switch test sites just now. Hopefully the new one holds!
Our schools announced we can choose all online for fall or 2 days of f2f instruction, if you choose online you have to stick with it for the entire yr.
@Aguadecoco Ugh. I guess itās good to have some direction. If the past is any indication, our district likely wonāt make any announcements until about a week before school starts! But things are changing so quickly that it would be difficult to make a final decision for the entire year right now!
S21 wants the hybrid model, so thatās what we will choose. No details on how it will work or what the schedule looks like.
@Aguadecoco - thatās what Iām expecting out of our HS district (2 days on 3 days off) - not that theyāve given any indication of what they are doing.
How will they divide up the school with so many kids? Thatās what I hear is the impossible problem here.
We are already on a A/B block schedule so half will attend on A days, half on B days and everyone home 1 day is what I am hearing, but nothing official.
We wonāt find out until July 8th what direction our district is taking.
So if half of the kids go to school, will they be able to stay six feet apart? I think our school could only accomplish that if 20 percent of the kids went to school. Lol. And then each class would be a random assortment of students. Some might have no kids that day and some might have way too many to be in the classroom.
Take a precalc class for example. Those would have kids from all grades. If they divide the school up by grade, there would be maybe two kids in there on freshman day and then four on sophomore day and then 20 on junior day (obviously canāt happen). Some classes are all juniors. AP Lang would be full every day on a junior day. If they do it by the alphabet it would be just as problematic. I just donāt see any way that we can divide up the kids to ensure each classroom can be socially distanced.
My kidsā HS has block days, open campus, and 9 periods in a normal day but they take 6-7 classes. Imagine if they split that up into half classroom half online?!?! lol.
I think theyāre going to have a normal schedule, but only half of each class shows up each day. So, A-M last name on even days and N-Z on odd days. The tough part will be balancing each class so it has half in each group.
I would like to see them put all of the teaching/lecturing online and then have help sessions in person.
@AlwaysMoving ā thatās what my S is hoping for. HS classes all online but then you schedule f2f tutoring sessions with teachers, initiated either by the student or the teacher. I guess theyād still have to have the buses rolling every day for that b/c of younger kids who canāt drive and older kids w/o a car. Not sure how that would work, however, b/c if the idea is you schedule a check-in you donāt need to be there all day. Maybe they would have study spaces carved out around the school for students to do their work until they could get picked up or catch the bus back.
I worry about unmotivated students falling through the cracks, but if the teachers can compel some kids to come in, maybe itād be ok?
All students have a school-issued Chromebook and in the Spring the district gave hotspots to anyone w/o internet so thatās an advantage during all this.
Our neighbor is a part-time chemistry teacher at the HS and we heard from her son that all the teachers are putting their classes on Canvas this summer to be prepared for all online ā but that decision has not been made.
Classrooms do not have to be socially distant in Illinois.
From ISBE website FAQ:
Are all individuals in a school building required to maintain social distance (remain 6 feet apart) at all times? (Updated 6/25/2020)
Social distance must be observed as much as possible. Desks do not need to be spaced 6 feet apart; however, it is recommended that excess furniture be removed from classrooms to allow for as much space as possible in between desks.
So, as I see it, either the school could go all in and just do 5 days at school - unlikely, but maybe they could blow up the schedule and go to a block schedule to keep the kids cohorted more (only go to four classes a day - so three passing periods instead of 7), or they can do a 2 days on 3 days off and divide the kids by either grade or last name.
Iām thinking they will do grade because they can put together classes filled with all one grade (or two grades that will be in school on the same days) and other days can be asynchronous. If they split by last name, unless they do recorded lecture on the off days, with small group instruction on the on days, they will have to be synchronous and that requires strong internet connectivity to be able to be watching live video for 6 hours a day - probably ok for most kids, but I doubt the district can just assume that.
Regardless, I think all study halls will be first or last and they will tell people not to come in/to leave early if they can.
In a perfect world, both my high schoolers would be home/at school on the same days, but if they arenāt, then the silver lining is that someone would definitely be home with my 5th grader if he doesnāt go back 5 days a week, so I would have less of an issue with child care. Whatever will be, will be, I guess.
Tentative plans at my kidsā private 6-12 are f2f, but switching to a block schedule, so only 4 classes a day. Extended passing periods, no cafeteria access, lunch with your advisory group with food delivered if buying, no assemblies. And I think theyāre expanding into bigger spaces as needed for SD, curious to see where.
If this really happens, kids will be excited. Lower class size pre-Covid is the only reason this is possible, I think. I assume the state will mandate 6 ft and masks. Like some others, I think the 6 ft is a little excessive with masks, but reassuring for staff, maybe? My son talked to a teacher the other day, one whoās been teaching 40+ years, who is excited to get back in the classroom.
I know that our kids are set to go back to school sometime in the next 60 days, but do your kids/do you feel almost like they should be headed to college?
I feel with all the virtual stuff and focus on college, and with regular school abruptly āendingā in March, that my daughter almost doesnāt belong back in a HS classroom.
Iām sure once it starts up, in whatever incarnation that is, that all will be fine and back to normal, but there has been almost zero focus on senior year lately.
@3kids2dogs My D realized one day a couple months ago that she had gone to her last HS class and didnāt even know it since she will be full time PSEO/dual enrollment at a university this fall/spring. We have a feeling a lot of the classes will be online 
@3kids2dogs ā yes! My S has a lot of friends but is not been a big ājoinerā in high school so heās not missing the traditional rah rah, ECs aspect of school. I think heās a bit over it too. I mean heās pretty bored (I wish heād tried harder to get a summer job!) but I think the idea of 8 hours of school a day again feels foreign and not appealing.
I think heād be fine going a couple days a week and getting his work done at homeā¦ He knows a couple kids who took their last required HS courses this summer and are taking going to take a couple of online CC classes next year and apply to college. So almost like a gap year, really.
It has occurred to me there are some online high schools that my S could do next year if the districtās plan seems too crazy. Traditionally his school has a 7 period, year-long schedule. Heās supposed to be taking 5 APs and 1 engineering elective and then have a free period, which almost all seniors have. I just have no idea how close theyāll be able to meet that schedule under a new format. One rumor was they were going to cancel electives and only do core subjects.
I think many seniors would be ready to start college anytime. My S has def. kinda moved on from HS which could make next year ROUGH in terms of staying engaged and focused. Weāll seeā¦
@AlwaysMoving how can you divide up by alphabet for all classes and get half of the kids? In one class, there might be more kids in the last half of the alphabet - a lot more. Too many to be in the classroom. And, for us anyway, that would still be way too many kids in the hallway. In a very specific situation like our yearbook class, you need to have an editor and a photographer and a copywriter etc in each class. (Yearbook works as a team but some meet second period and some seventh so there are enough Macs for everyone during class.) D21 and her co- editor in chief have last names that start with the same letter but they really need one of them to be there every day.
I know our district is working on how to break kids into bubbles but itās not working. Even within one grade, and even for kids who might have the same core classes, they would have different extracurricular classes like band or art or different foreign languages. I doubt anyone in D21ās grade has the same classes as her out of 680 kids. Sheās one of 35 kids still taking French. If she looks through the two French classes, there would be no one with all the rest of her classes. So she canāt even make a bubble with one other person!
My daughter just told me thereās a rumor going around that the HS is going to go 5 days a week, but the kids are going to stay in the same classroom basically all day and do online learning from a single classroom. They report to 2nd period - do 1st period and 3-8th periods online from their seats (with headphones on I guess since everyone will be in different classes) and 2nd period would be taught live in person (2nd period is their homeroom since some kids have delayed start). That sounds horrendous and chaotic, but I guess it would solve internet issues and food security, etc.
We shall see. Registration opens Monday. Usually you can see the class schedule as soon as you pay your fees. Itāll be interesting to see if thatās the case this year.
@3kids2dogs ā ugh, that does sound terrible!
By the way, does anyone know when this month our kids should expect to see AP scores?
@homerdog that kind of thing is part of what, I think, led our district to require parents to choose for each kid - all online or all in person, no hybrid. I think Iād prefer the hybrid if it were feasible, but itās not an option here because it seems to be more complicated to deliver with so many different factors, and our district said itās not going to happen.
In my case, the choice of all remote or all f2f applies to my D23s but not to my S21 since heās been attending a homeschool hybrid throughout high school so isnāt in the public school system.
But now that the whole country is talking about hybrid options, I think what S21 does for school wonāt seem as foreign to as many anymore ? He takes a full slate of high school courses but is physically in school only Tuesday and Thursdays (and sometimes Fridays for club meetings and such). The other days heās home working on his assignments independently - thereās a lot of independent workā¦a bit like the college model in which you spend less time in the classroom and more time getting work done outside the classroom.
Iām hopeful that he might see less disruption in his routine than my D23s will? Time will tell.