There is a raging debate in my town over whether school should be 100% remote in the fall, or whether we should do a hybrid approach. The school board had recommended hybrid, but the teachers union wants full remote and is threatening to strike. I live in the suburbs and like most of the Northeast, our community’s coronavirus rates are very good. I think we all expect that things will go downhill over the fall with cold and flu season school and will end up remote eventually, but I was really hoping my son could start out in-person at least a few days a week to get to know his teacher and bond with her and the other kids. Also, he is in second grade and remote learning in the spring was just horrible, and the idea of going back to the daily battles over assignments with very little live instruction is terrifying. My husband and I both work full time in very demanding jobs, and we also have a preschooler and a baby. We have no child care. My husband’s income has been significantly impacted by COVID, but his work hasn’t actually slowed down all that much. Our life has been a total shit show since March. I’ve been holding it together, hoping the schools would reopen in the fall, at least partially. The idea that we might start out 100% remote, knowing that we‘ll never go back in person this school year if we do that, is driving me crazy with stress. I am in tears every day over the idea of full time remote learning and trying to balance work and child care. And I am feeling irrational anger at the teachers for refusing to go back, when teachers in private schools and private daycares are all going back without a fuss (not to mention doctors, nurses, everyone else who works in hospitals and medical offices, grocery store workers, store clerks, etc). We will obviously need to hire a tutor to assist, but that will cost tens if thousands of dollars that I wouldn’t otherwise have to spend if the teachers were willing to go back in person. It makes me so upset. Is anyone else feeling this way? I see all these parents posting on my community’s Facebook page that we should not go back in person if the teachers aren’t comfortable with it, and if we get to work remotely, they should too, and the classroom experience wont be pleasant so we should do remote. I don’t get it — do they all have a stay at home parent, or are they wealthy families with nannies? I am feeling enormous stress, and frankly, rage about the situation. And a lot of it is directed at the teachers union since they seem to be there roadblock to starting with a hybrid approach. Am I the only one?
You - and all parents - are living an unsustainable life. We are all in a state of limbo. Stress is through the roof. You don’t have much control over this. None of us do. You have to accept this unknown and take comfort that every other working parent is in the same situation. Hang in there
I'm with you 100%. I feel exactly the same way, exactly. Only I had a K and 2nd grader last year, but no baby. Btw, my kids ARE in private school, and even these teachers are going to refuse to go back, just watch, and this is after the school has spent a fortune to upgrade the facilities to make it safer. I'm furious also. This is not a job that can be done remotely; let's face the facts.
The private school should fire them
@Anonymous totally agree. Too many people need jobs. Bye.
Interesting reaction to a pandemic. Furious? Everyone is in the same boat. No one could have predicted this. Why are folks so entitled?
On a practical level, my family would be OK with fully remote. On a mental health level, I'm not sure how I can work and be home with DC. So I feel you. Similar aged kids, and they just need more attention than I can give.
But, as you said, starting with a hybrid model is probably only going to be possible for a few weeks or so, so we're all going to end up there in the end. I wish schools would think creatively about how to form a community feel if they can't be in person part time (park meet ups, etc).
It seems like a lot of your anger is at the teacher's union, which I'm not sure is fair. Even without the union, implementing the hybrid plan is a logistical mess. My office would have had people going back in (some of the staff is not productive remotely), if it wasn't for the difficulties of figuring out how to do so. Issues include: what do you do if teachers have health, childcare, or transportation issues? How to keep social distance in limited physical spaces. Etc. etc.
This is an impossible, terrible situation for everyone, but I agree with Anonymous that blaming the teachers is not productive. There's a lot of blame to go around. Our government, first and foremost, is responsible for not addressing the pandemic in a wise, scientifically informed way. Employers who are forcing parents to work full-time, childcare be damned, are also at fault. This is a global problem, and needs to be addressed on at least a nationwide scale. It shouldn't be every family struggling through on its own.
Absolutely this! It's very sad parents and teachers are in this position. We had ample warning but did nothing to stop the spread. NE states got in under control and then the southern states exploded. This is all due to lack of leadership and sabotaging medical workers, pro-active local leaders and scientists.
Yes, I feel the same way. I place most of the blame on the government but I also agree with you that some of the teacher demands seem unreasonable. It shouldn't be "go back to school and cross your fingers" but there should be an effort on the part of everyone to get protocols in place and to make opening schools a priority. I view it as completely doable in the NE. I am pissed that camps are open, the MLB season is on, and a lot of my colleagues are living their lives as usual, and yet, my life will be a disaster for another YEAR if school is fully remote. And there will also be a major education gap; people who don't admit that are in full denial.
Well, I definitely blame Trump and the disastrous response of the federal government first and foremost. But after that, I guess I am blaming the union because they are the ones threatening to strike if they are asked to go back in person. The superintendent and school board are planning for a hybrid opening in my town, and that is what the majority of the families want. And other towns around us are planning for hybrid too, and some have even gone so far as to procure tents to try outside classes. But the teachers union in my town has published a letter stating their position in favor of 100% remote learning, and if they threaten to strike, the school
board may have to cave to their demands. Maybe blaming isn’t productive, but they are an appropriate target given their attitude. I get their concern over their health, of course. But it’s not like they are offering to teach remotely from their classrooms, or to give up part of their salary to help fund tutors for pods, or promising parents that they will be willing to devote a certain number of hours per day to actual live instruction. All I hear from teachers (whether in my town or in articles or on these viral posts) are complaints and fears. I haven’t heard of one teacher making a productive suggestion for how remote learning will actually be improved this fall or how it will be successful for grades K-2.
100% this: "I haven’t heard of one teacher making a productive suggestion for how remote learning will actually be improved this fall or how it will be successful for grades K-2."
I also have an incoming Kindergartener. I can't wrap my head around effective RL for K so I asked in a teachers' forum. I got a few suggestions/ideas that require tech savvy, innovative teachers and small groups. Not happening. I was disturbed though by a subgroup of teachers who outright said "hold the kid back a year", "I don't usually suggest red-shirting, but if I had a 5yo now I wouldn't hesitate a moment". I don't think you will hear much constructive from teachers, simply because it's not possible.