I imagine a lot has to do with where you live. In Vermont we are heading toward more "outdoor classrooms" in both publics and privates. In addition, most of us have hybrid at home-in school programming, so programs such as www.retribe.org (traditional "outdoor education" in the model of Scandinavian countries) are filling up for days kids are home.
Anonymous
Aug 17
I think some NYC privates are doing this by using tents. Riverdale and Poly Prep are two that I’ve heard of. The Manhattan schools (public and private) don’t have the space without the city agreeing the close streets for all schools (which would be great).
I agree that I am much more comfortable doing things outside than inside. Sitting in Central Park and seeing how many people are out and about, and yet no rise in cases speaks volumes to me.
Some of the arguments against it - moving and storing materials, accessibility issues, learning to deal with new environment. I am all for it, even if it is not perfect, but teachers I have seen respond are fiercely against it.
i have the utmost sympathy for teachers except in this area. Like - figure it out. It's safer for them, safer for our kids and there has to be a solution - there can't be NO solution.
I think it is hard for city schools who do not have their own dedicated outdoor space. Can you imagine if all schools tried to stake out space in Central Park and Riverside Park to hold classes? They worry about liability and logistics -- any member of the public can wander into "class" and what if it's raining and how to get supplies out there? My private has held "class" outdoors in the past, but's treated more like a field trip with extra teachers along to supervise and probably not something they could do all day everyday. If you are going to be inside part of the day anyway, may not be worth it to schlep everything outdoors.
But if DOE and the schools started thinking about this 2 months ago, we could have figured it out. Section off streets where possible, build temporary fencing to separate from the public, build a schedule for the backyards, create more entrances. I honestly would be happy even if they figured out how to bring them for field day type education one extra day a week.
@Anon This is largely the problem across the board. The city/DOE needed to be planning for this months ago. Schools (public, anyway) are largely limited by the DOE's position. Principals have been waiting and waiting for the DOE to tell them anything.
agreed. we could close streets, buy heat lamps. it's not perfect but a situation where kids are 2 days a week learning outside even if still using a bathroom in school - esp younger kids - is much less likely to shut down than whatever they are doing.
@Anonymous Some kids don't even own warm clothes or boots. But all this could have been planed for with strong leadership from the mayor or DOE. I bet we could have fund-raised and donated, and made sure all kids will be properly clothed for colder weather. We could have planned so many things but leadership is sorely lacking.
There is a rally about exactly this at city hall tomorrow (Thursday 8/20) at lunch. Not sure it is kosher or useful to forward, but the email says:
“....parents and children will be holding a rally and press conference to call on Mayor de Blasio and Chancellor Carranza to immediately provide guidance and support to schools that want to use outdoor spaces for instruction, play and lunchtime during the upcoming school year. The available public health data have shown that transmission rates of Covid 19 are significantly reduced outdoors.... “
I imagine a lot has to do with where you live. In Vermont we are heading toward more "outdoor classrooms" in both publics and privates. In addition, most of us have hybrid at home-in school programming, so programs such as www.retribe.org (traditional "outdoor education" in the model of Scandinavian countries) are filling up for days kids are home.
I think some NYC privates are doing this by using tents. Riverdale and Poly Prep are two that I’ve heard of. The Manhattan schools (public and private) don’t have the space without the city agreeing the close streets for all schools (which would be great).
I agree that I am much more comfortable doing things outside than inside. Sitting in Central Park and seeing how many people are out and about, and yet no rise in cases speaks volumes to me.
I think it is an issue of money and liability.
Some of the arguments against it - moving and storing materials, accessibility issues, learning to deal with new environment. I am all for it, even if it is not perfect, but teachers I have seen respond are fiercely against it.
i have the utmost sympathy for teachers except in this area. Like - figure it out. It's safer for them, safer for our kids and there has to be a solution - there can't be NO solution.
I think it is hard for city schools who do not have their own dedicated outdoor space. Can you imagine if all schools tried to stake out space in Central Park and Riverside Park to hold classes? They worry about liability and logistics -- any member of the public can wander into "class" and what if it's raining and how to get supplies out there? My private has held "class" outdoors in the past, but's treated more like a field trip with extra teachers along to supervise and probably not something they could do all day everyday. If you are going to be inside part of the day anyway, may not be worth it to schlep everything outdoors.
But if DOE and the schools started thinking about this 2 months ago, we could have figured it out. Section off streets where possible, build temporary fencing to separate from the public, build a schedule for the backyards, create more entrances. I honestly would be happy even if they figured out how to bring them for field day type education one extra day a week.
@Anon This is largely the problem across the board. The city/DOE needed to be planning for this months ago. Schools (public, anyway) are largely limited by the DOE's position. Principals have been waiting and waiting for the DOE to tell them anything.
agreed. we could close streets, buy heat lamps. it's not perfect but a situation where kids are 2 days a week learning outside even if still using a bathroom in school - esp younger kids - is much less likely to shut down than whatever they are doing.
100%. why are we not doing this?
@Anonymous Some kids don't even own warm clothes or boots. But all this could have been planed for with strong leadership from the mayor or DOE. I bet we could have fund-raised and donated, and made sure all kids will be properly clothed for colder weather. We could have planned so many things but leadership is sorely lacking.
There is a rally about exactly this at city hall tomorrow (Thursday 8/20) at lunch. Not sure it is kosher or useful to forward, but the email says:
“....parents and children will be holding a rally and press conference to call on Mayor de Blasio and Chancellor Carranza to immediately provide guidance and support to schools that want to use outdoor spaces for instruction, play and lunchtime during the upcoming school year. The available public health data have shown that transmission rates of Covid 19 are significantly reduced outdoors.... “
WHAT: Rally to Support Outdoor Schools
WHEN: Thursday, August 20th at 1:00pm
WHERE: City Hall
If interested in joining, please RSVP here.
Contact us at outdoorschoolnyc@gmail.com with any questions.