Phase 3 Incoming!

 

The school board voted to move to Phase 3 by a vote of 4-3 on October 8th. The vote shows basic public opinion. A teacher I know watched some of the public comment section and said it was, "more dramatic than a TV talk show." The online comments I looked at were certainly very for or very against......and it was also clear many hadn't read what the actual plan was.

Phase 3 involves brining PK-3rd grade students back for 2 days a week hybrid and the rest virtual. The older grades will allow more ESL, SPED, and disengaged students access to the building, as well. However, the model for the older kids won't be about instructing them in person. It will be more about giving them access to a quieter, internet-equipped environment. There will be TA's in the room to help keep them employed, but kids won't move from room to room and teachers will still be virtual.

I'm for it. The youngest kids are the ones who seem to be the least successful with virtual school and the least at risk from COVID. Based on all the numbers we've seen in the area, I think it's good to cautiously push forward. 

A survey was sent out to parents and teachers once the vote was made. It said that 55% of parents were planning to send their children in while 45% opted to remain full virtual (About what you'd expect based on the board vote). Age of the child was a factor. The split was roughly 50-50 for 3rd grade students whereas  70% of parents of preschool children said they'd be sending their kids in. 

200 teachers said they didn't want to return to in-school learning with 2 retiring, 3 taking a leave of absence, 51 citing ADA allowing them to remain virtual and the remaining 136 opted out for other reasons which may or may not be honored. I wonder if that was only Elementary teachers included in that number. On my survey I said "No" and in the comments put I had a 4th grade student and wanted to remain virtual until he could return to hybrid. I could see other teachers being in the same boat where they'd be okay returning except childcare becomes the stumbling block. 

It's a puzzle. I'm hoping and praying things go well, because then there's a chance we could go to Phase 4 at the start of next year. That's when high schools would go back to a hybrid model and I'd be in the classroom.

The one part of Phase 3 I'm unsure about are sports. Or I guess I should say, I'm not sure about *my* sport: Wrestling.

Phase 3 allows for sports to begin training again. At the moment, I think it says that teams can train up to twice a week with days in between. I think there are still rules to prohibit too much contact and interaction...which is fine for many sports, but wrestling? If wrestling is anything it's up close and personal! If we have to restrict activities to individual conditioning and drill with no partners will that really be worth it?

Plus, on a selfish note, I don't know if I really want to spend 45 minutes driving to the school for an hour to an hour and a half after teaching online all day (and in the window there will still be daylight for horse chores). And yet, if I don't do it would that leave Coach Rick on his own? And what about the kids who are desperate for that sense of team community? 

That's a personal problem for me to figure out. I want to see what the actual model is going to look like before I commit to a decision. There's online trainings I need to do, etc.