The preliminary guidance, issued by Jeff Riley, the state’s commissioner of elementary and secondary education, offers no advice on how schools configured for 20 students and more per class should accommodate the much lower student-teacher ratios.
The guidance calls for
Maintaining six feet of separation at all times,
Assigning individual groups of students to one teacher who should not mix with other students or staff,
Restricting sizes to a maximum of 10 students, with a maximum of 12 individuals, including students and staff, in each room.
Is this scenario even possible?
I think our only hope is that the state loosens the guidelines. The way they are currently written all but assures that public schools won’t open in the fall, and kids will lose an entire year of their lives to a disease that hasn’t killed a single one of them in MA.
There have been many teachers who have become quite ill and too many have died.
Schools have been opening up throughout Asia and Europe. Here is what the WSJ reported on May 31. “A number of countries that have reopened schools in the past two months have reported no resulting increase in coronavirus infection rates, an encouraging sign for authorities around the world that are contemplating how and when to safely bring children back to the classroom…. Researchers and European authorities said the absence of any notable clusters of infection in reopened elementary schools so far suggested that children aren’t significant spreaders of the new coronavirus in society.”
Plus, on top of this, there is evidence that our ability to treat it has increased dramatically over the last two months. This should continue over the summer.
Clearly teachers should social distance from other adults, but let’s bring the kids back to school!
No school should open until their is a vaccine. Zilles and Fleishman need to figure out alternative ASAP.
@Jess,
Where are you getting your statistics on teachers being sick and dying?
Are you stating fact or speculation? And are you suggesting that “many teachers” is referring to Newton specific educators?
here is something from early May NEW YORK CITY (WABC) — The New York City Department of Education said it has now lost 72 employees to COVID-19.
On Monday, official announced the four new deaths.
All but three of the 72 DOE employees who died were based in schools across the city.
The other 69 school-based employees include:
-28 are paraprofessionals
-28 are teachers
-3 are food service staffers
-2 are administrators
-2 are facilities staff
-2 are school aides
-2 are guidance counselors
-1 is a parent coordinator
-1 is a School Computer Technology Specialist
I foresee trouble meeting the “six feet of separation at all times” guideline during the time in between blocks/periods. The hallways will be flooded with people.
From the UK in early MayIt shows at least 65 education staff have died with coronavirus, of which 43 were women and 22 were men, as of April 20.
That includes 17 secondary school teachers, seven primary and nursery teachers, two SEND teachers, ten teaching assistants, six school lunchtime supervisors and school crossing patrols and two school secretaries.
However some of the occupation groups are generic (ie senior professionals of education establishments), so it’s unclear which education sector some of these staff worked in (see full table below).
The figures also include 10 higher education and 10 further education staff who have died with COVID-19.
@Jess,
Ok….so basically less than 1% of the entire population of covid 19 deaths….
Not thinking that rises to the level of “many”…..
And again, nothing Newton specific.
Jess, Newton teachers with known risk factors should be offered an alternative to classroom instruction.
Alternatively, if teachers want another year of the nonsense “remote” education we saw this spring they should be allowed to choose that option, but at 1/2 pay. The cost saving could then be refunded to parents for use in supplemental educational offerings.
Once you start from the premise that doing what we are currently doing is totally unacceptable, then then solutions become a lot easier to consider.
I think it will have to be some sort of hybrid with split schedules for the kids. For middle and high school kids won’t be able to switch classes, I guess. I don’t envy the administrators for having to figure out how to make this work. But IMO even if the kids are on site 1/2 the time it will be a step up from virtual learning, especially for a social emotional learning standpoint.
The difference between what Jess is saying and what the WSJ is reporting comes down to RATES. Jess is looking at numbers. The WSJ is looking a the rate of infection and whether or not there are clusters of infections at schools.
Just because a teacher is infected does not imply that he was infected from a student. He could have been infected from his wife (most infections are within a family) or while taking the subway to work.
Let’s go back to school! Our kids need it.
The Whole Truth said: “Ok….so basically less than 1% of the entire population of covid 19 deaths….Not thinking that rises to the level of “many”…..And again, nothing Newton specific.”
Sure, because nothing adds to the trauma for kids attending school during a pandemic like “not many” of their teachers and staff getting sick or dying. Even worse if contact tracing points it back to a particular kid.
There are so many repercussions and possibilities that we simply aren’t accustomed to think about. Mental health. Transportation. Ventilation. Band and chorus (wind instruments seem like a bad idea, and we know group singing is a big red flag). Sick days / tardiness. On and on and on. All require preparation and the ability to change on a dime.
How will schools succeed in following guidelines? Flexibility, reactiveness, and money. If we could be certain we could pull off a successful school year (which we can’t, because no one can), it would be a compelling case to just spend the money, whatever it takes.
I’m almost certain that this information is inaccurate. These are the standards the state has proposed for summer programs, not the school year. As I understand it, the state isn’t close to establishing regs for the fall.
Craig – Whatever regulations that come from the state have nothing whatsoever to do with what teachers want. Trust me, the DOE, DESE, and BESE could care less what teachers think about educational regulations or their needs for how to teach effectively in any situation, nevermind these extraordinary circumstances.
Jess, could you please tell me where your data comes from? Do you have a link? Thanks.
I could be wrong, but I assume that it is related to the aqueduct that crosses at Echo Bridge. There is another similar station by Mason Rice on Tyler Terrace.
Oops – you’re on the wrong thread Patrick Moriarty
The Mass Teachers Association has written a letter calling out the (IMHO clear) impracticalities of the current state plan.
https://www.boston.com/news/coronavirus/2020/06/09/teachers-association-response-state-guidance-school-reopening
Yes, “each district is responsible for purchasing their own supplies”. I appreciate they compared that to the President pushing responsibility for PPEs to the states. Both policies are needlessly expensive and inefficient.
@ Jane –
These are, in fact, the guidelines for opening schools in the fall put out by the state. You can see them here on the DOE website:
http://www.doe.mass.edu/covid19/on-desktop.html
Click on the Guidance on Required Safety Supplies for Re-Opening Schools docx.
As a parent, I recognize the teachers did the best they would from March to now, however the amount of teaching that went on was not okay as a parent. High school classes met once a week and middle school classes met twice per week. I do not want my kid to enter high school as a freshman and only have teaching once a week. I am hoping that by the time we get to August, we can have a larger group then ten together in a room.
One suggestion that I have is divide the class in half, and have half the kids attend for a week, and then the other half. AND while the kids AREN’T in physical school, they can ZOOM into class and be part of the class. And if needed, have the teacher’s desk be behind plexiglass. Is this natural? No, but it has to be better than the current system.
This of course assumes that there is childcare for the employee’s, but what happened from March-now, is not something that can be sustained.
NewtonMom – I think your proposal is a good start. Once teachers understand that they will be working full time regardless of how the plan ultimately shakes out, there will be a lot more of an appetite to get back to business as usual.
It is vitally important that the majority of parents who wan’t our kids back in school keep up the pressure on officials from the governor on down. They are certainly hearing from those that would happily sacrifice two years of our children’s lives waiting for a vaccine that may never come.
@Mike,
Don’t be silly. Of course I don’t want to see kids traumatized.
But Jess made a very broad statement without proof or links to the information that was provided.
And it is not a stretch to suggest Jess was referring to teachers in Newton.
There are no facts to back that suggestions up.
It is far more likely that children have been traumatized by the loss of elderly family members as that is the population that has been most affected by Covid 19.
I also think that those who can flee to private schools will, since those schools were able to provide more hours per day for virtual classrooms. Sad that those who can afford a good education will flee a once great public school system.
Newton can be great in a virtual classroom setting, but what we had this spring, was not great. It was not cutting edge. Maybe Newton could learn from private and public schools across the nation of what worked best and why.
NPS teachers and staff will not be able to educate our kids using these guidelines. Are there no public school representatives on the board of advisors? I ask that tongue and cheek because of course there are not.
Where would the extra space and new teachers come from to have class sizes so small and keep them away from everyone else? How would kids receive mandated disability and special ed instruction?
Newton Centre Lurker – Could you direct me to the exact place on the linked website that explains these guidelines? I can’t seem to find them and I’ve clicked on a number of links.
Craig – Teachers are working full time now. You may not like the model, but that’s another issue.
To NewtonMom’s point–“Newton can be great in a virtual classroom setting, but what we had this spring, was not great. It was not cutting edge.”–please read this new post: https://village14.com/2020/06/11/what-should-be-the-expectations-for-the-fall/#axzz6P70JpkLX
These are not the state guidelines. At this point in time, the state has only issued guidelines for supplies necessary for schools to have on hand in September.
Craig,
It is imperative to look at the bigger picture. Students don’t attend schools where they function in a self-contained environment floating in a bubble. Is there a quick fix when the planet is in the clutches of a pandemic? The underpinnings of public education are being reconfigured. Please show some humility and realize the stress this is creating around the board.
Jane, if you click:
http://www.doe.mass.edu/covid19/on-desktop/2020-0605guidance-safety-supplies-school-reopening.docx
Page 2 of that document, “Overview of Current Health and Safety Guidelines” clearly lays it out. Including:
“Smaller, isolated groups of students assigned to one teacher: Successfully implementing 6 feet of social distancing will require significantly smaller class sizes and reduced staff-to-student ratios. Furthermore, where feasible, programs should isolate individual groups of students with one consistently assigned teacher, and groups should not mix with other students or staff. At this time, group sizes are restricted to a maximum of 10 students, with a maximum of 12 individuals, including students and staff, in each room.”