Nancy Flanagan, who taught music in Michigan public schools for more than three decades, notes that journalists are referring to 2020 as “the worst year ever” for schools. She poses a question: What if teachers used this time to take control of their work and make this the best year ever?
She writes:
What if this were the year that we–students, teachers, parents—got to try everything we ever considered doing? What if you could design your own teaching-learning path and your own outcomes? Freed from the constraints of rigid curricular standards, conventional M-F schedules and tests designed to sort, rank, reward and punish—what if you got to choose what David Berliner calls ‘good learning’?
Nearly every argument against this stems from our cast-in-concrete ideas of what school is supposed to be: You are supposed to be reading in first grade. You are supposed to learn to ‘socialize’ in school. You are supposed to learn a tiny bit about multiple, discrete subjects every day, instead of spending a whole day (or week—or month) using only one or two disciplines. You are supposed to be ready for college or a career at the end of the thirteen-year race.
You are supposed to be able to focus, seated, indoors for hours at a time, without frequent breaks to stretch, use the restroom or talk to other people. Or daydream. Or read something interesting. Or doodle, look out the window or immerse yourself in a topic, skill or project that is of great interest to you.
In fact, in some schools, it doesn’t matter what you’re interested in—we have your content and your benchmarks all laid out for you. It’s aligned with the test that will tell us what classes you’ll take next year, and the year after that. Will the pandemic be over then?
Read her article and add your thoughts.
Be it noted that I know my limits. I am a historian of education. I never tell anyone how to teach. I leave that to the professionals.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Instead of a challenge, let’s look at this situation as an opportunity.
I agree with this 100%. Here’s an excerpt of a comment I made a few days ago on the posting of John Merrow’s article:
We have become a nation characterized by greed, cowardice, retribution, blame, hate, lame excuses and paralysis and the dysfunctional politics of today. The pandemic has exposed it for everyone to see and no one can deny it any longer.
A few weeks ago I read a couple of sentences in Michael Tomasky’s biography of Bill Clinton that has caused me to change my thinking about our collective future, both as a nation and as citizens of the world. “American political discourse had once operated within broadly agreed-upon boundaries of self-restraint. It grew out of shared respect for institutions; the shared experiences of the Depression and world war that gave Democratic and Republican politicians a set of bonds that transcended partisan politics; and an understood need during the Cold War to be American at the end of the day.” Indeed, I can remember when Republicans and Democrats–all Americans, for that matter–agreed with the goal of “making the world safe for democracy.” We argued like hell about it, but the goal was easily agreed upon. The pandemic, rather than becoming a unifying common event that we all agree we need to address, not only for ourselves, but for the world and our standing in it, has become just another political football that makes us look foolish, scared and will remove all questions about whether the U.S. will ever be anything approaching the mythical “shining City on the hill” ever again. The school debate is a perfect microcosm of the crap we find ourselves in.
As tired as I have grown of the wacko deniers who will not take the pandemic seriously, I’m growing just as weary of the people on this blog who claim to be educators or for public education who retreat and resign themselves to a “no schools until we have a solution” argument and paradoxically embrace the “distance learning” as the ONLY answer, especially when we know, a) how ineffective and potentially destructive it is and, b) that this will be a “shock doctrine”-like justification to further marginalize and ultimately kill public education. We claim we want teacher autonomy, no standardization, respect for local control, engaged school board and administrations, master teachers who mentor rather than Pearson-based packaged curricula that require acquiescent drones, diverse physical education, play time, smaller class sizes, respect for facts and the scientific method, diversity at all levels, nutrition and health, and most of all, equal opportunity for all students, regardless of who they are, where they come from, or what their economic status might be. Can this pandemic be the spark that helps us to realize this–much like the Depression, world wars, and the Cold War were for past generations? Can we produce a political playing field like the one that Daniel Inouye and Bob Dole, both veterans who almost died and each of whom lost use of an arm as they opposed each other in the political arena, with a shared sense of respect and ultimate goals? If we base it on a snapshot of today, I doubt it.
But if we, as Wait, What? says above, determine that we “don’t [have to] throw out the baby with the bathwater” and recognize that “there are all kinds of hurdles to overcome [if we] work through them”, can we not begin to make something worth living and dying for? First things first. A real response requires a New Deal, comprehensive approach, one never before imaginable. New programs, new ideas, new commitments, and funding in a way that we’ve never seen in our lifetimes. If policymakers are too timid, then we must lead from below. We have to present a vision, whether it is achieved or not, by which everything that happens from this moment forward is measured. And public educators and their most passionate supporters are in a position to do this more so than any others in our society to show how this can and should be done. I have been heartened in the past few day of ever dwindling of limiting diplomacy and niceties expressed by Andy Slavitt, for FDA commissioner, and the statement made today by the people at Johns Hopkins who have been tracking this pandemic. It’s time for straight talk.
So what can public education do? Lay out some plans, rethink for the short term how to educate within the limits of the pandemic without resorting to the easiest, cheapest, most effort-free ideas. Who says that education has to happen five days a week in regimented, evenly spaced educational blocks in the same venues all the time? Why is the only solution distance learning? We have empty hotels and other venues–inside and outside, unemployed people, unused resources, cramped conditions. We have teachers whose lives are literally at risk if they step back into classrooms. We have students–students who want to be teachers and many who don’t yet know that they really want to be teachers–who are being prevented from returning to their colleges and universities. So how about some thinking way outside the box?
TOW laments above that thing in Utah are not as wide open as they seem. The Wasatch Valley is not like the rest of the state, it’s pretty crowded and it’s hot. You know what’s not crowded, virtually empty and unused right now and not so hot? Park City and the surrounding areas. Why can’t we create federal and state funding sources and programs that bring some students to the hotels–a group a week–to make sure they can get out, be supervised safely, rework the curriculum, have master teachers work to mentor college students and work with other teachers and administrators who are less at risk? Why can’t we think about how to use literature, history, science, and incorporate walks in the wilderness with meals provided? We could pay empty, unused places rent that are currently going out of business; we could create a hiring boomlet.
Why can’t we turn parts of Central Park into teaching venues, especially when we could turn it into a hospital? Why can’t we enlist people to work with teachers so that instead of student’s working remotely, in isolated situations, that teachers can communicate virtually with their surrogates? Why can’t we start to think about how we can do something rather than list excuses why we can’t?
And if policymakers balk and are obstructive, let’s lay out some solutions and present them to the public, let’s vote on them, let’s do something goddammit. Let’s make policymakers respond to them and have it make or break their careers. I don’t have the answers. But I’m pretty sure We do. Whining, denying reality, finding excuses to continue the status quo, which we know is leading us to straight down the road to more catastrophe and likely the end of the world in one way or another, is not the answer. For years I’ve read on this blog and other places that teachers can be part of the solution to many of our societal ills. If you can’t prove it now, you never will.
I missed this comment before. Glad you re-posted it.
I really agree with what you are saying..
I have company here including some kids…I’ll come back and reread it in greater detail later on.
Take care
See my response way down under general comments.
See my feedback way down under general comments
You had to know this was coming from me, eh GregB!
“We have to present a vision, whether it is achieved or not, by which everything that happens from this moment forward is measured.”
No, not measured but evaluated, judged, assessed.
In order to fulfill whatever vision that might come about, it needs to be devoid of the false and obscuring usage of the term measure. One that is purposely obscured to give the teaching and learning process a sheen of science (pseudo-science at best, like economics or psychology or astrology, etc. . . .) when that process should be and needs to be considered as an art, a practice, an ongoing search for making the teaching and learning process as good as it can be in providing the opportunities for ALL children to thrive and prosper as much as they can (and not as supposedly measured by some specious measuring device such as the standards and testing malpractice regime, along with many other nonsensical practices/discourses.
I bow to you, Duane. You are correct, I should not have used the word measured. “[E]valuated, judged, assessed” is more along the lines of what I intended. Thanks for your measured response!! 😅
Another example of language again today. Got an email from Bernie’s organization and one of the points he picks is that the Idiot doesn’t “believe” in science. WE DO NOT BELIEVE IN SCIENCE! We accept the validity of the scientific method. See Duane, we’re more soulmates of a sort. A strange sort, admittedly!
Nancy is right on target. As schools have closed, this now becomes an opportunity for teachers to take back your profession and embrace the agenda of all children. When students return, administrators will be chasing their tails trying to fit kids into that little standardized box full of word games and math riddles. Hopefully they will realize that kids are not the same and will not fit perfectly into a “one size fits all” design.
Get together with colleagues NOW, be it in person or on line, and develop that plan to subvert the system for the benefit of all kids. Begin by focusing on those who need us most
Once a plan is in place, bring back those students who don’t own a computer and design the school for them. Of course there then will be small class size but more important teach in the way they learn best.
Step 2 would be to bring back those students who have not been successful. Again not only allowing for small class size, but to develop a design that serves them best.
Finally, when all students can return to school, a system for education will be in place that truly does respect the intelligence and abilities of all children.
and we can hope that as schools one day do get back to normal much student inequity and building failure will have been exposed
Good afternoon Diane and everyone,
I pretty much have carte blanche to design and implement my curriculum. That ISN’T making my job of preparing to teach any easier. The physical limitations that are going to be inherent in teaching are going to cause stress for everyone and radically change how and what I’m going to teach. As I said, I’m lucky enough to have the freedom to decide what and how I teach. But teaching takes preparation. I wish this was something that people understood. But they don’t. I have 5 different subjects to teach – French 7-11 grade. 11th grade is a college level course. The prep work for all this takes time even in the best of situations. Now, I’m forced to use platforms I’m not that familiar with, have information all coming at me from different places, be required to type stuff into different programs, correct “papers” online, etc is just overwhelming sometimes. It all takes so much more time than before. I am thinking of ways to simplify and just keep my head above water.
I understand your dilemma. Are you the lone French teacher in the district? At least you have autonomy which is so much better than a dictated curricula outside of your control. What you have to do is organize everything so you can keep your sanity, Good luck.
Two non negotiables 1 small class size. 2. planning time
The 2020/2021 school year is likely to involve some “remote” teaching. Effective remote teaching should not involve reliance on algorithm-driven digital worksheets, i.e., EdTech, but in order to make that happen and introduce alternative pedagogy, we MUST fight to relax standards and remove the requirement for high stakes testing during this pandemic year. Without these changes, districts and teachers will feel excessive pressure to implement EdTech tools that focus children on learning mainly how to answer multiple choice questions. That would not only serve to deaden learning for most students, but it could also do irreparable damage by deadening their love of learning and alienating them from school.
To shift focus away from digital educational tools toward pedagogic tools for promoting strong student engagement, we should:
• Use project-based lessons to help students claim ownership over the learning process and discover new interests.
• Use place-based lessons — including outdoor learning and outdoor classrooms — to connect school to students’ lives and communities.
• Projects, especially in the middle and upper grades, can be connected to societal issues that students face in their local communities and lives, including:
— Public health issues, including COVID-19
— Racial and Social Justice
— Economics and Economic Inequality
— Civics and Elections
— Digital Wellness and Digital Citizenship
— Student Privacy
— Local Community Affairs
• Integrate social and emotional learning (SEL) throughout the curriculum.
• When possible, use printed materials and handwritten work to increase student comprehension and retention.
• Maintain frequent communication with all stakeholders.
• Especially for administrators: Increase professional development time to bolster teacher creativity and teacher collaboration to design new curricula.
CCFC is launching a campaign to support these principles. For more information, contact seth@commercialfreechildhood.org
Agree, somebody [teachers unions? Assoc of Supts?] needs to keep up steady pressure on pols/ state & fed DOE’s for a hiatus on ESSA annual testing et al stdzd accountability tests until pandemic is in rear-view mirror & normal brick/ mortar in-person teaching has resumed. Logic is simple & straightforward: that particular tool is standardized & designed to compare district/ regional/ state-to-state achievement all other things being equal. During covid times, each area’s ed goals & implementation will vary depending on covid spread & connectivity infrastructure.
“for a hiatus on ESSA annual testing et al stdzd accountability tests until pandemic is in rear-view mirror & normal brick/ mortar in-person teaching has resumed.”
No, no, no, no, no!!! Said in that teacher’s flustered voice
Kill the demon while we have a chance. No more false, unjust and unethical standardized testing as used in the standards and testing malpractice regime.
Correct of course! But a full year or two without them might drive the stake at least halfway into its heart.
I’m thinking, the mindless bean-counters’ comparisons can’t work for year 2 either– by end of one mashed-up year, curriculum covered will be all over the map & uncomparable– hell it might take 5 years to get everyone up to snuff– etc. Trying to use their own insane logic against them to make the case… “Standards” cannot be taught to during a year when districts’ # of in-person teaching days vary wildly– & amount of remote instruction ditto, in view of wildly-varying degrees of connectivity.
In fact, ample fodder for lawsuits enjoining states/ fed DofEds from using test results in teacher evaluation, or for grading schools or anything else. Standardization is a myth anyway, but that myth can be shown to be untenable even to bean-counters during a year when it can’t be applied even in bureaucratic fantasy. Ergo 1st line-item on state ed cuts applies to that which cannot happen so isn’t happening. Then let them try to add it back in a couple of yrs, at a premium, in the depths of post-covid recession/ depression…
Yes, this coming school year presents a tremendous opportunity for education in the U.S. All that needs be done to, sorry, make America great again is to build on last spring and stop annual high stakes testing. It would free students and teachers to employ ingenuity and grow, rather than checking off poorly conceived items on a narrow standards checklist. The tests have been holding us back. Imagine a whole school year without the hated NCLB-Common Core mandates restricting us. If President Joe Biden’s Department of Education waives the test requirement immediately after confirmation, parting from the DeVos Department, this could very well be the best school year ever. It could be tremendously restorative. It could lead to many more ‘best years ever’, happily ever after.
“All that needs be done to, sorry, make America great again is to build on last spring and stop annual high stakes testing. ”
No, that certainly is not “all that needs to be done.” Because the next phase of the epidemic of education malpractices-a more subtle and insidious form is the total monitoring via computer based training that is nothing more than a drill and test mind numbing soul sucking abomination that purports to be “individualize learning” but is nothing more than a Bentham wet dream of panopticon surveillance.
Agreed, Señor Swacker. The pandemic holds lessons for not everyone, and many will go the online route, believing blindly in technology. In my class, however, if the pandemic teaches us to end high stakes testing once and for all, the day I return to my classroom AND THAT DAY WILL COME (pardon my shouting), it will happen, yes, I will be able to teach with meaningful, whole literature, without pressure-cooked adminimals trying to get me on board with competency-based education apps. All I need is a return to paper books when the testing stops. Academic freedom. That day will come. It will.
Although blue sky thinking about education can be a virtue, it is also a luxury in an environment where federal regulations, meager funding, and a pandemic impose serious constraints. Example: Does the following report have any bearing on the idea that education is group settings is essential?
A report released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Friday (July 31, 2020), is relevant to debates about whether and how to reopen classrooms or take advantage of alternative arrangements and visions of education. The study details an outbreak at a summer camp in Georgia last month, where at least 260 children — half of whom were 12 or younger — and staff contracted the virus in less than a week.
https://s2.washingtonpost.com/camp-rw/?trackId=598ac0eeae7e8a681625a17e&s=5f248574fe1ff65e1171b2da&linknum=1&linktot=53
Correct, Laura. Also relevant: upsets to MLB opening schedule due to 18 Miami Marlins testing positive on 4th day of season. Even though their workday is outdoors, masked, & distanced, they travel and change together in indoor spaces. And let’s add the 3 TX teachers team-teaching to remote students from a school classroom, w/masking, distancing & sanitization [one brought it in, the other 2 caught it, one of them died]. All 3 situations reflect (a)ignoring level of community spread, and (b)ignoring months of data suggesting aerosolized droplets is primary mechanism of spread. WHO/ CDC are resisting publicizing (b) & revising recommendations. Direct bearing on reopening schools– or bars, restaurants, gyms– regardless of how few are present. The longer you’re gathered in an enclosed space , the more talking [let alone singing, yelling, panting] goes on– even if you’re masked & 6-ft distanced– the higher the chance of spread– mitigated only by vast, hi-ceilinged sqftage and/ or a specialized, sophisticated ventilation system designed to thwart viralspread. https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2020/07/why-arent-we-talking-more-about-airborne-transmission/614737/
My conclusion: don’t re-open schools– even on a part-time basis w/ small groups, masks, distancing, sanitization– unless (a)community covid stats have been maintained at a trickle for an extended period [14 days not long enough], (b)the ventilation issue is addressed in classrooms, bathrooms, halls, teachers’ lounges, offices, etc., & (c)regular testing w/ quick results, & contact tracing/quarantining/ retesting before readmittance. Same rules should apply to any venue where people gather/ interact for more than brief periods inside. Inside dining/ drinking should remain closed regardless because masking is not possible.
And of course the elephant in the room… “This investigation adds to the body of evidence demonstrating that children of all ages are susceptible to SARS-CoV-2 infection and, contrary to early reports, might play an important role in transmission.”
https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/69/wr/mm6931e1.htm
I love the idea.
Yeah, the news stinks, the president stinks, on and on and on….
But the kids are waiting for us to at least give it a try….give something a try.
I agree with Nancy…the possible routes to open up contact with students can and should be as creative as we can safely handle.
Thanks for highlighting my blog. I’m fully aware that it’s blue-sky thinking, and that we are in danger of weakening support for (or even outright losing) fully public education. I also know all about what public schools face this fall, in terms of staffing and funding, let alone safety.
Two weeks ago, my governor (‘That Woman from Michigan’) said, in releasing the state’s Return to Learn plan, ‘If you want face to face school in six weeks, start wearing your masks everywhere, right now.’ She was right.
This is more blue-sky thinking, of course, but strong national leadership right now, with a national shutdown and universal mask wearing and social distancing, plus a ramp-up of test preparation, might allow us to start school mid-fall, with a flat curve.
Instead, shutting down the virus is barely mentioned in the shout-fest volumes being written about returning to school.
Instead, shutting down the virus is barely mentioned in the shout-fest volumes being written about returning to school.
I absolutely agee. This is the context that matter most and too rarely mentioned as one of most important conditions for avoiding a lot of start and then stop then try again disruptions in any plan.
Nice! Thanks.
I know I am nothing but a downer, but I see no way that this is not the worst year in recent memory, certainly in my memory. Until next year.
My worst year was 2016, when I first started to comment here. Working out some of the ideas I had kept to myself for years, unrelated to my work, helped me get through it immensely. This year is definitely worse on a macro level. Vent here and take some time to read or do whatever you like to do that’s unrelated to your work. It helped me, might do so for you.
That was also a bad one for me. 2015 had been my worst until this year, for personal reasons. I do have a strong sense that 2016–>whatever will be even worse, both macro and personal.
Hello Flerp,
I often think of a quote by Carl Jung. He said, “The patient must be alone if he is to find out what it is that supports him when he can no longer support himself. Only this experience can give him an indestructible foundation.” I know the school year coming up for me will be replete with stress, learning new things, dealing with overwhelm, change, absurdity and everything else imaginable. There will be many things to let go of and many things to embrace. I will take the time to develop those things that support myself. I hope you can, too. Even though the education your children receive may not be what you or they expected, they have it in their power to to learn things and develop interests on their own. School is not the only place to learn. I am never bored because there is something to be learned about every aspect of life – everywhere I am. This might be a good time to encourage that kind of learning in your children, and to help them see that institutional education is only a part of learning and it’s not the end of learning. 🙂
In major ways I agree with you, FLERP. But I have this other piece that keeps occurring to me – probably I differ because of being a generation older. For a long, long time, I have been watching hopes for our & my kids’ futures– hopes based on expectations built ’50’s-’70’s– wilt & die on vine. Always accommodating, resigning self, even imagining, ‘well they can always migrate to… [fill in blank].’ [ My kids actually have friends who’ve done better by moving to Prague to perform music & support selves comfortably as teachers of English]. They are part of a huge subculture of millennials who live on low salaries & high ideals– who already pre-covid resembled the Depression generation, w/ hopes of supporting a family or home ownership deferred indefinitely. Because of the steady, decades-long deterioration of financial/ career opportunities for middle/ wkg class people. Seemingly capped/ cast in concrete since 2010 w/Cit-United decision.
The covid pandemic– & our nation’s inability to deal with it– has thrown all that in the air. I have no clue where we’ll land, it’s like a giant game of 52-pickup. There will surely be another Depression here, but facts are our family at least was already headed in that direction, looking ahead to the probability of aged Mom&Pop hosting offspring families much as my Gr-grandparents did for Mom & cousins’ families [we are 40 yrs older than our kids so it’s parallel]. But many positive national changes came from that excruciating time. At least change offers hope. We are in the midst of bigtime change.
Great article.
Totally AGREE. Been saying this, too.
This is an opportunity….sketching, projects, reading and writing, collecting info from family and friends, doing a project … noticing.
Cooking, baking, crafts, finding bugs, scrapbooking, and on and on.
Answering GregB’s comment 8/1 12:29pm
GregB, as I re-read my comment before posting, I see that I’m proposing that our group be a hotbed of viable proposals for how to do K12 ed during pandemic.
Who better than us?
I’m not sure you’re reading commenters correctly on “no schools until we have a solution.” In my case at least. It’s hard to brainstorm in this medium. We tend to come across to each other as “How about this?/ “That’s no good” w/n the strictures of a forum. Another difficulty is, we come from different parts of the country: virus, politics, policy vary, so what might work in one region is shot down from someone in another region.
But I think the biggest challenge of the reopening-schools issue can be found in your words: there is no “a solution “. We need to be framing the questions very differently, to allow for wide variation in methods to meet goals. And even before questions, we need to agree on goals, & before that, on a few basic “don’t’s” based on science. Backing off for an even bigger picture: the whole thing has to be highly flexible and responsive, anticipating the continuing evolution of covid data & consequent changes to best practices.
For example. When you first posted this, I responded negatively. You were trying to point out potential spaces and personnel available due to covid that could meet doubled space/ personnel demands of social distancing in K12 schools. I came at it from this angle: spaces are unused because they’re unsafe to gather in due to covid stats – their employees/ students are furloughed for the same reason – don’t try to gather people in indoor spaces until covid spread is near-zero.
But there’s wiggle-room in between. There are undoubtedly some safe spaces available, even per latest science. And some appropriate personnel. Probably not “educated retirees” per the Merrow article to which you were responding; they’re high-risk (but then again maybe sometimes, e.g., open-air classes). But why not college students: there must be a bunch choosing hiatus rather than high-cost online classes.
This is just about how brainstorming might go in forum format: we have to try to extract & retain the viable concepts from the immediately-obvious no-no’s & keep pursuing the concepts. And set aside some issues for later consideration as refinements– security, liability, legal implementation.
Caveat to these thoughts– a sort of umbrella: I’m assuming, given current rampant US spread, & the political realities fomenting it, that we can expect an extended period of interruption to in-person teaching.
Hi Ginny. I realize that this is a political exercise and the earliest we can hope to expect any real policy consideration on this will be Wed, Jan. 20, 2021. But politics is about framing the issue and proposing policies to find solutions and that’s something that has been woefully missing during the pandemic.
In that spirit, we have to quit, politically speaking using “either, or” or “that ain’t gonna work” rhetoric. We meaning educators, parents, and the Democratic party. Republicans have no standing whatsoever, even Lincoln Project types since they will revert to form as soon as, or as late as, the Idiot or the country is gone.
As I wrote before, we need a WPA-style, comprehensive approach. Why, for example, during the pandemic, are we still talking about school buildings to conduct classes and create learning opportunities? Some thoughts: hotels are furloughing entire staffs, I saw a story today about how 178 employees at the Cleveland Hilton face an uncertain future. Why can’t we have a rotating system of schools, using even floors one week, odd the next, to bring in students and parents (and pay them), to create classes in open spaces, small groups in meeting rooms, rehire kitchen staff to create nutritious meal options, engage housecleaning staff, etc.? Why not, instead of having distance learning with classes, have distance mentoring with young teachers and students with experienced and master teachers who are vulnerable to be around students now? Why can’t we have two medical professionals available at these locations to monitor safety? And when their rotations are done, make it a monthly occurrence and then have one-on-one or close to it mentoring in distance learning settings? I don’t suggest these as solutions, but I do wonder why no one is having these conversations. Let’s find holistic solutions.
I realize this won’t happen while the Idiot and his cult are in charge. But wouldn’t it be refreshing if Biden’s campaign would lay out some, to use an overused phrase, some Moonshot scenarios? And as I’ve stated often here, public education is the issue that connects every other major national priority. This is an opportunity to prove it; an opportunity to elevate public education in a way we never could before.
Two local examples of where I live: University of Akron students are creating an outdoor curriculum that should serve as a national example: https://www.akron.com/articles/ua-students-create-curriculum/ And an annoying parent calls out his local school administrators and board for being cowardly and timid during the most unprecedented public health catastrophe in our nation’s history: https://www.akron.com/articles/fairlawn-man-questions-copley-fairlawn-schools-leadership/
The time is now. Let’s not let this opportunity slip through our fingers because of resignation, a failure to consider the future, or fear of today.
Good for that parent. That letter should go straight to every lawmaker & govtl leader in the nation.
I can’t get entirely on board w/the hotel idea because of latest science on ventilation/ aerosolized spread, and proven efficacy of kids to contract & spread virus. However, Hiltons, Sheridans, Marriotts and the like nearly all have massive spaces for banquets/ conventions, often w/ high ceilings, that could serve for multiple small groups. Kitchens could be lightly-staffed to provide grab-&-go snacks/ meals for outdoor eating. Many churches have the same combo of a couple of large high-ceilinged spaces, kitchens, outdoor grounds. As do most public schools. This approach would work for what may be a prolonged phase between maintaining, say, 3% community infection rate and the availability of vaccine.
The Akron outdoor-study kits are great for families and neighborhood child-pods during partial shutdowns. They might work too as tiny-group field trips for essential-worker childcare. The online mentoring et al concepts could be organized immediately.
I think the reason we don’t see any of this happening: school leaders are trained to think in terms of standardized approaches– i.e., if it’s not available to all it’s not public schooling. We are going to keep stumbling over the built-in inequities– not enough time/ space/ personnel/ tech connectivity for all to access everything. This causes most to immediately discard a lot of viable ideas.
Just saw a report this morning on CNN about “pandemic pods” of small groups of students, not home schooling. Not a solution, but at least something.
I have heard about “pandemic pods.” It is a good stop gap remedy for those who can afford it. The story I heard was about 8 families putting up $15,000 each to hire a teacher. How often will the teacher and the students be tested for COVID? Will they socially distance? This will end when the pandemic ends. It’s nowhere equal to a school with many qualified teachers and a full curriculum. The poor fall farther behind, of course.
I agree with your assessment, but at least it’s one of a myriad of tactical measures that have to be considered, of the community engagement we need now more than ever. A thousand points of light, if you will. 😉