In the past week I've seen a couple of interesting developments. One initially frustrated me, then I came to see it as logical. This came from the district where I teach. The stated goal: return to campus in the fall. The promise made: parents could opt for their students to learn remotely. Initially, it seemed like a monumental promise to make without input from the broader faculty. But over the next few hours I came to see this as the compromise we can live with. More on that in a few.
The decisiveness I saw from my own employer contrasts with the hedging I see from my kids' district, where they're floating three options out there: return to campus, virtual school, and something in between. From the very beginning, I felt like their options were unworkable. Perhaps 1 and 2 can work together, but not with 3. Option 3 by itself could work, but that precludes option 1 which . . .
Reading In the Covid-19 Economy, You Can Have a Kid or a Job. You Can’t Have Both. made me realize how much American parents need us back in the classroom. And I don't like the idea of hedging bets on it. We simply need to be back. Five days a week, 180 days a year.
There is no flood of new funding coming in that will allow us to robustly staff some sort of alternative virtual school in a district. As it is right now, we have adequate funding to teach students via the traditional model. And for parents who want the virtual experience for their students, the cyber charter schools are out there. Go ahead, enroll. And districts like mine shouldn't be fearful of parents exercising that option.
A compromised solution like my kids' district risks creating damaging perverse incentives. Will the kids whose parents can afford to be at home opt for the hybrid option? Will the kids who go in full-time be ones more likely to misbehave? Are we setting up a scenario in which the "good" kids opt for one thing and the "other" kids opt for another? I'm troubled at the answers we would get to those quesitons.
Public schools are the universally available gateway for our children to get an education in a safe setting. Schools should embrace that mission and risk that some parents will look for something else.
As for the promise made by my district about a rigorous online curriculum, my hunch is that it will be largely administered by the teachers a student would've otherwise had. The students will have a schedule as if they were going to school, have work they could complete on their schedule and a responsibility to check in with the teacher at logical times for help. Perhaps this will see me actively instructing four days a week in my room, with a "white space" day once a week for students to receive targeted help, whether it's in my room or online. And perhaps this will allow us to take on a more honest and precise practice to deal with students who aren't in school on a given day, whether it's due to Covid, the sniffles, a migraine, or a college visit.
There's good that can come from this challenge.
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