HowdyTexasAggies said:

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33% response rate. That seems low, but maybe that is the norm across the state. I find this first stat to be almost unbelievable

"Just over three-quarters (76%) of participants said the online learning opportunities provided to their child(ren) this past spring were valuable or somewhat valuable."

Unless Katy just really did an outstanding job on online.....

Boerne ISD is generally on top of things, I would not rate our online experience as either of those two, and that's no knock on Boerne, just the reality of doing it ad hoc with 2 weeks to prepare.

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I know I was not sent an survey and was not included.

Online learning in the public (non-charter) school system was terrible to abysmal. A fair grade on a 100 point scale would have been 15-20. So far below an F- there is no way for them to recover. See-saw, 5 other random websites, lack of a lesson plan, lack of grading, lack of teachers being able to schedule a simple meeting and an entire 20 minutes per week of zoom time with the kids. F---

Charter schools somehow managed to do it right, have 2-4 hours of zoom EVERY day, had lesson plans Sunday evenings with regular check ups, and at least got the A for effort.

I think my district did great. We used canvas. Lesson for week posted by Monday. Student had all week to do them. Too many of our families had several kids sharing one computer to require a zoom time but we had zoom office hours if kids needed it. We still covered the standards for the 4th quarter. I was online from 8 to 4 to grade and give feedback on assisnments and to answer student questions. Considering we had no prior training and were having to use our own wifi and computers we did well. I teach 16 to 18 year olds and they did work at all times of the day

Just summarizing what I have seen from the TEA guidance that was released this afternoon.

• In order to receive funding for virtual students, the school building has to be open for those who want to go.
• The bldg has to be open 5 days a week for anyone that wants it - that ruins lots of plans already announced around the state for every other day, etc.
• You can't limit the number of students in a bldg. if every family wants to send their kid to school, they have to take them.
• The first 3 weeks can be used to phase in in-person learning.
• If there is a positive in the a school bldg, you can only close it for up to 5 days to clean. This can be superseded if the Governor shuts things down.
• Social distancing not mandatory, just recommended.
• Masks required for students 10+ due to Abbott's order last week.
• No guidance for how to handle staff/students who come down with COVID.

So...I would think a lot of ISDs are tossing out their plans and going back to the drawing board.

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And opening windows wll be interesting in Texas heat

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You hafta remember that lots of schools up through the early 80's weren't Air Conditioned, I think this is a good move.

Not that it means anything and is purely speculative. But I am in contact with folks that work in crowded facilities all over Latin America and the Caribbean. Factories in Mexico seem to have had a much worse time of employees being positive and possible spread in the facility, the DR as well. The commonality there is most facilities are air conditioned in those two countries. Factories in Haiti have not had the incidences that the DR has had.

Our plant in Mexico is running right now with wide open ventilation, fans, and good air flow. We have nobody come down with the virus (praise the lord and knock on wood). Another facility we work with some, about 50 miles away, is very modern and air conditioned. They have had over 50 people go out with the virus.

Folks I know in Central America haven't had big issues either, plants are not air conditioned.

Again, this doesn't mean a thing, just what I am seeing and hearing. Might be all wrong, but if this virus is air borne and so transmittable from person to person, then flowing air might not be a bad thing.

the latest from TEA

RGV AG said:

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Quote:

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And opening windows wll be interesting in Texas heat

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You hafta remember that lots of schools up through the early 80's weren't Air Conditioned, I think this is a good move.

Not that it means anything and is purely speculative. But I am in contact with folks that work in crowded facilities all over Latin America and the Caribbean. Factories in Mexico seem to have had a much worse time of employees being positive and possible spread in the facility, the DR as well. The commonality there is most facilities are air conditioned in those two countries. Factories in Haiti have not had the incidences that the DR has had.

Our plant in Mexico is running right now with wide open ventilation, fans, and good air flow. We have nobody come down with the virus (praise the lord and knock on wood). Another facility we work with some, about 50 miles away, is very modern and air conditioned. They have had over 50 people go out with the virus.

Folks I know in Central America haven't had big issues either, plants are not air conditioned.

Again, this doesn't mean a thing, just what I am seeing and hearing. Might be all wrong, but if this virus is air borne and so transmittable from person to person, then flowing air might not be a bad thing.

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Man I would kill for a window in my room. I don't think there is a single window in my entire school that can open .

The biggest frustration I had was the imbalance of work that was expected from us.

Math and ELA: We had to have something up every day. (Note: This is not a complaint, as I was in AP exam review mode pretty much the entire time, so I was going to have something for them to do each day regardless of what I was told.)

Science-SS: Had to have something up 3x a week.
Electives: Had to have something up once a week.

The P.E. teachers were in hog heaven.

Live office hours were assigned by department. We had the 9-10 A.M. block, and I pretty much had no takers on that. There were days that I posted a picture of a tumbleweed in Teams to see if anyone would come visit and maybe comment, but it was pretty sparse.

I did a separate office hours time in the afternoon thinking maybe more might come then when they were awake...nope. Pretty much nothing.

Most of my students were seniors whose class ranks were set as of the end of the 3rd nine weeks, which was when we went online. We gave no official grades per se ("met" or "did not meet" expectations), so they really did have to be pretty intrinsically motivated to do anything beyond the bare minimum, since I had no grades to hold over their heads.

Combine that with AP letting kids get a refund if they chose not to take an exam, and it was a recipe for a lot of apathy. I'd say probably 40% of my students who were signed up decided to opt for the refund. Once their AP Exam was taken, it was essentially over. We had 3 days after Memorial Day to play school, but we were to not assign any new work that week...it was "get your earlier work finished" week.

nai06 said:

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RGV AG said:

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Quote:

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And opening windows wll be interesting in Texas heat

---

You hafta remember that lots of schools up through the early 80's weren't Air Conditioned, I think this is a good move.

Not that it means anything and is purely speculative. But I am in contact with folks that work in crowded facilities all over Latin America and the Caribbean. Factories in Mexico seem to have had a much worse time of employees being positive and possible spread in the facility, the DR as well. The commonality there is most facilities are air conditioned in those two countries. Factories in Haiti have not had the incidences that the DR has had.

Our plant in Mexico is running right now with wide open ventilation, fans, and good air flow. We have nobody come down with the virus (praise the lord and knock on wood). Another facility we work with some, about 50 miles away, is very modern and air conditioned. They have had over 50 people go out with the virus.

Folks I know in Central America haven't had big issues either, plants are not air conditioned.

Again, this doesn't mean a thing, just what I am seeing and hearing. Might be all wrong, but if this virus is air borne and so transmittable from person to person, then flowing air might not be a bad thing.

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Man I would kill for a window in my room. I don't think there is a single window in my entire school that can open .

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Same. I'm upstairs in a part of our building that is the furthest away from the chillers...last spot to cool off. Only window is a square that is about eye height in the door.

Can someone help me with the wording of the item addressing masks?

The way I read it (and the way I see lunchbox has noted above), masks are only required IF there is an existing county or state order in place.

Is that correct?

For example, one Abbott's current order expires on 7/12, no masks would be required unless the order was extended.

In theory, yes, that is correct.

"No guidance for how to handle staff/students who come down with COVID."

Not sure what you read, but the pdf does provide guidance on this.

https://tea.texas.gov/sites/default/files/covid/covid19-SY-20-21-Public-Health-Guidance.pdf

That's the way I felt about ours as well, thus why I find that # to be unbelievable. Or, the question asked was poorly worded.

I took the survey. It was pretty straightforward.

Among the TEA guidelines is for parents to not use buses if possible. We already have traffic problems. Wow.

Man, the 1st two or three weeks at my elementary will be crazy, every parent will be driving their kid, and parking. Walking their kid to the door. And everyone will be jammed at the door...or not. If it's 6' distancing, yikes! It will wrap around the school.

We live too close for buses, but too far for the 1st grader to walk. Ugh.

Harvard to have no in person classes the entire year

nai06 said:

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RGV AG said:

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Quote:

---

And opening windows wll be interesting in Texas heat

---

You hafta remember that lots of schools up through the early 80's weren't Air Conditioned, I think this is a good move.

Not that it means anything and is purely speculative. But I am in contact with folks that work in crowded facilities all over Latin America and the Caribbean. Factories in Mexico seem to have had a much worse time of employees being positive and possible spread in the facility, the DR as well. The commonality there is most facilities are air conditioned in those two countries. Factories in Haiti have not had the incidences that the DR has had.

Our plant in Mexico is running right now with wide open ventilation, fans, and good air flow. We have nobody come down with the virus (praise the lord and knock on wood). Another facility we work with some, about 50 miles away, is very modern and air conditioned. They have had over 50 people go out with the virus.

Folks I know in Central America haven't had big issues either, plants are not air conditioned.

Again, this doesn't mean a thing, just what I am seeing and hearing. Might be all wrong, but if this virus is air borne and so transmittable from person to person, then flowing air might not be a bad thing.

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Man I would kill for a window in my room. I don't think there is a single window in my entire school that can open .

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I've been in the game since 2002 and I got my first window ever last year. Basically the whole wall is windows except for the counter space below it. It was awesome.

Spitballing on a few other items where social distancing would/will be nigh on impossible:

Fire drills...we have to have one a month.

Severe weather drills. Our current plan is for upstairs classes to go to classrooms directly below (607 goes to 507, for instances), and sometimes there are 60-65 kids in a room, depending on the class period the drill happens.

Active shooter/lockdown drills: Ours typically have kids get out of the line of sight as best as possible, which means lights off and crowd into a corner.

Miscellaneous:

If the masks for kids 10 and over is a mandate (could theoretically still be done by an ISD if not still under a state EO) being a 4th grade teacher would be nightmarish logistically. That's the grade most kids turn 10, so there will be ever-changing numbers of kids who have to wear masks. "Happy birthday, ______, here's your mask."

Could local school boards make masks part of the dress code for students? I'm not advocating for such by any means...that would seem to be a potential enforcement impossibility.

Yes fire drills are packed bodies at my big school. And required every month.

morning reading fun if you havent had a chance to view it.

https://tea.texas.gov/sites/default/files/covid/covid19-SY-20-21-Public-Health-Guidance.pdf

https://tea.texas.gov/sites/default/files/covid/sy_2020-21_attendance_and_enrollment_faq_remote_only.pdf

UIL is apparently putting out their guidelines for extra curriculars later today.

UIL

https://www.uiltexas.org/athletics/covid-19-strength-conditioning-2020

UIL Update:

https://www.uiltexas.org/athletics/covid-19-strength-conditioning-2020

This could be huge or a big nothing. If they say we leave it up to the districts - meh. If they come out and recommend no drill team or band for fall, or limited attendance at football games, no freshman or JV sports, it will be disappointing.

Guidance is only good until 8/1.

At first glance this is what stands out -
Mandatory masks
50% capacity at workouts, practices.
No changing gear or uniforms - must show up dressed and undress at home.
No practices or camps can be made mandatory - all optional.
Transportation to events may be student's responsibility (still waiting on guidance - will they put the football team in 4 busses instead of 2? Drive to games themself?)

88planoAg said:

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Among the TEA guidelines is for parents to not use buses if possible. We already have traffic problems. Wow.

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I'm glad my wife teaches at the school my middle son will be going to kindergarten at.

And my 8th grader is taking the bus. I'm working from home but ain't dealing with the ****show that is the car rider line.

If they have football I guess I can pick him up and not utilize the late bus.

That's only for summer practices.

It's a big nothing burger.

What will be interesting is how local ISD's react. What happens if Mayor Adler of Austin puts the city in a 35 day lockdown? Will AISD and surrounding ISD's shut the school practices down too?

Ok - makes sense it's just for summer.

I don't think Adler can do that, pretty sure Abbott already put that to bed. What I don't trust is Abbott flip flopping and allowing Mayors or Country judges to go berserk.

We are out in Dripping Springs ISD. Hoping our superintendent comes out with the online or in person decision pretty soon.

The more media outlets report and skew data, the more likely it is the administration get's cold feet and pressure from neighboring ISD (Austin).

Even though I saw the outgoing supt of AISD said in person or online, is that still a go?