Should I keep keeping them home?

From a public health perspective, if I can keep my kids home next school year with 100% remote learning- is that the responsible thing to do? Will it free up space for other families who need the school services?

From FB:

Josh Ebert I personally think it depends on the child. My son could not stay focused on the spring when learning from home. He needs the structure and schedule of in school learning. My daughter did fine doing all of her classwork in her pajamas in bed though.

Nia Pineiro-Hall This is what I’m leaning towards. We have the means to do so and we have some at risk family members. I’d like to make it a little safer for the families who really need to send their kids. It’s also kindergarten, so not quite the same as missing out in established relationships with teachers & friends. Danielle Wright I'm keeping my two home because there are definitely going to be kids who HAVE to go, and if we can be one less possible vector, then it seems like the right thing to do for me. We're going to have to really work around Aislin's ADHD, but if I can get a "school area" set aside, and follow homeschooling averages for how long kids her age should be spending on schoolwork, I think we can make it work. It isn't gonna be easy, but it feels like the right thing to do. Monica Petree I am hoping we get the choice. I have two who would need to go back and two who would do just fine with remote learning. It depends on your kiddos. Josh Ebert Monica Petree Kettering just sent us a poll this morning with both choices. I suspect they are trying to get an idea of the numbers to see if enough are planning on home schooling to be able to distance the at-school learners. Monica Petree Josh, our district did the same about 2wks ago. The govenor here gave his decision this week. We will get the official plan for our district on Monday. Jordan-Michael Whidbey It is responsible but it'll be tough to do. But it does leave the option open to go into in person classes at like a quarter or semester break if things get better, which will definitely be an easier transition than the other direction Hana Lass Yes. Gerard Menendez I am moved again reading friends discussing how to best care for their families and communities with cooperation and generosity central to the discussion. Jennifer Shimada I do think that if you CAN keep them home, yes, it'll free up space for those who don't have the option and means that fewer teachers have to go back in person, too. It's definitely something that can help, in this time where we're all really wanting to help out but not sure what we can do! But absolutely no judgment on parents who decide to send their kids to school, because there are so many factors at play, and some kids really do need the in person interaction. It's not the fault of parents that we don't have better, safer systems set up to support parents, students, and teachers, and that we're all stuck between a rock and a hard place. Denise Eckels Busch Ugh, this is a hard one. Makes sense from a public health perspective by my specific health perspective, not so much. We're either going to go mad or kill each other. 🙃 Susan Bridges Yes. Tilly Bridges 👆 Darian Lindle Thank you for your thoughtful perspectives. We have one kiddo doing fine with remote learning and one who struggles. It's tough to know the right thing to do. This helps. Marilyn Forcum Darian Lindle Great discussion on a tough situation. Your many friends have provided sounding boards for you and each other. Mary Wesolowicz As an educator this question is tough. A lot of your other friends said great things I mirror, I agree with what was already said, so I'm not gonna say those things again. Another thing I would consider is that this will be a new school environment. If your kiddo struggles with change, anxiety, school related behavior issues, or similar things- I would consider the impact the new look and feel of schools would have. This is not returning to the "known" this is yet another new "unknown" for kids. Amy Thomas Will they be seeing your parents? That would be a strong contributor to a decision to not go if I were in your shoes. Hana Lass I should qualify my "yes" answer by saying that I've been aware of increasing concern about people of privilege opting out of public education altogether next year to hire tutors for private "pod" schooling, and I agree that this approach has negative implications for underprivileged groups, and the public school system as a whole. But if you're talking about engaging in online-only options offered through your regular school, I feel that's a different story. Lindsey Buller Maliekel Hana Lass it feels so complicated. I feel pretty strongly that we will be helpful to our school Community by staying on remote learning AND remote learning is not a great fit for my 5 and 7 year old. I can’t do work full time, manage their remote learning and make sure they have play dates with one family so they have a little socialization. So I need to hire someone to help manage some of their time and oversee their remote learning. We could possibly do that with another family that also attends our school with same age group and could potentially bring our cost down too. Basically - a pod. Now - the reason we are doing this is partly to help our school community AND podding with another family and hiring someone to help do their remote learning is also an aspect of incredible privilege. And if a bunch of us do this and then disengage from public education and also place our kids away from the harm that people who don’t have the means and ability to pod...then the impact is negative. And this situation also feels so tricky to me...because sending them to our school and taking up free space is putting our teachers and families who don’t have the option of continuing remote learning at greater risk. So now I’m trying to figure out if there is a more systemic solution that would improve the WHOLE situation instead of asking individuals to weigh their personal actions against the greater good (which we all tend to be bad at) More funding seems like a start. And maybe school sponsored pods that are available to any family who doesn’t want to send their kids to school? The pods could be managed by young adult ‘counselor’ types who are vastly underemployed at the moment? What other systemic ideas do people have? Hana Lass Lindsey Buller Maliekel You're right, it is nothing but complicated. I like your ideas. Definitely more funding and leadership on a systemic level are key - and are sadly what have been missing from our public education system long before this crisis emerged. I wish there was an actionable answer for this fall. Jennifer Shimada As a systemic idea, I’m all for school sponsored pods (with trained teachers leading), but that’s a solution that requires more funding, training, and leadership that we don’t have in place already, and most schools won’t be able to act on it this fall. But long term, those are things we need to be advocating for. Also, we need to have systemic solutions beyond schooling. If more families had equitable tech access, if we had something like a universal basic income so that people didn’t have to choose between putting themselves at risk from the virus or not paying rent, if we equipped more parents to provide support to their kids outside of school, if we had better social services (that so many kids rely on schools to get fed is a problem) then keeping schools mostly online would be less of an issue. Schools -- like police -- have been seen as the solution to everything for WAY too long. But schools have always been inequitable — and have perpetuated inequity — even before the pandemic. I don’t think privileged people engaging in pods is necessarily bad, as long as it’s not completely disengaged from public schooling. If students are still attending a public school, the funding still goes to that school, even if you also hire a tutor/babysitter. It’s different then if you were to unenroll your students from public school and enroll them in private school. And that does free up in person space for others who may need that because they can’t hire a babysitter/tutor. Tiffany Michelle Hana Lass this! 🙌🏼 Tara DiLorenzo Rogers Yes - systemic school-district neighborhood pods are the answer. They’re just never going to happen. 😕 Tiffany Michelle Lindsey Buller Maliekel unfortunately there arenot a lot of options for education. It’s been underfunded for years and years. These are great suggestions but districts find themselves without space and resources to hire even para professionals. Please remember if you pull your child from their district then your school community loses funding which will negatively impact your school community as a whole. Jodi Sewell Hana Lass on Friday, our school system just switched from 100% in person to 100% remote until at least 9/8, likely pushing that, with phased in returns to school if they do. We were going to send our girls to school in-person. Now I’m trying to organize a “pod” at our house with at least one friend from each of the three girls’ grades, run my non-educator me, both to help my friends out but more selfishly for the social benefit for our kids. I feel like there isn’t a good answer to any of this. Lindsey Buller Maliekel Tiffany Hutchins don’t worry! I’m well versed in school underfunding and would never pull my kid...the idea around pods that seems interesting to me is more about augmenting remote learning with some small group socialization and hands on learning/exploring. Tiffany Michelle Lindsey Buller Maliekel Agreed. So sad public education can’t make things like this happen. Samantha DeGeare Girardi Yes. Ashley Falkin Vail I really want the social interaction for my kids, but what kind of interaction will there really be? Masked, and 6ft apart? Also, of course, the more exposure the riskier it is anyway. This just all sucks. Mary Wesolowicz Ashley Falkin Vail having read the guidelines for my school district, if you have an only child, they will be quite isolated. 😕 James R. Forcum That is really a tough one. I am glad we never had to make that decision. Tiffany Michelle Explain to me how your school district is “offering” school to students next year. Is it a type of lottery? Do your girls attend a public school? Amanda Pommer Lewis This is where we landed too. Our county is offering an all virtual academy, but students stay enrolled in their school and will likely be taught by one of the teachers from the school. The other option of going in person can switch between all remote, a hybrid of 1 week on 2 weeks remote, or all in all of the time as directed by the state. We went ahead and signed up for the virtual option and hope to keep supporting our school. Tiffany Michelle I found this article interesting https://apple.news/ATzRr2sBIQC6N3IKL7918yQ How Educational Inequality In America Could Be Impacted By The Homeschooling Pod Frenzy — Forbes

Josh Ebert

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