Posted on 03/25/2020 11:52:41 AM PDT by karpov
As the Chief Child Advocates in our respective communities, we are coming together to focus on what is best for students in the coming months. We all believe that the initial three-week school closure will be extended. While this probable extension is creating many conversations about what learning should look like during this time away from the classroom, this vision of education will be best coming from those of us who work with children. Our shared belief is that, in future years when children reflect on this time in their lives, what they will remember most are the positive connections they felt at an uncertain time.
School is a special place - a sacred place. All of our communities stress that learning has its foundation in the relationships developed between learners and teachers, whether adults or children. There is no way to replicate this environment in a digital format in the middle of a pandemic over a week/month or two. We are deeply concerned about the physical and emotional health of everyone in our school communities. As such, we commit to planning and supporting learning that lessens stress and anxiety.
Part of this commitment means developing the skills and tools necessary to evolve and prioritize these relationships over the coming months. We are asking all of our educators to check in with their students. Many are already going far beyond connecting. They are doing incredible work untethered by current educational policy to ensure that students feel safe and remain connected to their learning. In our commitment to these relationships, new content and grades are not a priority at this time.
We recognize that there are countless challenges for identified learners who need specialized instruction and know that we will not be able to solve all of these challenges in the short term. As such, we will continue to focus on safety and connection while providing students with learning opportunities. Our biggest challenge in this effort is meeting the needs of our youngest students. The plan for these age groups is to focus on process skills, like observation and description, and to provide practice in key skill areas, like reading, to mitigate regression. These skills are an important objective of our content delivery with classroom instruction when school is in session. Much of our secondary curricular structure is already in place through a learning management system. Middle school and high school teachers will use this familiar tool to encourage critical and creative thinking skills.
Our school communities will continue to make connections, value relationships, develop learning skills, understand service and community, maintain health and wellbeing, and focus on a greater good. In remaining focused on the social and emotional needs of our students and offering learning experiences that support those needs, we believe that our students, your children, will be well served during this school closing.
The school superintendents are basically saying that the schools will not even try to have students progress through the curriculum. Then what are teachers and administrators being paid for? In our district and others, students are mandated to have a laptop or Chromebook. Lessons and teacher lectures could be posted online, and students could submit assignments, which teachers could grade. When school was in session, my children were submitting assignments using Google Classroom. The longer schools are shut down, the more important it is that they try teach stuff, especially since the school days missed will not be made up this summer.
My children used to attend in-person classes at the Russian School of Mathematics. RSM has now transitioned to online teacher-led classes, and classes are progressing through the RSM curriculum. RSM knows that if they did not do this, parents would demand refunds. Public schools don't seriously try teach anyone in the name of "equity" but still pocket your tax dollars.
Expect Dems to make a big campaign issue about more money for remote learning.
Who died and made the school superindendents "Chief Child Advocates"?
I also noticed that pretentious wording. The "Chief Child Advocates" are parents.
School is not “sacred.” Michigan’ Dept. of Education is being quite backward in all of this.
Or the court-appointed guardians, but certainly not the public school superintendents.
They are more like, "People paid a fortune to play a figurehead role in the system of warehousing children." Or "Even better exemplars of the Peter Principle than U.S. Congressmen."
"Sacred to what?" one must ask. So much for "separation of church and state."
I taught high school in lausd for 28 years. Often said it is better for a teenager to stay home smoke weed and watch mtv than to go to school. The only thing taught in school is bad habits
My kids are in public school, but we previously used private school. My kids are used to engaged, at home lessons. I’ve ordered workbooks that already arrived from such programs.
Our public school district is one of the best in our state. They’ve made sure kids have their instruments from school and working laptops. This week, they started up online lessons ... though they’re not legally allowed to present new material. Thus they’re doing review, whether assigning reading of what kids were doing before the extended Spring Break or answering questions on the last math and science lessons.
I don’t think they are ALLOWED to shift to fully online schooling. It opens them up to lawsuits from poor families that don’t have high speed internet and disabled kids who need individual education plans.
My kids are in public school, but we previously used private school. My kids are used to engaged, at home lessons. I’ve ordered workbooks that already arrived from such programs.
Our public school district is one of the best in our state. They’ve made sure kids have their instruments from school and working laptops. This week, they started up online lessons ... though they’re not legally allowed to present new material. Thus they’re doing review, whether assigning reading of what kids were doing before the extended Spring Break or answering questions on the last math and science lessons.
I don’t think they are ALLOWED to shift to fully online schooling. It opens them up to lawsuits from poor families that don’t have high speed internet and disabled kids who need individual education plans.
For liberals, the public school IS the temple. The children enter it to be indoctrinated into the worship of the state.
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