I Do Not Wish To Opt In.
When I’m not worried about Dylan, I’m worried about Shane going back to school – except for one substantial difference: an online option.
The public schools in our area are still considering the various plans they’ve created since this pandemic started. They’ve announced two options, and published a couple of sample schedules.
One of the options is to hold school virtually. The plan is to have more Zoom-meeting-like classes, and fewer classes like they did in the spring. (In the spring, teachers basically just tossed out a video to watch and a related assignment, and hoped kids got the concepts.)
While the new online plan looks slightly more promising than the previous no-plan plan, the schools would like very much to have schools reopen for the whole county.
This, of course, is impossible.
So: the “hybrid” plan groups students into smaller groups – Groups A, B and C – and suggests that each 1/3 of the students will go to Periods 1-4 in the morning twice a week, then Periods 5-8 in the afternoon twice a week, with one day of online school for teacher check-ins (tentatively Wednesdays).
They’ve decided to “phase in” each group of students, starting with the youngest kids in each school – i.e., the kindergarteners, the sixth graders in middle school, and the freshmen in high school. Shane isn’t scheduled to be in school – even two days a week – until November, because as a junior, Shane’s in the “Phase 3” group.
They haven’t finalized any schedules, but the samples are interesting.
Perhaps most interesting is that, to comply with the state’s social distancing regulations, the schools will only be offering bus service to 12 children per bus. And they’ve suggested that elementary school children should have first dibs for bus service.
How will the other 100,000 students get to school, I wonder?
My favorite part – and truly the best thing – is that parents have the option of keeping students home. We get to choose whether we want to “opt in” to this well-constructed but ludicrous plan, if it’s instituted.
And I do not wish to opt in.
Shane would like to go to school. He wants very, very, very much to go to school. He wants to be with 1/3 of his friends and take 1/2 of his classes and attend school for 4/5 of the week.
But to me, that’s like saying, “Since reopening didn’t quite put us over the edge with another spike of coronavirus cases, let’s send the kids to school and see if they can get it!”
So – since we’ve gone this far to stay safe – if I have the option, I would like him to stay home and work virtually.
And since Shane is under 18, I do have the option. He can stay home until he turns 18, or until there’s a vaccine. I’m good with either.