I know quite a few parents have sent kids to private school just to get in-person classes but most don’t have that option.
Failing grades up significantly, learning gaps widening, and hundreds of horror stories about kids finding other outlets to act out.
Just can’t believe the amount of pain we are inflicting on these kids.
School has been in person since day one, with an extremely thorough and well thought out plan. Pretty disciplined execution by faculty, students, and parents has helped. Students who partake in higher risk activities are asked to distance learn, but quite frankly it is almost as good as being there...all classes are simulcast on zoom and zoom students have the opportunity to ask questions and send in work remotely via genius scan.
I would pay double for my kids to get what they are getting, and experience as normal of a school year as they can
took him for all he was worth
8th grader has been in class full time since late August. Pretty sure only 3 isolated cases in the whole school. Good protocols, great administration, and faculty. Private High schooler is hybrid so every other day but have also had several dozen cases but not shifting to e-learning in spite of case count. Oldest is in public school and all e-learning, she is miserable. Tried hybrid mid semester but school bailed and went back to e-learning. Unsure why as cases didn’t seem bad.
I hope they can keep the kids going. I appreciate the work, and sacrifice, the teachers are making.
handful to decide to pack it in between Thanksgiving and late January. Apparently 81% of teachers opted to travel for the holidays, whereas families were not going to travel.
Based on that feedback the Archdiocese let us know we had to go remote. I don't know how else to put this but our school is one of a handful of non-hispanic Catholic school to go this route. Whereas the positivity rate in our neighborhood is sub 5%, the other schools that went remote are in areas where positivity is in double digits.
I get that some teachers thought it wouldn't be a big deal to travel to see family over the break they could have waited 2 weeks and gone anytime over a 30 day period. We were informed about this on Friday. The parents and students are disappointed.
Hope you all finish strong.
We're an understanding lot but getting this dumped on us last Friday, less than one week before Thanksgiving was a bit rude. This is not a news flash and we are paying tuition to attend the school.
Further, it's not appropriate that decision hinged on the teachers going out of state for Thanksgiving. First, the families all signed an agreement pledging to comply with rules to limit the chance of this happening. We have complied and part of that was celebrating Thanksgiving at home in isolation. Second, it's against CDC guidelines for these teachers to travel, but the school is condoning this behavior. It is not appropriate that the reason we are going remote is that teachers are flaunting the guidance.
distilled down: our kids are going remote because the teachers are acting in bad faith. Further, it's shocking the school solicited the opinions of teachers rather than controlling their behavior. I'm not an employment law guru but I don't think it's out of bounds to require that teachers comply with CDC guidelines in the employment agreement.
Now there is going to be tension between the parents and teachers and that is very disappointing. This is all whinging on my part. I would rather just take the kids out of school at this point given how poorly elearning has gone for my one son and how much of a hassle .
My wife taught there many years ago. I was always impressed by the school.
That’s what AI indicated earlier and consistent with some further messaging our school sent out this evening.
Doesn’t change the fundamental point that the AD is effectively enabling bad faith actors.
But the gist has been the AD made the decision based on input from the teachers. 30% of parents wanted to move remote, which was an increase from 15% over the summer. Most of those people anecdotally wanted to go to a second home in Florida or the Caribbean.
We were doing so well and I thought our performance would be a strong point of difference. Now we have stumbled at the goal line. It’s frustrating.
Presumably in response to all the complaints. That communication said the AD apparently divided everyone into three buckets based on the survey responses (both family and teacher). According to our principal, most schools were placed into either “business as usual” (stick with in person) or “pivot” to full remote until MLK day based on these responses. A minority of schools (including ours) were placed in a middle bucket where the AD said you’re on the border and so you decide locally. Our administration chose to use the data to pivot to remote. The email tonight was much better than the one over the weekend, shared data points, and attempted to explain some inconsistencies. I still don’t agree, but at least we got some of the data and some more clarity.
And I am equally frustrated, though we didn't get the data on teachers opting to travel that you seem to have received.
Our communication wasn't even that the Archdiocese forced us to, but rather the administration chose to based on the parent responses.
Also we were furnished with the data once parents began to raise hell about the late notification and decision. Our principal told us we were one of 30 schools out of 400 archdiocese schools to do this. EDIT: Apparently it's 30 out of 162 schools.
There has been a communication issue and your post isn’t surprising. We are at ICSJ in old town.
And that was at least responsive to the complaints that you got your survey data. I haven't even gotten a response to the note I sent on Sunday, nor have the other parents that I know who also protested the decision.
We're at SBPS in North Center, and I have nothing but praise for the school's efforts since March until the decision this weekend. I know Sacred Heart (non-diocesan but following Archdiocesan guidelines for the most part) is staying in person.
Also - we are actually keeping the PK open 4 days a week, and only going remote for K-8.
After a fall surge of coronavirus infections, more Archdiocese of Chicago Catholic schools will temporarily transition to e-learning next week.
Catholic elementary schools were scheduled to shift to remote learning for two weeks at the beginning of next year, but “escalating COVID-19 rates within the general population” prompted the Office of Catholic Schools to modify its original plan, spokesman Manuel Gonzales said.
The decision also comes after the archdiocese surveyed stakeholders at all 162 schools in Cook and Lake counties to measure their comfort with in-person learning during the holiday season.
The survey measured parent satisfaction, preference for in-person or remote learning, and stress and workload considerations among teachers, Gonzales said.
“The results were that 80% of the schools needed no, or minimal, alteration of our current procedures,” he said. “The other 20% were candidates for more extensive adjustments, and it is for those schools we will be constructing individual (virtual learning) plans.”
The archdiocese will work with the 20% of schools that will transition to remote learning, and those schools should have their plan defined by Wednesday, archdiocese officials said. Officials from the archdiocese did not identify which schools those are.
This adjustment comes as educators continue to try to figure out how best to proceed with in-person and remote learning amid a pandemic.
Most public school systems in the Chicago area decided to continue with remote learning this fall or opened their buildings for limited in-person classes. Chicago Public Schools has remained remote since the March statewide schools shutdown but aims to begin bringing students back in January.
However, schools in the Chicago Archdiocese opened full time, with safety measures in place and remote learning options for parents who were not comfortable with their children returning to the classroom.
Was some hot garbage.
As has been demonstrated, polling is terribly inaccurate. And the way those questions were phrased was completely misleading and, I believe, lead to inaccurate conclusions based on faulty responses.
Bruno mentioned that their teachers gave up their social lives, and it's true. And it's not easy.
But one of the things that you keep in the back of your mind when you take an overseas job like this is that, if something comes up, you can always hop a flight home.
I have had teachers over the last several months who have lost parents, siblings, etc., and they aren't able to get home to their families to mourn with them. I see the toll that it is taking on them, and it is awful. But they are still showing up, every single day.
(not counting the 35 days we were back in the spring of last school year. We still thought that spraying disinfectant everywhere did some good in those days...)
Our handful of cases (I think we have had about 7 in a school of 1100 students, since mid-August) have been isolated and could be traced to external sources, and we have evidence (via pool testing) that it isn't spreading in the school. So our measures are working.
One of our big challenges is that the health department is extremely conservative with its Contact-1 designations, so any positive case can knock out a large group of kids. So far, all of those Contact-1s have ended up testing negative and staying healthy, which is great. But it is still really disruptive to have large groups of students have to go out from one day to the next.
Our other big challenge is just the discomfort. The government mandates that our students keep masks on at all times (which is totally fine) and that we ventilate the classrooms--this means that windows and doors are required to be open for 5 minutes every 15. It's just...really cold.
We are waiting for the outcome of a meeting tomorrow with Angela Merkel and all of the Bundesministers ("governors"). They are looking for a unified approach. It is likely that a) the current lockdown will be extended until December 20, and b) we will go to a model where some of our grade levels will have to be divided in half and come in every other day. Not our decision, but we have to follow the mandates that we are given. Even though we are a private school, we need to follow the rules to keep our recognition.
Anyway, we are all giving this our absolute best shot, and everyone is a bit frayed around the edges. Looking forward to three weeks off at Christmas...
I ask because my kids have competed in sports there .... nice campus!
Their XC course through the woods is lovely.
If they have a terrific course, it would be nice to have them serve as host for the ISSTs.
I think it's a hell of an accomplishment. Your families are indebted to you. My company is closed to all who can't document a need to return. If I were to go in, I could just sit in my office and close the door.
While many of us have been vocal about the value of in-school education, no one can gainsay the sacrifice and work it takes to actually pull it off.
Danke.
within the school, and I'm only aware of 2 kids who have tested positive (both from outside the school) and a handful of people who have been out on quarantine, my daughter included, as a contact of a contact. They've been back full time since right after Labor Day.
Some of it is good fortune, but everyone is working hard to make sure things can keep running.
On behalf of your parents and teachers. I'm sure some around us are maintaining that level, but I get the sense that the vast majority (I'm guilty myself) are not.
of 5-day in person. Prior to that we were on a hybrid plan from the beginning of the year (2 days in, 3 days remote).
It was a frustrating decision because our kid's school has had 0 cases across kids, teachers, and staff. But the rest of the district has not been so lucky, and it was becoming a staffing issue with a handful of teachers/staff testing positive and then a corresponding larger amount in quarantine.
So they made the decision to go fully remote across the entire district. Wish they could have been more nuanced in their approach, and I think it has a lot to do with the teachers unions.
They've planned for the next two weeks to be fully remote and then go back, but I think we all feel that is unlikely. I'm really hoping so. Having my kindergartner and second grader at home full time is not good for anyone, especially my kids.
Our district is still tied up on metrics and is ignoring procedures. The board is looking for examples of successful strategies.
We'll be on day 75 when we go back to school on Monday with no positive cases in the building. You're absolutely right that everyone has to buy in for it to work. We're thankful that we've made it this far. Our younger son needs the structure and routine of in-person school to be successful. He even admitted that he likes the block schedule.
We're holding our breath that we can make it three more weeks until Christmas break.
We went full-time, in-person, five days a week from August 31 until last Friday, with no school or class wide quarantines.
The school is now off for Thanksgiving week and they are discussing whether to go back for the three weeks before Christmas break or just do virtual. Given our success, we voted to go back.
We have gone 13 weeks (plus the couple days this week of 5 day a week in person learning PK-8 (650 students). Grades 6-8 had a teacher test positive the 2nd day of school and went remote for 2 weeks (which was less because it was around Labor Day, and likely an over reaction since we were just starting). Since then, we have had 2 positive cases (one of which turned out to be a false positive) and no transmission within the school.
Similar to yours, we had a very specific, precise plan and seem to have followed it strictly. From conversations among parents, people seem to have been vigilant on keeping their children home when sick. As you note, the teachers in particular have been incredible.
It makes me all the more frustrated that the school has chosen to go remote proactively between Thanksgiving and Christmas (the Archdiocese had already mandated 2 remote weeks after the Christmas break).
Yesterday, our 5 day a week Catholic middle school announced that they are continuing on with their in person learning. They had considered a pause because of Thanksgiving. We've been lucky. We've had some cases. We also have had no in-school spread.
Your list of reasons for success is spot on. Parental buy-in is the most important. Follow the rules and this can be done.
I also agree - in person school is a blessing and I firmly believe that the kids going in person will have a huge life-advantage over the kids who have been full remote. I feel very bad for those kids.
My daughter complains constantly that she'd prefer remote learning (and, honestly, she's somewhat unique that she'd do just as well in a remote environment) but it's definitely been a blessing, especially for my son.
And while his biggest complaint is that they can't play football at recess, I consider it all a big net win.
because they are with their cohort, my daughter is allowed to play football and does. In fact, since she's in the "advance math" (ahem) cohort, the boys are less than athletic and there is much consternation among them in regard to the daily beating the girls hand to them.
My older boy loves to defy rules but for some reason he doesn't fight us on the mask wearing even at practice when they've said it was ok to remove.
It probably helps that his best friend is a mask wearer too but that's really the one battle we haven't had to fight.
We have had similar good luck and results at St Paul the Apostle- one positive teacher and one student. Both isolated, independent cases.
Mike, feel free to share my email.
We know some people at SPA. Hoping one of mine (or more) will go to CC. He plays football, and I think the appeal of winning a ring or four would have to be strong.