Why change plans, we all need stability right now?
No clue what the protocols for positive cases, suspected exposure, and eventual closure and back to remote are.
Are we going to have to teach in the classroom and online simultaneously? That would be very difficult and stressful.
It is being communicated that students will still retain access to their teachers during independent learning, how is this expected to happen when teachers will be on with the other 1/2 of their students?
We will clearly need more PPE and cleaning supplies. Can we get them?
How will students enter and leave the classroom while maintaining a six foot distance at all time?
What will we do if a student becomes sick during class at the high school? Will the rest of the students be allowed to continue to their other classes, potentially exposing more students and staff?
How will we realistically keep students six feet apart in the common areas? In the bathrooms?
Will teachers have a supply of masks to give to students who don't have them or lose them?
Will students be allowed to drink water in the classroom? If yes, they need to remove their masks.
How much instructional time will be lost for things like getting students in and out of classes, moving small groups through the halls, cleaning between classes?
Many of the questions above did not have enough answer choices so I could not answer accurately because we have NO information about how the hybrid model will look in our school. I have seen the state and CDC guidelines, but until we get actual information about our campus I cannot answer a lot of these questions, such as our supply of PPE. How much COVID testing will be done and what is the criteria for shutting down when there is a case? I can't answer these questions based on my "feelings," I need real information.
What are the procedures? How are we going to manage passing periods and lunches while maintaining distance (increased distance for lunch since we will have masks off)?
Will we increase the time for both passing periods and lunches so that we can do everything safely? Will teachers have to supervise all of this (and will we get flextime for additional duties)?
Is the ventilation in my classroom fixed? How can we be sure that ventilation meets code?
How much PPE will we have? Will it be enough that I feel safe? Can we get plexiglass barriers for everyone?
Currently my classroom is configured with some tables facing forward and others facing in; will this be fixed or can I have barriers so that students aren't facing each other?
How am I supposed to get through 95 minutes without taking a drink since I need that to keep my throat lubricated? If we're supervising passing periods, when will I go to the bathroom? What happens if I have to quarantine? Am I still teaching remotely or off for two weeks and hoping a sub can teach my classes? What if I get sick?
Length of hybrid before all the way in person?
The school board voted for hybrid. We met all, in the most strict state, criteria and we need to move forward with that. If the board changes their mind I will lose all respect. Stick to what was voted on earlier and now. Governor says we can, we met criteria and it was voted on!!!!
We have received little information from our building administrators about the hybrid procedures. When will our administrators do that?
All of our training has been for remote learning. When will we receive training for hybrid?
My site has not created small cohorts of students that rotate teachers throughout the day. Even if I see only half of my kids each day, that would be about 46 students (and I have a smaller student load than most at LAHS) who would have contact with countless other students and staff members. If I become sick with Covid while on the job, will my district still be covered by NMPSIA since my school did not follow all of the state guidelines for reopening (i.e. small rotating cohorts)?
When teachers in my department go to the virtual academy because of their personal illnesses that make them high risk, who will teach their classes? Will I be forced to sacrifice my prep time and teach more than full time to cover some of those classes?
If a kid in one of my classes has Covid, will I be quarantined along with the students in that class? While in quarantine, would I teach my classes remotely like I am right now?
What happens if one of the schools has a case of covid or multiple cases ? What if there are multiple kids from the same family attending different grade levels (schools) and a case happens then those exposed were t aware and already exposed others at the different school?
Do we have adequate PPE?
Are we going to direct traffic through hallways? one-way-directional-signs?
Will students be required to wash hands before each class? How will that be managed?
Will someone take temperatures as students enter the buildings?
Should we increase passing periods and stagger student movement?
Will we maintain 6-foot distances during passing and in class?
Will we only meet with each student once a week for 90 minutes? Is this reasonable?
Can we do group projects or labs? If so, how? How do we sanitize between students? between classes?
Do we have enough supplies for individual labs?
Can we leave our windows and doors open for airflow even on cold weather days?
Should we leave our classroom doors open or closed? Which is safest?
What do we do about rooms with poor ventilation and windows that don't open?
Will staff have to take sick leave if we are quarantined?
Will we be hiring more custodial staff to help keep our community safe?
Will students be logging on remotely to the classes on remote days or is there a separate curriculum?
Do we have enough staff so classroom teachers can have planning time and bathroom breaks without an IA having to cover multiple classrooms?
Will Sped services be on remote days or in class? Are we hiring more Sped staff to accommodate their IEPs for both?
Childcare for teachers with children?
If a teacher is absent what do we do with their students?
Can parents volunteer in classes to help with staffing shortages or is that a lawsuit waiting to happen?
Do parents know we are not keeping the 6ft distance?
Can a teacher be sued if a student gets covid while they are at school?
What are our options other than hybrid or Ingenuity
Lets finish the year as is, we can roll with this. It makes zero sense to change gears now.
Concern about losing 2 weeks of instructional time when we go to hybrid. I know I can make videos but instruction is better when it’s with the class.
I will have double the planning (in-person + remote) with less time to do it in. This will also mean I have less contact with each student and less time to meet one-on-one.
As much as I want to have my kids in my classroom with me, only seeing each student once a week will be totally detrimental to my ability to teach them anything. I also worry about my ability to keep up with teaching twice as many classes with much less time to prepare. I may not be overly worried about catching covid, but I worry about the extreme stress level of keeping up during the hybrid model.
Remote is more sustainable.
As an LAHS teacher, remote is what I want for my own children - both LAHS students. I am confident that they are receiving an excellent education in this model given the circumstances.
It does not adequately answer the concerns from those on all sides.
1. only limits total exposure by 1/2 .
2. Mid and high school teachers are exposed to 7x the student population.
3. True social interactions will not occur.
4. Better access to teachers for struggling learners will not occur.
5. Teacher stress and prep time will exponentially increase and sustainability to teach with these expectations will cause burnout and loss of staff in an already strapped situation.
Hybrid as described by the district does not really involve a remote learning component, and many students and parents do not understand that. True hybrid instruction includes teacher presence during both the in-person and the hybrid components of the class. At the high school level, if classes are divided in half, teachers will be teaching twice as many classes (just smaller) all day. They will not be able to spend time teaching those who are remote. There will be no remote meetings for students during their days not at school. Students will have less access to their teachers than they do in the remote model. Many of the things that students want to return to school for will not be possible. In person group work will not be possible with the desks 6 feet apart. Students will not be able to crowd around their phones watching videos. They will not be able to congregate in the halls and common areas between classes. Teachers will need to stay six feet away from students as well, while teaching through a mask. Right now, student see each other's faces during remote classes. Students want to return to school as normal, and that will not be possible. I can't see how this will be safe or good for students' well-being.
Remote everything needs to end as soon as possible
I think October is not a good time to bring students back into the schools. We need time to see what happens to the case numbers in the fall. I do not think that remote learning works for many students. I want students back in person as soon as it is safe to do so. If our state's case numbers (7 day average, positivity rate, etc.) continue to decline throughout Sept. and Oct. and we have a plan (I haven't seen anything yet - except a date!), then I'll be ready to see students in mid-late November. I don't think the timing of quarters and semesters makes any difference for when students return.
Remote is far from perfect, and I miss the spontaneous conversation with my students. I am still trying to figure out how I can manage some of that. For hybrid, I believe that we have to accept that safety would be our primary focus and be ready to give up as much instructional time as needed to ensure that.
I feel that the students get less instruction time and everyone gets more exposure with hybrid.
Remote is planned, reliable, consistent learning. Hybrid brings uncertainty, disruption to the learning process; enough staff or subs to fill in for quarantined staff members; not enough space and staff supervision for lunch, academic time—students won’t be in cohort groups, and at the high school level with the assortment of classes, there really isn’t a safe, traceable cohort
Hybrid is a step and something kids can look forward to. The volleyball could not practice. Them they were allowed at 5-1 pods, with mask and social distancing. They practiced without incident and did an excellent job at following the rules. I know that every single one of them would rather practice this way than not at all. I feel strongly that this is the case with hybrid.
Hybrid is a bridge to totally F2F -- so should be implemented as close as possible to when we can forsee going back F2F. In its current form, hybrid is unsustainable for a long period of time without losing what we have gained in remote.
In hybrid, my kids will see less of me and I will need time to create more independent lessons than I have right now. I am concerned that the hybrid model will give me less prep time.
I have students who have voiced that they do not feel comfortable returning to school and have to move over to the Los Alamos Virtual Academy, but LAVA doesn't have the AP class that I teach. I am concerned that my students will lose the opportunities that come with my AP class all because they are minorities and/or have families who cannot be exposed. How is that fair to them?
I am concerned that my need for prep will increase in the hybrid model and I will have even less non-working off contract time. When will the grading get done? I already have parents complaining about the speed of grading as it is.
In hybrid, we will either have less face time with students or less planning time or both.
I don't think we have the staffing in place for hybrid without calling into question the ethics of putting IAs in danger and having classroom teachers unable to plan or take bathroom breaks.
I worry about Sped students not getting serviced because their teachers will have to be managing both remote and in class times
The pacing for hybrid will be half has much as remote
The number of custodians we have in our school and if one of them is absent
I want to be with the children in person, very badly, but I don't see how we can do that with so little staff.
Find the kids where remote is really bad for them and help them somehow. If we can have small groups in the building to support the ones at greatest risk of falling behind, then we can attempt to make the most people happy.
Keep remote learning 4 days per week in morning hours. Allow groups of less than ten for struggling learners in scheduled afternoon times for core classes. Allow hands on electives/ music/ afterschool/ club activities for social engagement in small groups at a time either outdoors (band) or in well ventilated areas. This keeps exposure to easily identified small groups, limits the exposure of large amounts of students to teachers, supports struggling learners, and meets the social interaction piece most parents say their student is missing.
We could do shorter class periods to decrease exposure and meet remotely with groups of students on Wednesdays - as needed.
Half day, home at lunch; schedule needs to be altered due to untraceable contact; some classes are fine remote, but perhaps others could be prioritized for in-person learning
Let's watch what similar districts do and learn from them. We certainly do not need to be the leaders in this endeavor.
Similar approach to college campuses, based on subject matter (and teacher comfort) being in the classroom so that students take some classes in person (possibly in cohorts, depending on class size and space) and some classes completely remote. We would need to structure the day to provide them travel time or come up with places where students who have to travel further or who have other obstacles can work on campus.
Some electives should be able to meet with small cohorts or hybrid.
It makes sense to look at the higher education model. For the fall 2020 semester, many universities have kept (or moved) everything to online that can be taught reasonably that way. Classes that require occasional in person meetings were scheduled as hybrid classes. In those classes, most of the instruction is online (with teacher presence) and some in person sessions are held, with small groups for things like the hands-on portion of science labs. Other classes that cannot reasonable be taught online (like welding) meet fully in-person, but classes are very small. Could we do something like that at LAHS? Moving a limited number of classes to hybrid lessens risk and requires less PPE and cleaning supplies.
I'm not sure at this point I'd love to hear some suggestions.
One week on, one week off. We could build good instruction in a week and then they learn at home for 7. Now, they will be learning at home for 5-6 days with 1-2 days of instruction. 6 or 7 unstructured is really no different.
I feel that hybrid makes more sense at the elementary level than the high school.....
At LAHS, I'd like to see us look at how to serve our students best and make decisions to create small cohorts based on teacher willingness to work with students in person.
One idea: Morning: remote core classes, or classes that have large enrollment. Afternoon: F2F for small groups of students in electives and non-core classes -- small (5-10 students). Keep kids in small cohorts -- create pods outside of school in other locations.
Sremote instruction where students with disabilities attend LAHS in-person as desired to be able to get one on one help from IAs during their remote classes in order to meet their accommodations. That would allow around 13% of the student body to return.
I think we should try selecting certain students and willing teachers to attend face to face first.
I think both of those options are worth looking into. I wish I had more answers. I don't see our district having the staff to be successful with this hybrid model.