Playing COVID-19 Roulette with Education
“As our metric indicates, this week I have consulted with the Tri-County Health Department and our surrounding districts. Our metric points to a return to school this coming Monday. However, if we do not see a change in the trend of cases by Friday, October 23, 2020 we will contemplate a move to full Remote learning until the virus in our community is again under control.” - Superintendent Scott Siegfried, October 16, 2020 (email.)
Fast forward to Monday, October 19 (okay three days later isn’t really that long), “cases have leveled off, we are back at a 7 today (on their metric) but regardless it takes a sustained 7-14 day change to cause us to do anything.” - Superintendent Scott Siegfried, October 19, 2020. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5lWSgehRogU&feature=youtu.be)
What is this game that we are playing with our children’s education?
One day, we are hearing word that our school district may need to go remote learning and then two short days later, we are told that the metric changed over the weekend and we are in the “good zone.” I completely understand that we are in the middle of a worldwide pandemic and things change on a daily basis but why are our school leaders putting out statements that make the situation so much worse?
Personally, we shared with our kids that we may go remote to prepare them for this change. Our son who needs structure and has been known to remind his teachers what activity is supposed to be next and constantly looks at a clock so that he is on time for things, thrives on knowing things in advance. So from that point of view, the email on Friday, October 16 was great in giving us relevant and timely information.
However, to then receive the video on October 19, we are now left wondering what value does the email from Friday truly have? Are we in a place of concern because the numbers around our county have gone up or not? Do we have to scramble to figure out remote learning? What has been communicated to the students in the classrooms or to their teachers?
In the last three weeks, I have watched as other local districts have made statements that their middle schools and high schools would move to a hybrid model to days later changing their tune and saying there will be no in person learning until the end of November. A colleague shared how her family’s schools sent out 5 different emails within 15-20 minutes saying that classes were going to have to quarantine and then another one saying the guidance was that if the students had two negative results they could return to school. This same colleague shared that in their state, the whole family doesn’t have to quarantine if they have more than one bathroom. What? How does that even work? “Dear Mr. Gold, since you have two different bathrooms, your 7 year old daughter can quarantine by herself and the rest of you can go back to work and school.” Yeah okay…
I get it, we are trying to be safe and more communication is better than less but seriously, these messages impact thousands of families and cause hysteria on both sides. Over the past four days, I have prepared for the possibility of working remotely more to be at home and help my kids with remote learning but I am fortunate to be able to make this work. What about those families that are a single parent household? What about those households where children faced abuse during the beginning of COVID-19? What about the teachers that around Colorado have had to prepare to go back online or back in the classroom? They aren’t getting any extra pay for this additional preparation.
I also know that my family has been fortunate to have the choice in sending our kids back for in-person learning unlike so many of our friends and family. I am grateful that they have been in school for two months to meet their teachers and make new friends. We are very lucky and I do not take that for granted.
But seriously, Superintendent Siegfried, how about you slow down and share accurate and relevant information? I know this is the first time we are all going through this and mistakes will be made. I also am not envious of any of the decisions that you have to make on a daily basis for 55,000 student and 8,500 employees but your flip flopping messages two days apart. If we have to go on remote learning, prepare us for that and allow your teachers enough time and resources to do that. If we don’t have to go on remote learning and you are just monitoring the situation, that is okay as well. Just let us know the situation and when you come up with a final conclusion, share it then.