An update on schools: SLC School District fires a shot across the bow
Thursday, the Salt Lake City School District announced their plans for reopening In a Covid-19 world. If Salt Lake City is at the Orange level (or above) of Governor Herbert’s reopening plans, schools will be completely remote. Better said, parents will be trying to teach kids with some help from teachers. This flies in the face of the the Governor saying that all schools will be in-person [in some form] next year.
However, if they achieve the low risk phase of Yellow, students will attend in-person school two days a week. It appears to be a Monday/Wednesday versus a Tuesday/Thursday in person schedule. High school students would have a similar but slightly different schedule.
It’s important to note, that they don’t provide any option better than that. They don’t talk about a green level where kids go to school five days a week for the normal amount of hours.
I don’t know where Park City schools stand. I have heard that there are groups looking at various options and they have to report by July 20. Then, we have to submit our reopening plans by August 1 to the state.
I had hoped things would be relatively normal. I had resigned myself to a four-day, in-person, school week, like Jordan School District says they are doing. That would be workable at least for our working family. However, if Park City adopts three days of at-home learning like SLC, that is going to be a real problem. How far behind are the kids going to fall?
God help us all.
Here is the letter from the Interim-Superintendent of SLC schools describing what they are planning.
Parkrag
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What about the teachers and the great risk they take? Who pays for their 2 week quarantine if a student gets sick or is exposed – or another teacher gets the virus or Is even exposed to it? If the teacher gets sick, does the whole school need to be quarantined? Who pays for that? What poorly paid substitute will want to take over in a situation like that? What about the teacher’s family? Who pays for all of the testing, students, teachers, administrators , family when and if there is an illness or exposure? I’m not sure there are enough answers yet.
Hi Jane – It’s not an easy one. I think there are a number of choices to be made – most of which are bad. I have been thinking a lot about this though over the past few months. The question really boils down to whether teaching in-person is an essential service.
I feel for many of our essential-service providing community members. I see a woman who works at a local supermarket who is likely in her early 60’s. She has been working her shifts, just like normal, through this whole thing. If she gets sick, is the supermarket handling medical expenses? What about her husband and her family? What about extended family and friends?
My wife is a Physical Therapist who has been working since her clinic reopened in mid-May because they are in the medical field. She is working within one foot of people 8-10 hours a day. She does it because people need to get better after surgeries. Her employer will handle medical expenses, but what if she is left with lung damage (or worse) because she catches it? It could destroy her quality of life or kill her. It could also infect me or her aging parents.
I would agree with you that there are not enough answers yet, but there won’t be in a month either. Maybe by August 2021, we will have better answers. That doesn’t help us in the next three weeks, though.
My bigger thing is let us know so we can make arrangements! Working parents have less than 3 weeks to figure it out! Come on!!!
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