School districts start laying out plans for the fall

We’re about a month out from Park City schools starting the fall semester. This year will obviously function differently, given Covid-19. We’d expect the school district to come out with plans soon, so we parents know what to expect. However, we know the school district likes to wait and be told what to do from the Governor and Utah State Board of Education.

So, we thought we would present you with what other school districts have decided so far.

So, in NYC, ABC is reporting , “New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio announced a hybrid back-to-school plan Wednesday with most students inside their physical schools just two or three days a week, but Gov. Andrew Cuomo said it’s up to him to decide whether schools can open at all.”

Here in Utah, Governor Herbert has announced school will be in person this fall. However, that could be a half day a week or some portion of six days a week. We know how politicians like to parse words.

It’s instructive to look at what the Jordan School District down in SLC announced this week. They are one of the first districts to announce their plans and are about ten times larger than Park City with about 55,000 students. They are going with four days of in-person school and one in-home school. According to KSL, “The Jordan School Board unanimously approved a motion Monday that would bring students back to school for in-person classes Monday through Thursday, with each Friday being used for online classwork, small-group learning, and additional teacher consultation.”

What strikes me as interesting with Jordan is that they surveyed teachers and parents on how they wanted the schools to work. The school board went with the option that was chosen the most by teachers and second-most by parents. They deciced on four days of in-person school per week.

It should be interesting to see what the Park City School District does with regard to in-person school. It’s closing in on the time that they should let us know. Are kids going to attend four days a week? Will it be normal with a full four and a half days a week? Will they go half days, with specialists online? Can families opt out of in-person school?

Odds are, they know what they are going to do. Now we are just waiting.