Opinion: Schools Should Reopen Online Only

When I visit https://sites.google.com/view/nhpsadvocates/ or the NHPS Advocates Facebook site, I see that the word "transparency" is at the front and center of every other sentence. But after all this time, it's still not clear who the people behind this organization are. Advocates, it hurts your credibility that we don't know who you are, where you are based, what your personal stakes are.

" The purpose of the Working Group on NHPS Transparency is to monitor, document, analyze, and publicize decisions that affect the education of our students in the New Haven Public Schools, to shine light on meetings and other processes that, while technically public, are sometimes difficult to access."

Indeed.

The teachers have given every reason possible why they can't teach in person due to the horribly unsanitary situations in NHPS. They haven't voiced the lack of planning for Distance Education nearly as vehemently, if at all. Moving toward a school year which will be taught largely by a remote method (does anyone believe differently?) would lead one to believe that any online learning would be at best, teaching and learning by accident.

See all the comments in the article about returning to school in a hybrid model. Lots of good commentary that relates to this article.

@OhHum

See #2 here - https://www.newhavenindependent.org/index.php/archives/entry/school_reopening_statement/

More equitable, meaningful, and trauma-informed distance learning is a priority for teachers! It's incredibly difficult, though, to focus on preparing for distance learning when we continue not to know what school will look like in just two weeks -- and when we have to spend so much of our time and energy fighting for the safety of ourselves, our families, and our school communities. Distance learning isn't easier for teachers. We aren't fighting for it because we prefer it. We are fighting for it because it is the only safe option.

I understand some of the points of view of the BOE and NHPS, but at the end of the day, the professional in the room, the Black woman leader we all fought for, says that she has a plan and that we can do this. We are not trusting her and her expertise and her competency. Now instead of listening to someone who knows our school system best she is having to split her time between fighting with the state, preparing for a completely different type of learning weeks before opening, and still keeping up progress to make the physical spaces of our schools prepared in case we come back to school.

I trust Dr. Ilene Tracey. Do you?

@NataliyaBraginsky
The Teachers, Administration, and City have had 5 months to put together a plan for Distance Education. They have done nothing. A class taught at a distance has to be instructional by design. It has to use a platform specifically designed for instruction. These are just the elementary issues that have to be addressed before the teacher begins to teach. The City needs Distance Learning professionals, Instructional Designers, and trainers now. The platitudes will do little to educate the children of New Haven. In two weeks the teachers will once again be throwing spaghetti against the wall to see if it sticks.

Watching the State Dept. of Education meeting today, it was abundantly clear that the BOE members who spoke hadn't even read Dr. Tracy's plan. They were also uninformed about help the state has committed to provide and unaware of (or worse unconcerned about) the huge percentage of students who were unengaged during remote learning in the spring.

There is so much to say about this heartbreaking situation that offers us all bad options. I believe in teachers and school staff and want them to feel safe and protected as they teach our kids and steward their days suddenly filled with details of masks and distance and unpredictability. And I want them to feel supported and believed as they teach our kids and steward their days through online learning and isolation and unpredictability. I appreciated Larry Conaway and Ed Joyner's emotionally present, realistic, and attentive testimonies. Tamiko Jackson is the doctor of many NHPS students and families trust her and she deserves that trust. I wish that the most realistic, safe, funded option was chosen (and at this point, it seems to be online and most importantly the teachers say and believe it's online) before this so teachers and staff could best prepare for whatever is next. Finally, I've heard so little about teachers that are also parents and the pressure and stress they hold in this situation.

Should we concerned with the 70% of students that did not fully participate in remote learning , or is that usurped by teachers needing to feel 100% safe ? A feeling that is not validated by science.
You had a slew of State representatives repeatedly telling New Haven that they will be supported with whatever they need to reopen safely. Why is that not enough to let the folks that want to go back to the classroom, do so?
Why no choice for ~50% of families?

The sheer lack of care, belief, and value that people have for teachers and school staff is appalling. The statistics from the spring cannot be used to make decisions now. The spring was an emergency response to an unprecedented situation. Where is the compassion and patience? There is so much vitriol for teachers and staff right now. What about the teachers and staff that spent the spring talking to students daily, students who lost parents and family to COVID-19? Students that one minute merely had a part-time grocery job were suddenly essential workers and in some cases suddenly the only employed person in a household? The Citywide Youth Coalition, an organization of students and people that work directly with students and parents, is calling for distance learning and aren't propping up the numbers from the spring. People that are calling for online learning have stories, have experiences of stress and worry and real loss that we have to center. The spring statistics are not relevant to our future, they are a snapshot of a community under duress and are being used to inform a new vision of distance learning. For the people calling for in-person schooling with a clear anti-teacher pulse: how many teachers do you know, how many students is your family really in community with, how many conversations have you had with people that are currently building a new distance learning culture? I do not presume to know what is best... I believe teachers and staff know what's best. Before the spring, I saw K-12 distance learning as a way to undermine public education, a way to systematically refuse public school to rural communities, Native people, and city communities that were surrounded by closed schools. Then a pandemic happened and I saw the enormous stress, worry, relationship tending, and sickness that so rapidly consumed our teachers. Our reality is distance learning and if we support teachers, we can hold their vibrancy with our new reality.

Molly: I don't know who you're trying to shame, but I would consider taking a step back. Did you listen to the state hearing? Dr. Tracy said teachers can apply for leave. Over 90 teachers have submitted applications and 33 had been approved so far. And yes, I do know teachers, in this district and others. I also know many students and families, from all socio-economic groups. New Haven is a small city. There are no good options, only two poor ones. Both both are valid perspectives.

Good people have real concerns about leaving behind thousands of city kids on the path to gaining education, including learning to read fluently, kids with special needs, kids who are at risk of graduating, kids who need a relationship with a teacher, and ESL students. You can disagree with people who are advocating for kids by asking for choice without the scorched earth approach.

No shame here. Stating disappointment in the vibe of treating teachers as if they aren't centering the experience of students they care about and aren't working hard to design important distance learning experiences in a pandemic and with no clear direction for how things are going to actually go. Teachers don't want to teach online. They want everyone to return to school safely.

Just from this article and not gonna cute and paste many other comments from other articles in the weeks cuz there are enough for people to find themselves:

-"The teachers have given every reason possible why they can't teach in person due to the horribly unsanitary situations in NHPS. They haven't voiced the lack of planning for Distance Education nearly as vehemently, if at all."
-"The Teachers, Administration, and City have had 5 months to put together a plan for Distance Education. They have done nothing."
-"Should we concerned with the 70% of students that did not fully participate in remote learning , or is that usurped by teachers needing to feel 100% safe ? A feeling that is not validated by science."

Molly W-I'm very sorry if my comment wasn't caring enough towards the cohort you have chosen to side with. My concern will always be with the ones that have the smallest voice and the greatest needs.
An objective look at the infection rate and hospitalization rate of New Haven and CT should allay any fears of teachers and staff. We are so fortunate to have such a low level of virus here. Additionally, there will only be one quarter of students in a building on any given day under hybrid. These are reassuring facts. If teachers still do not want to return, then they should look for a more safe job or take a leave of absence.
For the record. I have been shamed by teachers. Supposedly I want my kids in the classroom because I need a babysitter. This will be a devastating state for impoverished single parent households if schools don't resume. This one-sided, irrational-fear approach has tunnel vision to other truly damaging effects. That's straight from the mouth of a NHPS teacher who will have no problem dropping their child off at Hopkins before going back home to teach where it is safe. Apparently, wanting an equal education opportunity for my kids is offensive to some. Go figure.

There have been really bad and personal attacks on individual parents too, as well as on parents in general in NHI comments, and some were made by teachers.

No, lots of people don't understand how a school district works and who is responsible for what.

Distance learning was not good last spring. It left behind most of the district. It was one quarter of school. Maybe not earth shattering, but it's something that would be very damaging to vulnerable kids if repeated this academic year.

I was a poor kid who pulled myself out of poverty with education. I did it without much support from my caring, but overworked and undereducated single parent mom. Education is the most realistic (and legal) way for a poor kid to open up their life. Maybe if you come from a place of privilege you can't see how important each step of education is and how easy it is to become derailed.