HOW SHOULD NYC SCHOOLS REOPEN IN THE FALL?

That question looks a little too much like an aim and I think I asked it before. Okay, guilty as charged of writing aims here. After teaching for 32 years in NYC, this is what I do by reflex. I was thinking about what is going to happen in the fall in schools. 

All of us are quite concerned because there are really no good options if the Covid-19 pandemic continues as is quite probable. We may have finally flattened the curve in NY but nationally, we have not. I hope and pray there is a vaccine and/or an effective remedy but there probably won't be either by the fall. The Chappaqua outbreak shows that NY is not an isolated nation that can close its borders to minimize the chances of having a second wave of Covid-19. So, where does that leave the schools for the start of the 2020-2021 school year? September 10 is coming when NYC schools should reopen for students. 

The Options for school in the fall in NYC:

1-Open school normally and hope that nothing gets out of control. 

Highly unlikely this will occur unless there is a safe, effective COVID-19 vaccine and/or a truly effective remedy.

2-Open with "blended learning" in some kind of a hybrid model with different cohorts going to school on different days and doing remote learning from home on other days so that social distancing is possible in school buildings. 

This is the likely scenario but it will probably please nobody including parents who need help with watching their own children when they are at work outside the home but their kids are scheduled to be learning from home. This situation includes a great number of teachers and other school staff.

Personally, I think the city should at least attempt to have uniform cohorts in all schools citywide as much as they possibly can so parents who are workers can match their cohort with their children to the maximum extent possible. I would do this first within the school system but then attempt to expand it to other city workers and even include the private sector business community as well as the rest of the region if governments are so inclined. Matching cohorts across the area would keep people from overcrowding school buildings, the roads, and public transportation while still permitting some in-school learning. 

I know, I know you are all going to pounce on me by saying a crowded big high school can't have the same cohorts as a tiny high school or small elementary school. I agree we are not one size fits all. However, I would argue it is possible to get everyone on the same page if we base the cohorts on the biggest schools and allow much smaller class sizes and/or more in-school learning in less crowded buildings. Parents would have the option of transferring this summer as the schools that have more space could be more attractive. The idea is everyone knows in advance what the possible days of school are citywide and parents can coordinate schedules as best as possible. Support centers could continue for essential workers who need childcare.

I am dreaming here. This would require a level of thinking and planning that will go way over the heads of the Department of Education, the City of New York, the State of New York, the surrounding state governments and the business community. 

Let's acknowledge we will get the DOE version of blended learning which means sort of organized chaos in 1,800 different schools that will go in about a million different directions. We haven't even talked about the problems with children social distancing and Personal Protective Equipment or how teachers who have preexisting health conditions where they work fulltime remotely will be programmed. Also, what happens if there is COVID-19 in a building?  It closes or we leave anyway if it doesn't close. We will write about that in detail in a different post. Let's now examine the final alternative.

3-Continue with remote learning exclusively. 

This may yet happen but I believe there will be more live, what is called synchronous, instruction. No more posting an assignment for the week and heading for the golf course, although some will probably figure out a way to get around anything. 

If the massive spikes in cases in the south and west continue, NY is not a separate country, as mentioned above, and will not be immune. Remote learning at least keeps us as safe as possible. I hate it as a parent. My wife can't stand it as a teacher and my kids don't like it as students but being as safe as possible has to be an alternative. 

In the final analysis, all three options are terrible. I am confident that nothing will be implemented properly in NYC and the UFT response will be inadequate. I hope I'm wrong and the DOE gets it right. I was emailing back and forth with Reality Based Educator this morning. I'll leave the conclusion to him. I pointed out that my science knowledge is not that advanced.

He answered: 

Mine either, by my cynicism and skepticism is professional-grade. What I have seen from people in charge - from Trump to Cuomo to de Blasio to the WHO to the CDC to the DOE to the UFT - is mistake after mistake.

This is what a failed nation looks like, isn't it?

Sadly, it is hard to answer that question negatively.

P.S. If you haven't yet taken Jonathan Halabi's COVID-19 survey that a reader turned into a Google Doc, please do so. It's much better than the DOE survey. I still haven't seen a UFT survey on returning.