Wind the clock back eight months. Friday the 13th. Of March. Bill de Blasio, bluster and fury but no conviction, insists that schools are staying open. It was the wrong decision (soon to be reversed). And, because it was last minute, with a last minute reversal, disruptive. The time for planning was harried and disorganized, and our schools suffered all spring as a result.
Today. Friday the 13th. He’s really still mayor? Parents and teachers and schools should “be prepared” to go remote for a short period of time.
We just finished, by the way parent-teacher conferences. Which came after “Fall Fest” activities (mostly remote) for our students. That was today. November 13. Friday.
Thinking back, our last parent-teacher conferences came after our last “Spring Fest” activities (in person). That was March 13. Friday.
I’m not complaining about moving to fully remote. I think it is necessary. I am complaining about last-minute decisions. I am complaining about the mayor’s lack of planning, and the negative effect that lack of planning has on schools, students, teachers.
I’m also repeating – none of this was necessary. Many of us, probably most of us, knew that the “blended learning” models were a mess. We knew that safety would be an issue. Some of us knew that the quarantining and spread around the Thanksgiving Holiday would be insurmountable.
Blended learning is disruptive. Shifting between in person and remote is disruptive. We need less disruption. We need careful planning. We need a mayor who plans.
And we need to move to remote – Monday sounds good. And we need to stay there until things are actually safe.