AISD's (and other districts) Plans for Schools Starting August 18

[atomheartbevo 89816]

And the board members are going to be asleep within the hour.  They look tired and bored.  

Lots of people asking for school to be delayed unless things really improve.

Board members turned off their Zoom/Facebook cameras, that's not winning hearts.

At least people are comprehending that if the start is delayed, school will run through mid-June.

Edited August 7, 2020 by atomheartbevo

[JohnLocke 115]

Actually, the plan with the later start will end on 6/3.

[atomheartbevo 89816]

3 minutes ago, JohnLocke said:

Actually, the plan with the later start will end on 6/3.

That's not bad - I saw something that was pushing things through mid-June.  That could have been "what if we had to shut down for a few weeks" or something.

 

[Bevo Num1 1023]

Lots of comments about athletics but not a single mention of special education.

[Larry T. Spider 1747]

It’s one of the things that we discussed this week. If you add minutes to each day, you don’t have to add as many days at the end of the year. 

[atomheartbevo 89816]

6 minutes ago, Bevo Num1 said:

Lots of comments about athletics but not a single mention of special education.

Also a lot of classified employees not checking their emails or whatever - it already came out that they would get paid and hours/days would just be tacked on later.

[atomheartbevo 89816]

If I had to pick one word to describe a lot of the FB comments of this livestream, that word would be "Karen"

And this is who I picture making a lot of FB comments:

 

[Larry T. Spider 1747]

18 minutes ago, atomheartbevo said:

Also a lot of classified employees not checking their emails or whatever - it already came out that they would get paid and hours/days would just be tacked on later.

There was an organization feeding them bullshit. I was getting a ton of worried questions until the director of HR sent out an email to all district employees saying that they would get paid. But there are so many 15 paragraph emails floating around out there right now, about 5% of them actually read it. 

[Anastasis 23487]

1 hour ago, atomheartbevo said:

Board members turned off their Zoom/Facebook cameras, that's not winning hearts.

 

Rookie mistake.  I never turn that shit on to begin with. 

[Updawg 2286]

It’s one of the things that we discussed this week. If you add minutes to each day, you don’t have to add as many days at the end of the year. 

Seems like the thing to do

[Samson's Wig 3194]

7 hours ago, Bevo Num1 said:

Lots of comments about athletics but not a single mention of special education.

Texas!

[BrazilHorn 6634]

The live comments were an absolute beating. Combo of “sports are good” & bus drivers wanting to get paid. 
 

 

[South Austin 52628]

47 minutes ago, Samson's Wig said:

Texas!

Fight!

[South Austin 52628]

8 hours ago, JohnLocke said:

Actually, the plan with the later start will end on 6/3.

Selfishly I hope that’s the case. When our Rosemary Beach trip was scrapped this year because of COVID, we rebooked for next summer for the week after the kids get out of school.

[JohnLocke 115]

What has changed in the board approved calendar?

• The school year start date for students has been revised to September 8, 2020, and the end date has been revised to June 3 with additional instructional minutes added per day to ensure students receive the required amount of instructional time. 

[yoladu 4105]

The Austin ISD Board of Trustees voted early Friday to delay the virtual start of school until after Labor Day and to petition the Texas Education Agency to allow it to delay in-person classes until Nov. 3.

The AISD Board also voted to make school longer days 10 minutes and to end the 2020-2021 school year on June 3 to make up for the missed day

https://www.kxan.com/news/education/austin-isd-postpones-start-of-school-until-sept-8-petitions-for-no-in-person-class-until-november/

 

 

[hayden_horn 11365]

6 minutes ago, yoladu said:

The Austin ISD Board of Trustees voted early Friday to delay the virtual start of school until after Labor Day and to petition the Texas Education Agency to allow it to delay in-person classes until Nov. 3.

The AISD Board also voted to make school longer days 10 minutes and to end the 2020-2021 school year on June 3 to make up for the missed day

https://www.kxan.com/news/education/austin-isd-postpones-start-of-school-until-sept-8-petitions-for-no-in-person-class-until-november/

 

 

that we are facing existing requirements during this extraordinary time is such fucking madness to me. i know that the tea mandates a certain number of instructional minutes, but the people in charge amaze me. um, yall are the leaders, you can change this shit if necessary. fucking lead, man.

kudos to aisd for being bold, though. it was the right decision given the choices they have been given, i guess.

[CooterBrown 18032]

If we could always start 3 weeks later and just end a few days later by adding 10 minutes a day, why don't we just keep that schedule going forward.  

[gsoda3 3283]

PfISD is still scheduled to start school this Thursday.  Full steam ahead.  

[hayden_horn 11365]

3 minutes ago, gsoda3 said:

PfISD is still scheduled to start school this Thursday.  Full steam ahead.  

this is what i do not understand.

simple question (not aimed at you, dude): are things better or worse than when we shut down schools in the spring?

[mdmost 43056]

Got to get these kids out of my house even if it kills me and them and their grandparents. 

[utee94 15867]

 

43 minutes ago, gsoda3 said:

PfISD is still scheduled to start school this Thursday.  Full steam ahead.  

 

39 minutes ago, hayden_horn said:

this is what i do not understand.

simple question (not aimed at you, dude): are things better or worse than when we shut down schools in the spring?

Can't speak for PfISD, but Leander ISD also still plans to open next Thursday 8/13 as originally scheduled.  However, all classes will be online-only for the first 3 weeks through 9/8.  And I suspect, at that point, they'll kick the can down the road even further. 

[JohnLocke 115]

2 hours ago, hayden_horn said:

that we are facing existing requirements during this extraordinary time is such fucking madness to me. i know that the tea mandates a certain number of instructional minutes, but the people in charge amaze me. um, yall are the leaders, you can change this shit if necessary. fucking lead, man.

kudos to aisd for being bold, though. it was the right decision given the choices they have been given, i guess.

The extra 10 minutes likely isn't going to change much instruction wise.  Extracurriculars will have to wait an extra ten minutes before starting after school.  This is basically the locals working around the TEA.

[gsoda3 3283]

1 hour ago, hayden_horn said:

this is what i do not understand.

simple question (not aimed at you, dude): are things better or worse than when we shut down schools in the spring?

 

47 minutes ago, utee94 said:

 

 

Can't speak for PfISD, but Leander ISD also still plans to open next Thursday 8/13 as originally scheduled.  However, all classes will be online-only for the first 3 weeks through 9/8.  And I suspect, at that point, they'll kick the can down the road even further. 

 

at this point with the first 3 weeks being virtual the need to push the start date back comes from the campuses not having all their processes ready to implement.  AISD recognizes that but it seems like the surrounding districts don't.  if they actually do open on the 13th it's going to be a goat rodeo of epic proportions.  the school districts have basically left it up to each individual campus to decide what they want to do (without giving enough direction imo). 

 

[utee94 15867]

12 minutes ago, gsoda3 said:

 

 

at this point with the first 3 weeks being virtual the need to push the start date back comes from the campuses not having all their processes ready to implement.  AISD recognizes that but it seems like the surrounding districts don't.  if they actually do open on the 13th it's going to be a goat rodeo of epic proportions.  the school districts have basically left it up to each individual campus to decide what they want to do (without giving enough direction imo). 

 

Why do you think the surrounding districts don't have all of their processes ready to implement?  LISD is much smaller and more nimble than AISD.

I don't think it's a one-size-fits-all.

 

Also, online-only is going to be a worthless shitshow regardless of when school starts, so I don't think it really matters.

Edited August 7, 2020 by utee94

[gsoda3 3283]

13 minutes ago, utee94 said:

Why do you think the surrounding districts don't have all of their processes ready to implement?  LISD is much smaller and more nimble than AISD.

I don't think it's a one-size-fits-all.

it's 2nd hand info from what my wife's been telling me.  she's one of the primary contacts for her school district for the reopening and in the process of her job she's been speaking with reps from other school districts around austin.

[BrazilHorn 6634]

Based on it now being virtual for 1st 8 weeks (basically until early November) I will be shocked if AISD doesn't extend that timing to take it virtual past Thanksgiving.

Or I also could see opening up for the couple of weeks preceding Thanksgiving and seeing if infections run rampant. Then you could go virtual to close out calendar year afterwards.

There have been 2,385 positive cases in Travis County for those aged 1-19. (624 for 1-9 & 1,761 for 10-19). If you say take half of the 1-9 group (312) and add it to all of the 1,761 10-19 kids that gives you approximately 2,073 school aged students in Travis County that have been infected thus far. Quick check of the interwebs shows around 186,000 school age kids in public school (no clue on private) In Travis county. So quick back of the envelope math would show that we have had:

~2,073 Infected of 186,000 public school population: ~1.1%

This is quick and dirty calculation but it shows scope of issue facing just one county. The VAST majority of school age kids have not been infected. This also means that they haven't been potential vectors for virus spread.

Keep your kids home if you can. There is very little upside at this juncture (especially for AISD Middle/High school where the in person will mirror virtual) to send your kids to school.

[TexArcher 38075]

4 hours ago, gsoda3 said:

PfISD is still scheduled to start school this Thursday.  Full steam ahead.  

So how does this work for parents who say, "no"?

Surely they aren't going to force kids to be present and get themselves sued into Bolivian when kids start getting sick, right?

[Scary Stranger 1715]

Thoughts?

[utee94 15867]

5 minutes ago, TexArcher said:

So how does this work for parents who say, "no"?

Surely they aren't going to force kids to be present and get themselves sued into Bolivian when kids start getting sick, right?

@gsoda3 stated above the first 3 weeks will be online-only.  Same goes for LISD.  

 

Beyond that, I completely expect the school districts to kick the can down the road several more times, resulting in  online-only for pretty much all of the Fall 2020.  

 

[Hagbard Celine 10934]

36 minutes ago, Scary Stranger said:

Thoughts?

New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and the rest of the northeast took it seriously at the start and are reaping the rewards.

If not for the stupidity of the Idiocratic 37%, we could have taken 3 weeks of pain in April going full New Zealand, or hell even pushed back to June to give everyone time to get ready for a 3-week total lockdown.

But that's not how we do things in mahfreedomsville.

[atomheartbevo 89816]

3 hours ago, gsoda3 said:

at this point with the first 3 weeks being virtual the need to push the start date back comes from the campuses not having all their processes ready to implement.  AISD recognizes that but it seems like the surrounding districts don't.  if they actually do open on the 13th it's going to be a goat rodeo of epic proportions.  the school districts have basically left it up to each individual campus to decide what they want to do (without giving enough direction imo). 

From what it sounds like, AISD is focused on a) having enough technology for everybody when school starts (otherwise TEA forces them to have in-person classes) and b) having teachers ready with the various platforms (there is a lot of Canvas/Blend training going on right now).

San Marcos and Hays County were already ahead of AISD.

[atomheartbevo 89816]

3 hours ago, utee94 said:

Why do you think the surrounding districts don't have all of their processes ready to implement?  LISD is much smaller and more nimble than AISD.

I don't think it's a one-size-fits-all.

Do they have all of the technology they need for Day 1?  Because TEA mandates that if a kid doesn't have a device and internet access, they must be in a classroom, or there is no funding for them.  It maybe easy.

Hell, Austin is still waiting on deliveries of new stuff, as well as graduated seniors to return a couple of thousand Chromebooks

https://www.kxan.com/news/education/austin-isd-still-waiting-for-laptops-from-vendors-graduated-seniors-to-fulfill-online-learning-needs/

Smaller districts can definitely handle getting devices and getting them out, and maybe even getting their teachers trained up, but I wonder how they are handling internet access.

[Born to Run 6569]

Thanks for whomever gave advance warning about Aisd pushing the start date back to Sept 8.
Heading to CO to camp for a week.

[atomheartbevo 89816]

The girl who took the photo illustrating the shitshow in Georgia was suspended.  Because of course.

https://www.kxan.com/news/georgia-student-suspended-after-posting-photo-of-crowded-hall/

Quote

The 15-year-old said she posted the photo because she was concerned.

“I took the photo initially after seeing the first day of school photo taken by someone else go online as well and got picked up by some media coverage,” Hannah said. “And I took it out of mostly concern and nervousness after seeing the first days of school.”

She said she was suspended after being accused of breaking several codes of conduct.

Quote

Paulding County School’s Superintendent Brian Otott said in a letter to the community that the photo was taken out of context.

Quote

“There is no question that the photo does not look good,” he wrote. “Students are in this hallway environment for just a brief period as they move to their next class.” 

He also said: “Class changes at the high school level are a challenge when maintaining a specific schedule. It is an area we are continuing to work on in this new environment to find practicable ways to further limit students from congregating.”

Otott said masks are not required at the school, though they are strongly encouraged.

They are "continuing to work on" ways to limit students from congregating???

No the aren't.  That was "fuck it, let's just roll with it".

[XYZ 2154]

6 hours ago, hayden_horn said:

that we are facing existing requirements during this extraordinary time is such fucking madness to me.

I know, right? My wife is an Austin ISD elementary school teacher. She’s been super stressed out these last few days trying to figure out how to build a web page for her class or whatever the fuck it is the administrators want. I’ve been trying to tell her relax, this school year is gonna be pretend no matter what. Teachers will pretend to teach. Kids won’t even pretend to learn, but teachers will pretend that the kids are pretending to learn. The whole thing is gonna be a fucking joke, and none of it will make a shit anyway.

[ZB'Tejas 593]

1 hour ago, Hagbard Celine said:

New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and the rest of the northeast took it seriously at the start and are reaping the rewards.

 

But then you still live in NY PA or NJ... I'll pass

[XYZ 2154]

14 minutes ago, Born to Run said:

Thanks for whomever gave advance warning about Aisd pushing the start date back to Sept 8.
Heading to CO to camp for a week.

Paging Chewbacca.

[Message Board User 12396]

3 hours ago, Hagbard Celine said:

New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and the rest of the northeast took it seriously at the start and are reaping the rewards.

If not for the stupidity of the Idiocratic 37%, we could have taken 3 weeks of pain in April going full New Zealand, or hell even pushed back to June to give everyone time to get ready for a 3-week total lockdown.

But that's not how we do things in mahfreedomsville.

They took it seriously, especially in NY and NJ, because many, many, many more people died there than in any other part of the country.  In fact the thread below suggests that the main reason the northeast's cases have dropped is because so many people were infected in the Spring while the other states effectively flattened the curve.

I also think this thread is rather insightful and helps explain the curves and their effects:

 

[Captainant 27818]

10 minutes ago, Message Board User said:

They took it seriously, especially in NY and NJ, because many, many, many more people died there than in any other part of the country.  In fact the thread below suggests that the main reason the northeast's cases have dropped is because so many people were infected in the Spring while the other states effectively flattened the curve.

I also think this thread is rather insightful and helps explain the curves and their effects:

 

That thread is a good read, and the last couple tweets are really important to keep in mind with the headline

 

 

[JohnLocke 115]

2 hours ago, XYZ said:

 Teachers will pretend to teach. Kids won’t even pretend to learn, but teachers will pretend that the kids are pretending to learn.

Lol, I wish that wasn't true, but I'm afraid that nails it.

[Guest Lobo]

FYI---for those setting up learning pods in their garages...Doss Elementary in North Austin sent out a message yesterday (not sure how my wife notified), they were giving away all kinds of student furniture (several hundred pieces by the looks of it).  We picked up 4 desks and 4 of those trapezoid tables for free.  Way better than the furniture setup we were gonna have.  

They said they'd open it up Monday morning again to get rid of the rest.  So hit them up if you're around there and need somewhere for the kiddos to sit that'll remind 'em a tad of school.  

[smoky 840]

I could be wrong, but I think the pick up is at Read Elementary, where Doss held classes this last year.

[chikin23 384]

My district is going 4 weeks of online and will then reevaluate. The thought at this time seems to be extending that an additional 4 weeks or going to a hybrid model (A-L come Mon/Wed, M-Z come Tues/Thurs) with Friday being online only.

Last spring I think that the majority of teachers in my district did the best they could with online learning. As with any profession, some teachers just flat out suck and did very little. The hardest part was reaching kids and parents. The GT/PRE AP students and those with parents at home did their work. The average students struggled a bit but got the hang of it towards the end and were able to complete assognments and get caught up. However there was a good 25% that couldn't/wouldn't be contacted, refused to do work, wouldn't pick up Chromebooks or Hotspots that the district handed out, and basically just went into shutdown mode.

This fall will be the same. I believe most teachers will do as much as they can to contact parents and reach kids. But there are some kids that will excel no matter what is going on and there are others that won't give any effort.

One thing about this entire situation for teachers is that no matter what administration decides, somebody will be pissed and throw a fit about the decision.

On a side note, we've had sports camps (all sports, 7-12 grade) all summer and had zero issues, no shutdowns, and no cases. Coaches are being overly cautious with cleaning equipment before, during, and after workouts. Temperature checks are required daily, masks are mandatory, social distancing is maintained to a point. We've gradually gone from weights and individual skills (no offense vs defense, 3 on 3, etc) to more group activities. It's been successful for us.

[Guest Lobo]

1 hour ago, smoky said:

I could be wrong, but I think the pick up is at Read Elementary, where Doss held classes this last year.

Yeah my bad.  I’m lost above 35th street.  I didn’t know which campus, just the Address I was texted.  

[Scary Stranger 1715]

1 hour ago, chikin23 said:

On a side note, we've had sports camps (all sports, 7-12 grade) all summer and had zero issues, no shutdowns, and no cases. Coaches are being overly cautious with cleaning equipment before, during, and after workouts. Temperature checks are required daily, masks are mandatory, social distancing is maintained to a point. We've gradually gone from weights and individual skills (no offense vs defense, 3 on 3, etc) to more group activities. It's been successful for us.

Both my kids played lacrosse all summer and also did strength and conditioning with their school.  One volunteer coach got it early in the summer but there were no follow-on cases.  That was the only issue.  All the coaches were like you described - super vigilant.  Also found it encouraging that of all the 10 or so people that I know that have gotten it, no one else in their families have come down with it. 

[Scary Stranger 1715]

Derp

Edited August 8, 2020 by Scary Stranger

[utee94 15867]

Yes my kids did strength and conditioning camps for much of the summer, as well as some soccer practices.  No issues.  The outdoors just aren't much of a risk for transmission.

 

 

[Gardner Barnes 1562]

My kid caught it at a Volleyball tournament in June. Don't be so confident that sports are safe.

[Anastasis 23487]

6 minutes ago, Gardner Barnes said:

My kid caught it at a Volleyball tournament in June. Don't be so confident that sports are safe.

Indoor locker rooms and court?