Despite the fact that Caitlin Reynolds is a single mother, she was relieved that her son, L.J., had finally settled into fourth grade after having a tough first year of distant learning.
Then, on Wednesday, November 17, an announcement was made: Detroit public schools will shut their doors on Fridays in December, effective immediately. There would only be a virtual school available.
A follow-up statement was made on Friday: school will be cancelled beginning the following Monday and continuing through the full week of Thanksgiving. There will be no online option available this time.
Many public schools are going remote — or even cancelling classes completely — for one day a week, or even for a few of weeks as a result of teacher burnout or staff shortages, after a period of relative quiet.
The Thanksgiving vacation was extended in at least six additional Michigan school districts, while three school districts in Washington State, including Seattle Public Schools, unexpectedly closed on Nov. 12, the day following Veterans Day. The Brevard Public Schools in Florida, for example, took use of leftover “storm days” to cancel all of its schools for the whole week of Thanksgiving.
In a number of these districts, schools have closed with little or no warning, requiring parents to arrange child care as well as gather the resources to monitor distance education. Aside from the practicalities, many parents are concerned that their children will fall farther behind as a result of the extra days of in-person education missed.
Various factors, including an increase in Covid-19 cases and a need to fully clean classrooms, were stated by school districts as justifications for the closures. For many schools, remote learning days — an option that did not exist before to the epidemic — are an attempt to stave off teacher resignations as a last resort. After a year of attempting to assist children who have experienced learning loss and working extra to make up for labour shortages, instructors have reported feeling worn out.
Following the postponement of school last academic year, Ms. Reynolds, who works at a University of Michigan research lab, had already exhausted her accrued paid time off benefits. Her mother was able to babysit her fourth-grade kid last Friday because of a scheduling conflict. However, she is now attempting to ensure that someone else can be at home with him every Friday this month, or she will face a salary cut of hundreds of dollars from her paycheck.
In response to school fights and other student outbursts, district authorities at Reynolds Middle School, located in Fairview, Ore., just east of Portland, decided to postpone classes for the entire month of November. They informed their parents two days in advance.
Ms. Kisselman, who works as a county case manager out of her living room, said it was “almost impossible” for her to assist Sophia, who suffers from attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, with her homework.
An official from the district stated the school was using this opportunity to review its safety practises in order to “guarantee that we do not have to resort to short-term distance learning” in the future. Steven Padilla, a district spokeswoman, said
According to Elizabeth Thiel, president of the Portland Association of Teachers, her organisation is getting a “alarming” amount of queries from teachers seeking assistance in quitting their positions. She believes that if the union can come up with a strategy now, it would be easier to prevent mass resignations, which would compel schools to become completely remote.
Because Ms. Morgan is a single mother who works for the Wayne County court system, she has to ask family members to babysit her daughter, Kennedy, at the beginning of every week. If she is unable to get a substitute, she will take the day off from work, which she claims would reflect negatively on her employer and make her feel like a burden to her children and family.
Despite the fact that Ms. Morgan was confident in her ability to leave her teenage daughter alone at home, she was concerned that she would get distracted by her phone or the internet instead of paying attention in class.
According to the findings of the research, interruptions during the pandemic resulted in kids falling behind in arithmetic and reading, with the pupils who were most impacted by the crisis already being behind in both subjects.
Theo Eggebrecht, 17, a senior in the arts track at Cass Technical High School in Detroit, did not have any resources for two of his arts courses that day because he had forgotten to bring them from home. He said that his science instructor failed to appear for an online lesson.
Despite the fact that schools have not yet reached winter break, many instructors are already feeling the effects of burnout. It seems that many parents and students are feeling the same way.
