Our county has been blended the entire year with the parent’s choice to go full virtual if desired. So I have students on Monday-Tuesday and a different group on Thursday-Friday. Those students are in school two days and virtual the remaining three days. I also have students that are 100% virtual...by their parent’s choice.
The make up in the school which also reflects in my classroom, is about 50% of the students choose to be full time virtual. The other half selected the blended model.
When the governor tried to force the students that were blended to go full time, go four or five days doubling the class size, most parents objected or even threatened home schooling. The board decided to continue the blended model to comply with the overwhelming desire of the parents.
My opinion is that the blended model is relatively safe. We haven’t had a lot of issues. The students are smaller in groups and can be spaced and isolated into pods that separate them during lunch and play periods. That wouldn’t be the case with full time.
I’m not sure who that helps in the argument here, but at least for my county half want full time virtual, and the majority of the rest want the blended model. Those who want to send everyone back full time are a minority.
What you have to separate in this argument to assure the argument isn’t obscured is that there is a distinct difference between returning full time and returning blended. Parents wanting a blended return should not be counted as wanting business as usual.
I will say from a purely selfish point of view, all the students returning would be much easier for me then what I have now. I work hours every evening and weekend getting out the virtual instruction. I’m face to face four days per week and simply cannot get my two blended and full time virtual students work online, edited, recorded, etc. in the one day allotted for that preparation. It is impossible. That plus the technical issues the students experience at home have parents messaging and texting me all night and weekend. I don’t mind it, but going back to school full time would be so much better for me personally.
I’m just not convinced it’s totally safe. The studies have been using results from blended models...not full time everybody goes environments. I’m not totally worried for the kids because they as a whole will be fine. But their parents and grandparents may not be. We have a case at school now with a parent in the hospital on supplemental oxygen that caught it from their daughter. So the kids can and do spread it to vulnerable people.