School Year 2020-2021, What does your area see?

[scoutldr]

Our Gov in VA just announced back to school guidelines.  Buses will be restricted to one kid per seat, skipping every other row, and all must wear masks.  This cuts it down to 11 students per full sized 66 passenger bus per run .  My sister is a bus driver and she just laughs.  They were woefully short of drivers before this happened.  No way will this work.  Elementary schools will meet 4 days per week...2 days in person and 2 days virtual.  If you have more than one kid in school, you have no guarantee they will be on the same schedule.  Out of zone requests will not be accepted.  Classrooms must keep a 6 foot distance between kids at all times and masks at all times.  No common areas will be used, such as cafeterias and gymnasiums.  My DIL is thinking she will have to quit her job because the "telework" option is coming to an end.   As of now, our camp is scheduled to go on "with modifications", whatever that means.  The regional camps will remain closed due to lack of potable water supply for cleaning purposes and lack of full time medical staff to conduct daily health checks.

[John-in-KC]

Moderator comment

i split this into a separate topic because our youth will be having a completely different experience than any of us ever did.

I am reminded of an old military adage:  The PLAN is NOTHING; PLANNING is EVERYTHING.  As the OP noted, running 11 students in a 66 Passenger school bus is a formula for failure. 

Be prepared to try and help your Scouts make sense of nonsense.  

[yknot]

I think states and districts are attempting to work out plans but if the case spikes continue the reality will be more distance learning in the fall.  Our district for example can't figure out how to safely distance teachers from students. Meantime, we're told budgets will be cut so no funds for split session teaching or busing. 

[qwazse]

Each district in our state will be in a different position ... both financially and in terms of pandemic response -- which will vary by county.

As I mentioned earlier nobody's writing checks in advance for the public health workers who would ideally be on site to trace contacts. There's a lot of potential for that to happen politically, but those gears need to turn faster.

In general plans are being made to minimize and stagger times in the building. We might finally get those small class sizes that people think are important.

At the university level, Pitt is starting the fall term early and ending before Thanksgiving. This *might* free up some volunteers to tutor high school students who aren't navigating the curriculum well. (Most of our universities have home tutoring programs.)

[RememberSchiff]

Part of my disappointment with camp cancellations has been a lost opportunity to test policy and procedures proposed for the fall.  So a downsized summer camp of 70 with masks, social distancing, packaged meals, small classes, condensed program (3 days), enhanced cleaning,...is a no-go but a downsized state university fall reopening of 7000+ is a go? BTW, said university closed campus for the summer, the two summer semesters were online only. 

When the Provost spoke of  "blended" classes , alternate face-to-face and online, my son sighed and commented "Well that won't work. Safer to schedule all lectures for 8am - no one would show".  

Edited June 14, 2020 by RememberSchiff
grammar

[scoutldr]

The guidelines in my state will require DAILY health checks for every student and staff member, conducted by the school nurse.  My wife was a school nurse for over 20 years.  The only one In a school with over 750 students, plus staff, her days were more than full and she had to go in every summer without pay to get all the required recordkeeping done for new registrations and updating student health records.  She was also more often than not, the primary care provider for many of the lower-income staff members. Many of the poorer school districts in the state do not have a school nurse in every school...one nurse may serve several schools for one day a week to conduct state-mandated screenings.  And no budget increases are being programmed.  Indeed...a plan for failure.  The plan for opening camps will also require daily health checks for all campers and adults by a qualified medical officer.  How much time will this take out of the program day?  If I were a parent, I would have severe reservations about sending my scout to camp under these conditions.  That is not to say I do not think infection control measures are necessary...

[5thGenTexan]

I just filled out a school survey last week asking what grades my kids are in, what school they attend and if I would be comfortable sending my kids to school.

Texas

[Momleader]

Our CO, church in town ,  gave the pack meeting space for free, our school system charges to have meetings in the schools in the evening  to cover the cost of having a custodian there to clean and lock up.  with COVID the CO has halted the use of the building to all until september.  Heard through the church secretary they may only have be having church services there and no extra meetings allowed (they will still store our stuff)  and the word from the school district is schools may only be used for school related sports after hours at the middle and high school, elementary schools won't be used after school hours except by afterschool care.  Puts us in a bit of a bind to find places to have den and pack meetings without a community center building in town.

 

[yknot]

21 minutes ago, Momleader said:

Our CO, church in town ,  gave the pack meeting space for free, our school system charges to have meetings in the schools in the evening  to cover the cost of having a custodian there to clean and lock up.  with COVID the CO has halted the use of the building to all until september.  Heard through the church secretary they may only have be having church services there and no extra meetings allowed (they will still store our stuff)  and the word from the school district is schools may only be used for school related sports after hours at the middle and high school, elementary schools won't be used after school hours except by afterschool care.  Puts us in a bit of a bind to find places to have den and pack meetings without a community center building in town.

 

Do you have any parks you can meet in? Will the school or CO let you meet in a corner of a parking lot or on outside bleachers?  If not, would another community business or organization that is closed in the evening allow you to use their lawn or parking lot? Or just go around and ask for a one time use and do different things -- a bike rodeo in a parking lot, a hike in a park, once. I also keep eyeing all the vacant office and warehouse space in my town, which would allow plenty of social distancing although I'm sure there are liability issues. 

[Momleader]

We’re looking into alternatives - Like the library Community room and the firehouse.  Our CO has requested we NOT meet at leader homes so that everyone is covered by YPT and Safe Church. Trying to line up stuff so we can have a leader / parents planning meeting. 
 

We wanted to reserve the local park pavilion for the crossover/end of the year awards and were shot down because the max number is 25 until more restrictions are lifted later this summer. 

[John-in-KC]

On 6/16/2020 at 1:11 PM, Momleader said:

Our CO, church in town ,  gave the pack meeting space for free, our school system charges to have meetings in the schools in the evening  to cover the cost of having a custodian there to clean and lock up.  with COVID the CO has halted the use of the building to all until september.  Heard through the church secretary they may only have be having church services there and no extra meetings allowed (they will still store our stuff)  and the word from the school district is schools may only be used for school related sports after hours at the middle and high school, elementary schools won't be used after school hours except by afterschool care.  Puts us in a bit of a bind to find places to have den and pack meetings without a community center building in town.

 

When I was a Cub Scout, the den mother held den meetings at her home.  I should know, Mom was my Den Mother. 

[eagle90]

Our troop has been meeting at the same school for 66 years.  Now we are told we will not be able to meet there probably into 2021.  So we, too, are scrambling to find alternate meeting places.  This also affects our Pancake Breakfast fund raiser. 

 

Dale

[CynicalScouter]

On 6/12/2020 at 4:30 PM, scoutldr said:

Our Gov in VA just announced back to school guidelines.  Buses will be restricted to one kid per seat, skipping every other row, and all must wear masks. 

That is not what he said. Here's what the actual requirement is. Note the phrases "to the extent possible" and "when possible." And that is for Phase 1 and 2; we are in Phase 3.
 

Quote

Phase 1: "Physical distance should be created between children on school buses (e.g. seat children one per seat, every other row) limiting capacity as needed to optimize distance between passengers. In Phase 1, limit bus capacity to 10 persons to the extent possible."

Phase 2: "Physical distance should be created between children on school buses when possible (e.g. seat children one per seat, every other row) limiting capacity as needed to optimize distance between passengers. Children (such as siblings) living together may sit together on the bus."

 

Edited June 29, 2020 by CynicalScouter

[69RoadRunner]

I'm in Fairfax County, VA, and the school district sent out a survey with 2 choices for the upcoming school year. 2 days a week in school and lots of homework or all virtual classes, which was a disaster this past school year.

It's sounding like the elementary school we use for meetings won't be available, so we will have to scramble to figure out what to do.

[Momleader]

18 hours ago, CynicalScouter said:

69roadrunner - that is awful and I feel your pain. This is really going to make recruiting a challenge this year. Nevermind the $25 new to scouting fee in addition to registration fees & Council fees.  It would be helpful to be able to tell returning and New parents - we will meet at XYZ location every ‘Wednesday’ at this time unless there is a holiday or unsafe weather.