School this fall is still very much up in the air, there is no consistency between districts, counties and states. As Covid-19 numbers rise districts make one plan and governors make another. Parents, students, teachers and school staff are all experiencing anxiety about what the upcoming school year will hold.

Here are four possible models districts may adopt for going back to school:

1. 100% Online

Some districts will call this digital learning  or virtual learning and some will call it distance learning. This model is not homeschooling and should not be referred to as homeschooling because the school and your children’s teacher will be in charge of your child’s curriculum, lessons and assessments.

Schools may or may not require students to be online during typical school hours. Some schools may start with a different plan and due to an outbreak need to go back to virtual learning. Some may start with distance learning and attempt a different model later in the year.

2. 100% in person 

Attendance in person will be required to be enrolled in school and no virtual options will be offered. Hopefully these schools will open with safety measures like masks, fever checks, reduced class sizes and forward facing desks among others. The CDC has put out guidelines for schools reopening. Some schools will attempt to follow these guidelines and some will not.

In order to keep class sizes small enough to maintain physical distancing schools may bring in portables, open other rooms or buildings to serve all of their students – although if schools go fully back in person with no online options there will likely be a large portion of parents pulling students out of school so the numbers may fluctuate.

It is unlikely any school will be able to return to the pre-pandemic version of normal.

Some government officials citing the American Academy of Pediatrics have called for this model, asking that schools serve students 5 days a week in person despite the misgivings of other health officials, teachers unions and education officials as to how this can be done safely and without a serious influx of cash. Parents who feel it is too risky and can afford to do so, may pull their children out of public school for the year.

3. Split class cohorts / hybrid model

Students in a classroom will be divided into cohorts or ‘pods’ and attend on a split schedule. Possible split schedules may include Am/PM split or a few days a week in person and a few doing distance learning or possibly one week in person followed by one week attending virtually.

When one group is in school the other is online and vice versa. Students who are attending virtually may be live streamed into lessons or given assignments to work on at home. Students in some districts may be required to be online during normal school hours. 

A split cohort model will allow for the classroom to keep class sizes small and implement social distancing between desks. Students will also be able to be isolated to the same group throughout the year.

Depending on how this model is implemented it may put and undue strain on teachers who may be asked to increase their already strenuous workload to design both in person and virtual lessons. 

4. Choice of in person or distance learning

Some districts are allowing parent choice in how students will attend this fall. Students and parents will be able to choose to attend virtually or in person. Parents who feel comfortable or need to work can still send their children to school and parents who feel it’s too risky are able to choose virtual options without pulling their children out of public school.*

Students choosing distance learning may or may not be live streamed into a classroom that has in-person students and a teacher or another possibility is online students all being placed into a virtual classroom with an assigned teacher who serves only those online students. In some districts students who attend virtually may be expected to be online during normal school hours.

*Pulling children out of public schools this year may seriously impact school funding next year which is often based on head counts from the year before.

Worried about sending your children back to in-person school? Check out this post : 10 THINGS TO CONSIDER BEFORE SENDING YOUR CHILDREN BACK TO SCHOOL DURING A PANDEMIC

Written by Crista Williams 
Crista holds a masters degree in teaching and has over a decade of experience working with children and families. Crista is an elementary teacher and soon-to-be mom herself and lives in Portland, OR with her husband and cat.

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