Dallas County (Texas) Orders All School Districts Must be Online Only Through September 7

[Stallion]

https://www.wfaa.com/article/news/education/dallas-county-order-all-districts-must-online-only-through-september-7/287-12062ec0-b846-4bf4-a2f3-1a7463902a41

[Igel]

1. Houston ISD did something similar.

Postponed school two weeks and then said the first marking period's all online.

It's going to be a train wreck. It was hard enough to get kids after 27 weeks in the classroom to tune in. Kids who are strangers? Dunno. Esp. coming off 9 weeks of do-nothing "at-home learning." Because of the ragtag way it had to be implemented, local districts basically said if you did work online in the spring and brought your grade up, the grades counted; if your grade would be reduced, then the online stuff didn't count. So a lot of students started, didn't see an improvement, and said, "I'm happy with my old grades. Bye." On top of the 15-20% who just never logged in.

For the very young, those learning how to read, those with cognitive disabilities ... yikes.


My district is still sorting through what they *would* have done--a mix of kids that are in person and kids who are only online; you can transition from in-person to online easily, not the other way. It hasn't yet opined given the changing situation. But I predicted they'd do what Dallas is saying. Everybody online for X weeks, then in-person/on-line as parents decide; but teachers report to the building. (It'll crimp our style; we both teach, kid's in high school. If he has to stay home while we're at school ... argh.)