Centerville and Oakwood parents considering online school have been asking on social media whether they’ll still have all the course offerings their families expect, from foreign languages to advanced math or science courses.
And several respondents to a Dayton Daily News survey this month said their children will definitely return to school, arguing there’s little risk and the kids need the experience of regular school and socialization.
“I feel like my kids need to be around other kids their age, but at the same time, I don’t want them to be in that environment where I have to worry about my kids getting sick or exposed,” York said. “It’s a hard choice and a choice we didn’t think we’d have to make.”
Educators across the region are urging parents to call or send questions now to their own school or district, because each one’s reopening plan is different. The classes offered online in Kettering won’t be the same as in Lebanon, and the exceptions to wearing a mask could be slightly different from West Carrollton to Troy to Beavercreek.
“When I went to bed last night every question had been answered that had been posed by a parent,” Northmont Superintendent Tony Thomas said Monday morning. “We have tried to assist parents who unfortunately are being asked to make a difficult choice … but in the long run, this will allow our district to start school with as little ambiguity as possible.”
Shannon Cox, superintendent of the Montgomery County Educational Service Center, said local online education efforts from March to May were “decent,” as schools adjusted on the fly, but she said many improvements have been made since then.
Cox’s group partnered with several other ESCs around the state to form a Remote Learning Alliance. She said that group has focused on improving online education options via teacher preparedness training, identifying high-quality curricular content, and bridging the internet access divide for students and staff.
“We’ve hovered our mouse over the 21st century (in education) for two decades,” Cox said. “This pandemic has allowed us to click the button and actually delve right in. We had adults months ago who didn’t know what Zoom or Google Meet was.”
Some districts won’t announce their back-to-school plans until this week or next week. But even schools like Dayton Christian, one of the first to announce they would return to school five days a week, say continuing communication with parents is crucial.
“We are continually updating parents through weekly updates from our Head of School as to what the small changes or additions are,” DC spokeswoman Julie Thompson said. “This will continue up to the start of school, and we imagine throughout our 2020-2021 school year.”
York said she’s waiting to hear more about the details of Troy schools’ reopening. The school board is scheduled to vote on guidelines Thursday morning. But she’s worried some parents won’t take the rule seriously, not taking their kids’ temperature or following other guidelines.
“You’re not going to know whether any of those kids they go to school with have been exposed to anybody else, so I feel like keeping my kids home would be safer,” she said.
“We've hovered our mouse over the 21st century (in education) for two decades. This pandemic has allowed us to click the button and actually delve right in."
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