After a tough transition to online education the year before, single mom Caitlin Reynolds was relieved to see her son L.J. thriving in fourth grade.
On Wednesday, November 17th, it was announced that beginning in December, Detroit public schools would be closed on Fridays. The only viable option would be to attend a virtual university.
According to a follow-up notification made on Friday, schools will be closed beginning on Monday and continuing through the whole Thanksgiving week. There was going to be no internet choice this time around.
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Schools are Closing Classrooms on Fridays. Parents are Furious.
You need to go out with the kids again?” That’s what Mrs. Reynolds had to say. Asking, “How is that not going to be destructive to these students?”
Some public schools are cancelling classes for a week or more due to teacher fatigue or staff shortages after a period of relative calm in the classroom lasting several months.
Six other school districts in Michigan have also extended their Thanksgiving break. Seattle Public Schools was one of three school districts in Washington State that closed suddenly on November 12. Brevard Public Schools in Florida, for instance, used unused “storm days” to cancel classes during the week before Thanksgiving.
The Canyons School District in Utah has announced that every school in the district would be held in a different location on the first Friday of every month from November through March. This is the same as having missed over a week of class.
There have been some sudden closures of school districts, leaving parents rushing to find child care and manage home-based education. Due to the reduction in face-to-face instruction time, many parents are concerned that their children may lag behind.
A spike in reported instances of Covid-19 was cited by some schools, while others highlighted the necessity to perform extensive cleaning. To prevent teacher turnover, however, many institutions are resorting to remote learning days, a measure not available before the pandemic. Teachers are worn out after a year of working extra hours to make up for staffing shortages and helping kids recover from learning loss.
Randi Weingarten, head of the American Federation of Teachers, the country’s second-largest teachers’ union, said that battles in the classroom, such as mask regulations and discussions about critical race theory, have also taken a toll.
Teachers have complained that there is too much on their plates, she said. And I know they’re giving it their all.
Temporary closures like these can’t help but strain relations with parents at a time when tensions are already high for many schools.
Unfortunately for Ms. Reynolds, her paid leave had expired due to the school closings. On last Friday, she had the day off, so she could supervise her son, who is in fourth grade. But now she has to scramble to arrange for someone else to spend every Friday at home with him this month, or she will lose hundreds of dollars in pay.
After student outbursts and fighting, district officials at Reynolds Middle School in Fairview, Oregon, just east of Portland, were forced to cancel classes. The parents were given a two-day warning.
“Are you serious?” stated Missy Kisselman, the mother of Sophia, an eighth grader there. That’s like saying, “Are you kidding me?”
Ms. Kisselman, who is a county case manager working out of her home, said it was “almost difficult” for her to assist Sophia, who has attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, with her homework.
Ms. Kisselman felt that the school should have continued online because of the low number of teachers available to students.
According to Steven Padilla, the district’s spokesman, the school is using the closure to “guarantee that we will not have to return to short-term remote learning” in the future.
After high school students return from winter break in Portland, Oregon, the local teachers’ union has proposed giving them early release days.
According to Elizabeth Thiel, president of the Portland Association of Teachers, a “alarming” number of teachers are contacting the union for assistance in resigning. She believes that a complete pullout by schools can be prevented if the union can come up with a strategy soon.
The alternative, Ms. Thiel argued, would be a complete breakdown of the system, which would be even worse for the students and their families.
The Southfield, Michigan, school system notified parents on Sunday, October 31 that it will begin using remote instruction on Friday, and every Friday afterwards until February. Kristina Morgan, whose daughter attends University Middle School Academy, said she heard about it on social media.
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Conclusion
A member of the Wayne County Court System, Ms. Morgan is a single parent. She spends the week pleading with her relatives to watch Kennedy while she works. If she cannot find anybody, she will take the day off from work — which she says reflects poorly at the office, and makes her feel like a burden to her family.
“It’s incredibly difficult enough being a single parent, period,” she remarked. It’s annoying to have to hustle and ask about for child care outside of school hours when your life is structured around your child’s school schedule. Thank for read our Article Schools are Closing Classrooms on Fridays. Parents are Furious.