We wish we knew more about what back to school will be like this fall, but there are just so many unknowns. For now, we can talk about contingency plans and show kindness towards each other — that’s the culture in the San Antonio Charter Moms discussion group on Facebook.
Inga Cotton is working on a blog post to publish next week. In the group, Inga and Becca (our moderator) noticed memes and questions popping up about how schools will welcome students back to campus in the fall, and it seemed to be causing our members a lot of stress. Inga has some thoughts on how to manage the stress and uncertainty.
First, practice digital literacy, and be a savvy media consumer. Sometimes memes and infographics contain misleading information! Inga’s post will have links to CDC and TEA information. Also, remember that anything affecting your children will be decided on locally. The blog post will have a link to a survey; share your email address, and we will work with you to advocate to your school board about what you think school should be like.
We don’t know what back to school will be like, but we can narrow it down to a few contingencies, and prepare for those. What guidelines will schools follow when they reopen? Will sensitive students be able to choose remote education? Will schools have to close again, or will they change their calendars to anticipate potential closures?
Inga isn’t sure yet what her own family will do in the fall. This is a stressful situation, and we all need to treat each other with kindness and understanding. To borrow a saying of Citizen Stewart, “I’ll do me, and you do you.” If you are going to drop your kids off the minute the school doors open again, that’s great. If you decide to keep doing distance learning or withdraw your kids to homeschool, that’s great, too.
For a while this summer we are going to focus on learning activities that you can do at home with your kids; then, we are going to transition to explaining how different schools are handling remote education, to help you make an informed decision about your children’s education this fall.
