What Modesto parents want to know about getting kids off screens, in classrooms, more
In Modesto City Schools’ online community forum Wednesday evening to get feedback on distance learning, families shared a range of questions and concerns.
They wanted to know, among other things, how long it will take to reopen schools once state and county officials deem it safe to do so.
They asked what’s been done about technical troubles, how students can avoid being penalized for connectivity issues, and what can be done to reduce the amount of time students have to spend in front of their computer screens.
Getting in-person time between special-needs students and their teachers was a concern. So was the security of distance learning.
A recording of the hourlong forum will be on the district website, www.mcs4kids.com, and its social media accounts by the end of the week, participants were told. Here’s a look at some of what was addressed.
Getting kids back in schools
In opening remarks, Superintendent Sara Noguchi reminded families that to get off the state’s watch list, Stanislaus needs to have 100 or fewer positive COVID-19 cases per 100,000 residents over a two-week period. It also needs a positivity rate of 8% or lower, and sufficient ventilators and ICE beds available at hospitals.
For transitional kindergarten through sixth-grade students only, districts may apply for a waiver to bring children back to school. The state “really made it a little easier for schools to open in such that the infection rate has to be 200 cases, not 100,” per 100,000 residents, Noguchi said.
But citing what superintendents learned in their latest meeting with county public health officer Dr. Julie Vaishampayan, Stanislaus has 615 cases per 100,000 — three times the amount to allow TK-6 in-person education to resume. “We also only have two beds left in our ICUs, out of our total of five hospitals,” Noguchi told forum participants.
At this point, the doctor is not approving any waivers, the superintendent said, “but she has encouraged us to move forward (with applying) ... because that process is going to take a couple weeks to be able to get through.”
Even when a waiver is approved, Noguchi said, the district must work on its reopening plan with its certificated and classified employees and present it to parent groups. The plan would have to be posted on district websites for two weeks.
Tech troubleshooting
The first question a forum listener put to Noguchi and her team was what steps are being taken to help with connectivity speed and network reliability. The listener specifically noted that Microsoft Teams has had trouble.
Russell Selken, the district’s chief technology officer, said MCS is upgrading some of its core equipment and doing maintenance on it. The district also has been communicating with Microsoft so that if and when the company is having issues, it tells the district so families can be informed.
He urged families that think a problem is something the district can help with to call 209-574-8600. In some cases, households simply may need a cable modem upgrade, which a lot of providers will offer free of charge, Selken said. “Some people have experienced twice the speed than what they were before the upgrade.”
Later, a parent asked what guarantee the district will offer that students won’t be penalized by teachers over connectivity issues. “My son was kicked out of a classroom because he couldn’t sign in with his normal account, so I had him use our iPad and he had to join as a guest. But the teacher then kicked him out and said he wasn’t connected correctly.”
Selken urged students who are having such issues to clearly communicate the problems to their teachers. He said the district will continue to train and communicate with teachers about how to address these situations.
District spokeswoman Krista Noonan indicated security may be a reason for a teacher to kick out an unidentified student. If someone shows up as a “guest” rather than by name, the teacher perhaps can’t determine the participant’s identity. Solving problems like this are “part of the learning curve for all of us right now,” she said.
Another question about security was whether teachers can require students to show their faces during video instruction. Yes, teachers can require that, said Brad Goudeau, associate superintendent for education services. But recognizing rights to privacy, the learning platforms include the ability to create a digital background so the video doesn’t show the family home. “Teachers need to instruct students how to use that background filter when they’re streaming videos,” he said.
Too much screen time?
MCS administrators were asked if anything can be done — perhaps providing supplemental paper learning packets — to lessen the amount of time students spend at their screens.
When the state identified distance learning as a requirement because of school closures during the coronavirus pandemic, it outlined the minimum instructional minutes for each grade level, Noguchi said.
Goudeau added that for health and safety, there is a conscious effort to limit in-person encounters with families. So the district is not distributing paper packets except where there’s an identified need such as an individualized education program.
But screen time is a concern, he said, and the district needs to evaluate with its teachers how to provide instruction and homework without full days of students stuck in front of computers. “As these concerns arise, if you believe that your child has has an inordinate amount of work outside of the instructional day, then please let us know so that we can address that.”
Special-needs and little learners
One question noted efforts to provide small-group, in-person instruction for special-needs students and asked the district’s thoughts. Noguchi said schools have the go-ahead to bring certain children, like special-needs students and English learners, on campus for assessments but not instruction.
“We know that the state is working on guidelines for what we’re calling learning pods,” she said. And Mark Herbst, associate superintendent for student support services, added that students with disabilities will be one of the groups highlighted to bring back to in-person learning as soon as possible.
A couple of families of preschoolers wanted to know why the children don’t have learning devices yet. Noguchi replied that the district in June placed an order for Chromebooks, but “the whole world” is after the devices. “Right now, it’s kind of like going to the grocery store and finding nothing on the shelf,” she said. “That’s where we find ourselves with computers at this point.”
While waiting for the order to be filled, the district has provided preschool teachers and paraprofessionals with computers so they can get the training they need to get up and running as soon as the preschoolers themselves get devices, she said.
This story was originally published August 20, 2020 at 2:06 PM.
