Pandemic learning takes another turn: Will teachers be in person in classrooms?
...Fairfax has hired roughly 600 monitors so far, and is aiming to hire at least 200 more, a spokeswoman said, at a pay rate of $15.42 an hour. Fairfax — whose 186,000 students make it Virginia’s largest school system — has been online-only for most children since March 2020, although Superintendent Scott Brabrand on Tuesday debuted a plan that calls for returning all students who choose it to some form of in-person learning by mid-March.
In Prince George’s County, Maryland’s second-largest district, there are no plans for classroom monitors, a spokeswoman said. Chief executive Monica Goldson is expected to provide details about reopening in an announcement in mid-February...
...In D.C., the city reopened its school buildings Feb. 2, bringing back about 9,500 students, along with some teachers. Around 3,800 of those students are receiving at least some of their courses virtually in school buildings while a classroom aide or teacher assists.
The logistics are too complicated to avoid this setup, principals and school leaders said in interviews. At the middle school and high school levels, for example, students have different teachers for most subjects. But due to strict safety guidelines, they have to stay with the same one or two teachers throughout the day...
...Loudoun has so far hired 207 monitors — called “proctors” — and is hunting for 80 more. Arlington has hired 30 and is “planning to hire additional,” spokesman Frank Bellavia said.
Alexandria, meanwhile, is “actively recruiting” roughly 50 classroom monitors who will earn $15.48 an hour, spokeswoman Julia Burgos said. Officials for the school system of 16,000 said they may hire up to 100 monitors, and they hope this will be enough to cover for teachers who are granted virtual status for medical reasons — but if it isn’t, they will hire more...
My spouse has been told that he will not be able to use his classroom when students return for hybrid instruction, and that he will have to continue teaching virtually. However, he is being required to come into school, where he'll have no space from which to teach, and his in-person students will have no space in which to gather.
ReplyDeleteThere is a reason that MCPS is begging retirees to return. Everyone my spouse knows who is eligible to retire now, before the end of the school year, is doing so.