PORTLAND, Ore. — Portland Public Schools announced preliminary plans over the weekend for returning to school in September.
Now parents are weighing in with what they think about it.
The latest PPS update is just the beginning. The district plans to constantly work to change and add to its plans. In general, the idea is to prioritize students who are disproportionately impacted by the pandemic. The district also said there would be some component of online learning for every student this fall. How much time is dependent on the situation with COVID-19, as well as each family’s choice.
Many parents have questions
“There are a lot of questions brewing in my mind about what this looks like,” said Lisa Kensel, a single, working mom to three kids in Portland Public Schools.
“How many hours a day is my student going to be engaged in online learning? Is it going to be a full school day? Is it going to be a partial day?” Kensel asked.
Other questions surround the district’s ability to keep kids safe by adequately keeping every classroom clean and disinfected.
“Does the burden then fall to the staff and the teachers to make sure their own classrooms are safe?” Kensel asked.
She said another concern she has deals with special education students.
“What kind of supports are they going to be receiving? It’s really vague in the district’s plan right now currently,” Kensel said.
Kensel is the president-elect for the Oregon PTA. While she wants more details, she’s glad that parents are at least hearing from PPS.
“It’s a delicate balance of 'How do we educate the kids and give them what they need and protect our staff and our families?'” Kensel said.
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Breakdown of the fall plan from Portland Public Schools
The first day of school is set for Wednesday, Sept. 2. The plan is for kids, teachers and families to spend the first two weeks online, getting acquainted with technology and the new model.
After that, things will shift to a hybrid model where students could be in school two days a week.
Kids in Pre-K through 8th grade would be split up into two groups, one would be in class for part of the week, then it would swap with the other group. Wednesday would be used for sanitizing.
High school students would have four classes per semester and the district is looking at a full online learning option for families who prefer that.
At any point, depending on the situation with COVID-19, things could switch to full online learning.
Regarding distance learning, PPS said it would be different than what parents saw in the spring.
The district said there will be access to more instructional time, digital resources, and teachers will get more training. Still, parents say they want more information.
“It is a vague plan and I understand this is the first communication we’ve had about this. Parents just have a lot of questions,” said Kensel.
Another question she and other parents have is how teachers will be kept safe, especially those who may be more susceptible to getting the virus.
The district said it plans to give parents more information every week. There will also be a town hall later this month.
Questions and answers from Portland Public Schools
KGW asked the district to answer some of the questions Kensel had, here are the responses:
Q: What is the plan specifically for special education students? How will PPS make sure they are served and supported?
A: We are prioritizing the health and safety of all of our students and staff. For our students on IEPs [individualized education programs], we will try to bring them into school more than two days per week if possible. That way we could keep smaller class sizes. This is harder to do because these classrooms are required to have more adults in the room to provide specialized instruction. We are also looking at creating physical adjustments to the environments, researching different PPE specifically for our staff and students who need to be closer than the 6-foot distancing and are working with other special education leaders in the state to learn from each other and listening to special education staff and families. As we learn more, we will continue to share this information.
Q: How will PPS support families where parents have jobs or don’t speak English as their first language? Also, how is PPS reaching parents who don’t have e-mail right now to inform them of plans?
A: PPS will continue to provide meals and technology for families who need that support. Regarding non-English speakers, PPS always translates all materials and information into our six supported languages. As a matter of fact, we’ve also translated for other districts and the county to help get the right information regarding COVID to non-English speakers. This has been and will continue to be a priority for us.
We have and will continue to use a variety of methods to get messages out including email, robocalls, texts, social media, phone calls from community agents and our interpreters. We keep the PPS website updated with school info and other essential services that our families need and have that info translated. We also serve the linguistically diverse by providing on-demand telephonic interpreters and video remote interpreters and our own staff using our multilingual phone lines. At our meal sites, we provide interpretation as well.
It’s a big task and we also lean on and very much appreciate our community agents and our community partners to help us get the necessary information to our families.
Q: Does the responsibility to clean and disinfect fall to the teachers?
A: The cleaning and disinfecting of high touch surfaces will be on the custodians. However, the custodial team will need all staff to engage in keeping their spaces/work areas as clean as possible throughout the day. This will help the custodian(s) as they come through in the evening.
Q: How many hours a day is my student going to be engaged in online learning? Is everything that’s happening in the classroom happening online when not in the classroom?”
A: The answer to this question will rely on more conversations and planning with our labor partners and community partners. We’ll have more information in the coming weeks to answer these more detailed questions. Families can be assured that they will continue to hear from us each week with more details and information to help everyone feel ready for the fall.
An additional message from PPS: “We miss our students and are eager to get them back into classrooms, but only when it's safe to do so. PPS will only reopen school buildings if public health experts say it is safe to do so. If we are not able to safely open school buildings, all teaching and learning for every student will take place virtually/online until it is safe to return to school in-person.”
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