PORTLAND, Ore. — This summer, school districts all over are busy trying to come up with a safe plan for the fall.
The Oregon Department of Education has already released broad guidelines for districts and given three options: on-site learning, where students learn in school; a hybrid where kids learn at school and at home; and then the third is comprehensive distance learning, where students learn away from school.
Juanita Hess is mom to a 10-year-old and an 8-year-old, who both go to school in the Portland Public Schools district. She said she and her husband have demanding, full-time jobs and it was difficult to juggle that with distance learning in the spring.
“It kind of crushed my soul a little bit to ignore them so much,” she said.
Hess said while she appreciates the work districts put into developing a distance learning plan in the spring, remote learning was hit-and-miss for both of her children. Her older child was able to focus more, but she said it was hard for her 8-year-old to stay on task. That’s why when it comes to plans for the fall, she hopes improvements are made.
“If it looks anything like the spring where we have distance learning," she said. "I don't know if we'll be able to do it, honestly.”
She said she's more in support of a hybrid model, where kids go to school for some of the time, and also do work at home.
“It's a little scary with infection potential, but I would support that a lot more,” Hess said. “I think we have to be flexible and be creative, and I don’t know, I hope it looks a little better than it did in the spring. That’s all I can say.”
Many districts are working with the community to come up with a plan and some have released a potential framework for the fall.
The deadline for districts to have a plan submitted to the Oregon Department of Education is August 15.