Despite the state’s recommendations, more Lewis County schools are moving toward a hybrid model, with support from county commissioners and a push from a group of unhappy parents. According to Lewis County Public Health and Social Services Director J.P. Anderson, more detailed guidelines for bringing back all grade levels will be released in the coming days. As teachers prepare to tackle two worlds of teaching at the same time — virtual and in-person — some say their work is about to double.
Even teachers with fully in-person classes must be on their toes and ready to fall back on virtual learning if students or staff test positive for COVID-19. Such was the case for Mossyrock School District after just one week of in-person classes.
“We’ve been told over and over to expect what happened at Mossyrock,” Jen Humphrey, a first grade teacher at Adna Elementary said. “Expect to go back and forth with distance learning.”
When asked if her already stressed workload will increase once Adna Elementary switches to a hybrid model, Humphrey laughed and nodded her head. Humphrey and her co-teachers, Jordan Ray and Jenny Minkoff, have about 45 students between them, and feel like their work has already been overshadowed by a vocal group of parents who have protested online learning.
The push to reopen schools is partially fueled by those parents, who have given emotional testimony to county commissioners regarding what they described as dysfunctional online classes. Although they were denied a seat on the county’s school workgroup, tasked with making guidelines, they have been given more influence over the county’s decision-making process. Anderson told county commissioners this week that he met with the group and is weighing their concerns.
Humphrey, Ray and Minkoff say the largely negative messaging from those parents isn’t necessarily representative of what’s going on in schools. They say that parents’ recent threats to unenroll children and calls to defund public schools feel personal.
“It’s not personally attacking me, but it starts to feel that way,” Minkoff said.
“It’s just hard to hear those things when we have no control over those decisions,” Ray said. “We’re here to do our jobs the best that we can in whatever way we have to … we know it isn’t going to replace face-to-face learning, and nothing can.”
Although the learning curve has been steep, the group said they’re proud of the work they’ve put in to teach remotely. Ray said some staff members started without even basic computer skills.
“Before this I had no idea how to even get a video onto the internet. That’s how basic I had to start out,” Minkoff said.
Now, they’re filming, editing, and uploading videos.
“You always have that constant feeling that you need to be doing more. That’s just an educator’s mindset,” Humphrey said.
The teachers said although they have seen frustrated parents, they’re also seeing an outpouring of support, including some parents bringing them coffees during their long days of preparing virtual classes.
In preparation for fall, the three of them designed a virtual classroom for students, complete with virtual Bitmoji versions of themselves. The virtual classroom pops up as soon as students login to their Chromebooks, and every software they need is right there. Icons for different softwares and websites sit on a virtual bookshelf so kids don’t have to navigate the internet by themselves. Last spring, Humphrey said too many parents felt as though they were home-school teachers. The idea now is to enable first graders to do their weekly work independently.
Assignments are all on paper, though. Every week, students can turn in their packet and get a new one. So far it’s been working. Three weeks in and they’ve seen a 100 percent turn-in rate of assignments.
When it comes to internet access — one of the major concerns brought up by parents and county commissioners — Adna Elementary has adapted. Ray estimated that anywhere from 25 to 30 percent of their students have unreliable internet.
“Even with the hotspots that the district is providing … it’s just not possible where some of our families live to get quality internet,” she said.
So the district stocked up on USBs to load up with pre-recorded content. Humphrey admits that it’s been awkward recording her goofy “verb rap” knowing that all her students’ parents will see it.
“A lot of teachers have struggled with getting over that level of comfort and just recording yourself,” she said. “It’s kind of like having full-time observations.”
With the increased hours they said they’re working, plus the preparations to return to in-person classes, the stress has gotten to the three of them before. Minkoff recalled one week when all three of them were in tears. But so far the school has kept a positive attitude.
“At this point, what other option do you have?” Humphrey said.
As for parents pushing to reopen, Humphrey, Ray, and Minkoff are all parents too, and say they understand the frustration.
“We absolutely support our school board, and they’re facing some super challenging decisions,” Ray said. “We want what’s best for everyone. To keep kids healthy, to keep kids in school. We all agree.”
