Coming off a teacher strike, spring break and in the midst of a global pandemic, some 34,000 St. Paul Public Schools students head back to class — from home — Monday after a four-week layoff.
The district says all but around 600 K-12 students now have a district-owned iPad at home, where they’re expected to log on each day and complete assignments from teachers.
Attendance will be recorded and schoolwork graded. Standardized tests were canceled statewide, and Advanced Placement tests will be taken at home.
The school day for St. Paul students should last around four hours for high school students, three hours for middle schoolers and two hours for elementary school students. Even preschoolers will get resources for around two hours of home instruction each day, according to the distance learning plan.
For the first week, the teaching will not take place in real time. Instead, students will do school at their convenience through learning portal Schoology for grades 3-12 and Seesaw for preK-2.
Chief Academic Officer Kate Wilcox-Harris said teachers can start some real-time instruction by videoconference next week if they want.
St. Paul students last saw each other at school on Monday, March 9. They lost the next four days to a teacher strike before Gov. Tim Walz ordered schools to close for two weeks to prepare for distance learning.
Despite statewide travel restrictions, St. Paul stuck to its original calendar and gave staff and students this past week off for spring break.
As the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases continues to grow in Minnesota and across the country, distance learning will be in effect at least through May 4. Walz said last week schools likely will be closed for the rest of the school year.
NEW DUTIES, NO LAYOFFS
Education Commissioner Mary Cathryn Ricker has urged district leaders to keep paying their employees and bus drivers as the amount of state funding schools get has not changed. Her office since has offered a guide for employees who find themselves with little to do.
It suggests districts reassign staff to “create meaningful instructional activities, increase home-school connections, engage in professional learning and begin working on next year.”
In a March 26 video call with staff, St. Paul Superintendent Joe Gothard was asked twice about laying people off. He said there would be no layoffs this school year but the pandemic’s impact on next year’s budget remains to be seen.
“We plan to keep all of our staff employed to facilitate our distance learning plan,” he said, adding that the thought of telling employees they’d have no jobs next school year was “weighing heavily on me right now.”
The school board still hasn’t met to discuss the 2020-21 budget.
Many St. Paul school employees already have seen their duties change.
Each day, about 100 children of workers in a long list of “essential” jobs have been showing up at district schools for free child care schools are required to provide under the governor’s emergency order.
Providing that care are staff from the district’s after-school program, as well as some special education teaching assistants, nurses and site supervisors, the district said.
Bus drivers have been delivering iPads and wireless hotspots to families without internet access. They’ll resume delivering meals on Wednesday, dropping them off at each student’s bus stop once a week.
On his staff call, Gothard was asked how he’ll deploy teaching and educational assistants to help with distance learning. The superintendent admitted he didn’t have “all the answers.”
“We need to be adaptable and flexible as needs arise,” he said.
The district said Friday that principals will decide what kind of work their paraprofessionals will do, which may include developing learning materials and helping students and families use the iPads.
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St. Paul’s plan to keep teaching through the coronavirus pandemic - TwinCities.com-Pioneer Press
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