I still can't get over the fact that the governor hasn't canceled school for the year.
As a high school teacher, I find it laughable that we're going to be in buildings 20 days from now - as currently scheduled...
Personally, I think distance learning is going to be in effect until January.
I teach middle school math in a 18 months-8th grade independent private school. We're running remotely for the remainder of the school year and I'm part of a group that is planning how we will adjust to school next year. We're looking for an in-person/remote hybrid, but it's obviously going to be a burden for a) families with younger students; b) teachers with younger kids).
Basically, our head told us: "if you feel you can't handle this, let us know immediately". Naturally, our enrollment will go down and if some people don't resign people will have to be let go. There's a lot of fight-or-flight mentality for some of the teachers, particularly technologically troubled people.
We've been getting rave reviews on how we are running distance learning in the middle school (lots of live teaching, one-on-one office hours, making our advisory program the forefront of the day, etc), but our lower school is getting some heat. However, it's unfair to compare since it's SO much easier to run this with kids aged 10-14 compared to kids 2-6.
Looking ahead, I'd expect our school to have a lower enrollment next year overall. Much lower within our younger kids, particularly 18 months-aged 5 (who wants to spend 30k a year if they can just stay at home?) with the unfortunate need to let go a lot of these teachers. On the plus side, I see us potentially poaching kids from families of other independent schools who are frustrated with how their school is handling remote teaching.
Wild times, but one thing is for sure that I am thankful to have had an education that promoted creative, flexible thinking that's helping me go with the punches. These (mostly) public schools who are hindered by rigid requirements are ruining the future of this country. Screw standardized testing, a massive overhaul of what our educational program should look like is needed. This will be most likely the largest educational overhaul in over 50 years and it's scary but also exciting to be a part of it.