Opening Park City schools full-time is a polarizing issue
I’ve said before that I commend the Park City School District on giving people the heads up that schools will be open for business this fall. However, I am hearing from teachers with major concerns about safety. I also get that.
We won’t really know the details about how schools will operate until the Park City School District formalizes plans. Those will take time.
I don’t have answers, but the way I am starting to look at it is in the form of a question. Is in-person teaching an essential “business”?
I know the people working at most medical facilities are considered essential. I know that police and firefighters are essential personnel. I know that the people checking me out at the supermarket are considered essential.
Are teachers?
The argument could be made that at-home learning, with teacher assistance, fills the need. I think many of those who experienced it in the spring would say the quality was as good as could be expected given the circumstances, but it wasn’t up to normal standards. Yes, some teachers did a bang-up job. However, from many conversations I have had, at-home learning would have to be generally more effective this fall and MUCH more than a stop-gap measure to make it a viable alternative.
Frankly, from what I have heard around our community, the district was given a pass on education this spring from parents. It doesn’t sound like they will be as forgiving this fall if education is at-home. That could lead to a number of issues. I think the Administrators at the Park City School District know that.
All of that said, it doesn’t alleviate the fear of teachers. Above, I’ve written about parents’ expectations and learning. Teachers have to deal with that, but they also have to consider the their health and that of their families.
It’s not easy.
I’d bet we are about to hear from the Park City Education Association on the matter. Get ready to read a number of editorials in the Park Record. Of course, if you want to write something here on the Park Rag, please email us. I want to represent as many viewpoints as possible. We’ve had over 1500 views on our story about PC schools opening. So, you will have an audience.
My guess is that things are about to get more polarized across the community. It will be interesting to see how this all works out.
in Schools
End of the innocence and why the Park City School District made the right decision for the fall
Remember when the days were long
And rolled beneath a deep blue sky
Didn’t have a care in the world
With mommy and daddy standing by
When “happily ever after” fails
And we’ve been poisoned by these fairy tales
But this is the end
This is the end of the innocence
Life in Park City isn’t perfect. For many of us, though, we are still living the fairy tail we never imagined. I never dreamed of being able to live in a place like this. I never dreamed of being able to raise children in a place like this. I am lucky.
Then came the pandemic. Schools were shuttered for months. Now we are on the back-side of summer. What will schools do in the fall? In Park City, we found out schools will do what schools do. They educate. They will educate everyone.
I know people are afraid — both parents and teachers. I can’t blame them. Our current situation isn’t good, but our school district made the right decision to reopen. We must reopen and we must have a semblance of normal. We must find a way to educate children and I believe the best way is through in-person teaching.
In the spring of 2020, teachers tried hard to educate children online but the quality of education was far below what has been experienced in-person in previous years. I don’t have faith this fall would be any different. Our children would fall further and further behind. Mental illness would run rampant. Parents would be forced to choose between teaching their children and working. At-home learning, as the only option, would be a disaster for many people.
So, the Park City School District decided to push forward with a full-time, in-person model this fall. It takes courage to do that. Within hours of the announcement, the cries from the Internet were that there were no details and how horrible the plan would be.
“What happens if a person in little Johnny’s class tested positive for Covid-19?” the people asked. Would the class be quarantined? Would the school shut down? What about the poor teachers? Who is going to pay the teachers’ medical expenses and all of their family and friends when they become sick? Where are the details?!?!
The truth is that there are no details yet. We’re all making this up as we go along. There is no magic bullet. We are all doing the best we can do. My god, it’s aggravating.
If you expect everything to be perfect in Park City because an average house costs $2 million, you will be disappointed. It won’t be. Yet, the Park City School District spent the summer with multiple groups of teachers, administrators, and parents trying to figure out options for the fall.
This week they told us school will be on the same schedule as normal. That enabled my family to plan our work schedules with 6 weeks to spare. What more can I ask for in this environment?
I have been one of the harshest critics of the Park City School District since the bond offering in 2015. However, I can’t find fault with what they are doing here. There is no perfect solution. Yet, they have chosen a path forward. Will schools make it through the fall? I don’t know. But if kids get even four weeks of in-person, teacher instruction it will be better than four months of my instruction.
For a long time in Park City, many of us have assumed we are above the fray on so many levels. Like a little kid, we thought we could have it all and pay no price. That no longer appears to be true. If we want education, we will need to take calculated risks. It won’t be simply provided without cost. But we have it within us. We can rise to the occasion — or at least I hope we can.
This is the end of our innocence.
That may be a good lesson in the long run.
Park City Schools will be full-time and in-person as of August 20
I have been writing about what other school districts in Utah have been doing regarding their back-to-school measures. Today, I read what the Park City School District plans to do:
“As a result of our collaboration with health agencies and the hard work of our educational Return to School Task Force Teams, we are plan to open for full, in-person instruction for all Park City School District students. Our first day of the 2020/21 school year will be August 20, 2020 for K-12th grade students.”
So, Park City schools should be operating Monday-Friday in the normal manner from somewhere around 7 AM until 4 PM (or mid-day on Fridays). Likewise, there appears to be an online option, if families would prefer to go that route.
I had previously heard that Park City School District committees were to make recommendations on reopening by July 20th, and we would have to wait until after that to hear about plans for the fall.
I was concerned with that timeline, because the closer it gets to opening, the harder it is to make work-decisions based on childrens’ schedules. Kudos to the Park City Schools District, and all those involved, to provide parents with sufficient lead-time to make decisions.
So, it looks like the schedule will be business as usual. The district said that more details will be provided within the next few weeks. I assume that will include how buses will work, what the school-day will look like, what social distancing measures will entail, etc. I understand that details take time.
I don’t think any of us are prepared for the reality of business-as-somewhat-usual for our schools. Hopefully, we can work together as a community to keep teachers, students, and everyone else in our schools as safe as possible. However, I do think that providing a semi-normal school day has numerous benefits ranging from mental health, to easier access to school lunches, to fundamental learning, to allowing parents to earn a living. There are downsides, of course, but hopefully, we can mitigate those as much as possible.
I appreciate that the school district has given us a broad outline, so at least we can make plans. This school year isn’t going to be easy. However, having a plan makes it far better for working parents. Good job Park City School District.
Update on school reopenings: Wasatch County School District provides options
Well, our friends in Heber have made a decision on schools for next year. Their decision could be described as “whatever you want, you got it.”
According to a Facebook post from the School District, “Wasatch County School District plans to bring students back for a traditional school schedule as our primary model. This model will be available to all families who desire it. In addition, we are planning to offer a half-day model with increased social distancing, as well as a District-sponsored fully online option. Regardless of what model you choose to be best for your student(s), Wasatch County School District is prepared to provide engaging learning opportunities for all students.”
So, from Jordan school district we have four days, with Friday being at-home schooling. From SLC School District we have a two-day a week, in-person schedule. From Wasatch School District (Heber and if you live between PC and Kamas) it is a “whatever you want” model.
We still haven’t heard from Park City and won’t probably for a couple of weeks. Not today, but at some point, our district will seem dawdling and out of touch on this decision. The clock is ticking. Sometimes when you speak last you have a moment of brilliance. If you don’t, you may look like you don’t know what you are doing.
I personally think Wasatch will be in trouble. My day job is designing software and it provides a view into the real world. Everyone wants options, but delivering those options in a way that actually works effectively is really hard. How will teachers practically provide an at-home model, a hybrid model, and an all in-person model? To me, if they do it, it sounds like the worst of all worlds.
Wasatch says it will provide a completely online model. Will they subscribe to online learning services on behalf of the students? Will they be creating every hour of learning themselves? Will they be accounting for DLI? Will teachers record themselves giving a lecture to kids from some telephoto camera and then that goes out the next day to students?
Wasatch also says it will provide a half-day in-person model. How does that mesh with the online version of teaching? How does a teacher ensure that both whatever is happening online and in-person coalesces? How does a teacher have time to prep for both in-person and remote learning?
With the 100% in-person model, that would likely be easiest (except for the masks) because it’s what teachers are used to doing. However, they also have to account for the other two models, at the same time.
Perhaps I’m not giving the Wasatch School District enough credit. Maybe they will be the model district for handling fall 2020. Likewise, since some kids will decide to stay home in every district, a complete online learning model will need to be developed anyhow. It’s complicated.
That said, I wouldn’t look forward to being a teacher or a student in the Wasatch County School District this fall. It’s going to be tough. It’s probably going to be tough everywhere.
An update on schools: SLC School District fires a shot across the bow
Thursday, the Salt Lake City School District announced their plans for reopening In a Covid-19 world. If Salt Lake City is at the Orange level (or above) of Governor Herbert’s reopening plans, schools will be completely remote. Better said, parents will be trying to teach kids with some help from teachers. This flies in the face of the the Governor saying that all schools will be in-person [in some form] next year.
However, if they achieve the low risk phase of Yellow, students will attend in-person school two days a week. It appears to be a Monday/Wednesday versus a Tuesday/Thursday in person schedule. High school students would have a similar but slightly different schedule.
It’s important to note, that they don’t provide any option better than that. They don’t talk about a green level where kids go to school five days a week for the normal amount of hours.
I don’t know where Park City schools stand. I have heard that there are groups looking at various options and they have to report by July 20. Then, we have to submit our reopening plans by August 1 to the state.
I had hoped things would be relatively normal. I had resigned myself to a four-day, in-person, school week, like Jordan School District says they are doing. That would be workable at least for our working family. However, if Park City adopts three days of at-home learning like SLC, that is going to be a real problem. How far behind are the kids going to fall?
God help us all.
Here is the letter from the Interim-Superintendent of SLC schools describing what they are planning.
in Schools
School districts start laying out plans for the fall
We’re about a month out from Park City schools starting the fall semester. This year will obviously function differently, given Covid-19. We’d expect the school district to come out with plans soon, so we parents know what to expect. However, we know the school district likes to wait and be told what to do from the Governor and Utah State Board of Education.
So, we thought we would present you with what other school districts have decided so far.
So, in NYC, ABC is reporting , “New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio announced a hybrid back-to-school plan Wednesday with most students inside their physical schools just two or three days a week, but Gov. Andrew Cuomo said it’s up to him to decide whether schools can open at all.”
Here in Utah, Governor Herbert has announced school will be in person this fall. However, that could be a half day a week or some portion of six days a week. We know how politicians like to parse words.
It’s instructive to look at what the Jordan School District down in SLC announced this week. They are one of the first districts to announce their plans and are about ten times larger than Park City with about 55,000 students. They are going with four days of in-person school and one in-home school. According to KSL, “The Jordan School Board unanimously approved a motion Monday that would bring students back to school for in-person classes Monday through Thursday, with each Friday being used for online classwork, small-group learning, and additional teacher consultation.”
What strikes me as interesting with Jordan is that they surveyed teachers and parents on how they wanted the schools to work. The school board went with the option that was chosen the most by teachers and second-most by parents. They deciced on four days of in-person school per week.
It should be interesting to see what the Park City School District does with regard to in-person school. It’s closing in on the time that they should let us know. Are kids going to attend four days a week? Will it be normal with a full four and a half days a week? Will they go half days, with specialists online? Can families opt out of in-person school?
Odds are, they know what they are going to do. Now we are just waiting.
in Virus
Rich Bullough — you give me something to believe in
How do you feel about State of Utah Epidemiologist Angela Dunn and Covid-19?
I was having a conversation with a friend about the state’s Epidemiologist, Angela Dunn. I said, “frankly, I can’t trust her.” My friend asked, “why would you say such a thing?”. “She has done nothing but put the public’s interest first.”
I responded that, yeah, today after one day of declining Covid-19 numbers — to over 500 cases — she declared that our cases have plateaued. The friend then said, but what else? I reminded the friend that after Ms. Dunn’s infamous memo where she declared that we should shut down the state if the number of new cases of coronavirus wasn’t down to 200 a day by July 1. I said, for someone so passionate, she seems to just let it all go. We’re now averaging over 500 cases a day and nothing has changed.
My friend then called me Misogynistic, which I probably am at times, but I didn’t feel it in relation to Ms. Dunn. She said, “would you feel different if we were talking about a man?” I said no, “The man Utah has elected to be our future Governor, Spencer Cox, is actually in charge of our failed Coronavirus response, but we still elected him.
I don’t trust Spencer Cox. I don’t trust Angela Dunn. It’s all too political and they have their agendas. It’s not that Ms. Dunn isn’t competent. Its that her environment doesn’t support her competency.
However, I do trust our local Health Department. The head of our Health Department is Rich Bullough. He has warned that we are entering the second phase of covid infection. He encourages masks and social distancing.
All that matters to me and many Parkites is that we are as safe as possible. Given that we hope school happens as normal as possible and the Winter Season happens.
I’m not sure whether both of those will happen but I have faith in Rich to make a decision that is logical for the people of Smmit County. Unlike
in Schools
The financial costs of reopening schools
Over the weekend a friend sent me an infographic describing the financial costs of re-opening schools. It shows the estimated additional costs that a school district with 8 schools and 3,700 students will need to account for this year. The additional cost is about $1.8 million. The Park City School District has a similar number of schools but about 900 more kids. So, we’re likely looking at over $2 million in additional costs. It’s mind-blowing.
Perhaps my favorite piece of this infographic is in the fine print. “Model assumes 25% transportation capacity to adhere to social distancing guidelines (Bus fleets would need to quadruple in size to safely transport 100% of students… which is financially unfeasible for districts).” That should make traffic interesting this Fall.
I’m assuming schools will open this Fall. I think it would take a real act of god to get our legislators from Southern Utah Governor to close schools again. That said, I don’t know how a district absorbs these costs. Rainy day funds only go so far.
I’ve assumed school may look different. Perhaps there will be odd-even days. Perhaps days will be split in two (an 8 AM -11 AM group of kids and 1 PM to 4 PM group) with specialists handled remotely. Lunch may be in the classroom. For younger kids, recess may be limited. Yet I’m not sure how much any of that impacts cost.
This is the time that makes you glad you didn’t run for the school board. For the current board members, I say THANKS. This isn’t going to be easy.
Click here to download a larger PDF version of this document.
Note: Thanks to Shannon who asked me to check on activities funds and whether they were typically paid by the district. It appears they are a pass through item and I have updated the story accordingly.
in Virus
Businesses are supposed to enforce Summit County’s mask requirement?
Summit County enacted its Covid-19 mask requirement Saturday morning at midnight. On Friday afternoon, The Summit County Council met in an emergency session to discuss the measure and vote it into place. During the public comment, I asked how local businesses should handle those people not wearing masks. The answer wasn’t what I expected.
I expected the County Council to say that ultimately people are responsible for their own actions, that they hoped all people would comply, and they are trying to communicate a “message” to the public to reduce the spiking Coronavirus numbers. That’s not the message I received.
Instead, Summit County Council Chair Doug Clyde said, “You [the business] are obviously going to be required to inform that person that their entrance to your business without a mask is not possible. That will be a requirement. You can’t be a business owner and decide that you are going to ignore this rule. This rule is real.”
What? So Fresh Market should have someone stationed at the door blocking people from entry if they aren’t wearing a mask? Same with Walmart, Smiths, etc.? You want them to enforce your order? It sounds like the County Council does.
That’s an unreasonable suggestion and not what the order appears to say. It says people are liable for not wearing a mask. My personal opinion is that masks should be mandatory statewide. Since the Governor’s decisions control the Park City School District, and I need school to happen this fall, I will do anything to make sure in-person school goes on. Since I live in Park City, and many friends would be financially crushed by no winter, I will do anything to make sure winter isn’t canceled. Masks make sense to me.
And please don’t say masks tread on your freedom. I learned in Civics in 9th grade that “the right to swing your fist stops at the next man’s nose.” There are speed limits. There are DUI laws. You have to wear shoes in a restaurant. I get your personal freedom thoughts (because I am often in your camp), but save them for a better argument.
However, if the County Council says that they expect businesses to enforce their law when it doesn’t seem it’s not actually part of the law, that goes too far. It’s the ammunition that gives people who hate masks ammunition. They say, “The County Council doesn’t even know what it is suggesting.”
So, Summit County businesses, I guess you may be responsible for stopping people from entering without a mask according to our legislative branch — but maybe not the actual ordinance. Are you going to turn people away? What are you going to do?
I get that the Coronavirus response is fluid, but it needs to be better than this.
in Election
Why I voted for Canice Harte for Summit County Council
So, I voted for Canice Harte for Summit County Council. I’m happy with my choice and thankful that I have one. Yet, this isn’t the typical endorsement you’d find in the Park Record.
I don’t personally know Canice Harte. He didn’t coach my kid’s baseball team to some championship. I don’t know if he will somehow cure the corona-virus. I didn’t get a request from the Democratic Party to write a Letter to the Editor in support of Canice. I am pretty sure he won’t find a way to educate Parkites on the proper way to drive through the Jeremy Ranch roundabouts — although I wish he could.
Yet, I still voted for him.
There are two reasons.
The first is the most important. As long-time readers know, I attend many County Council meetings. One day, two Snyderville Basin Planning Commissioners showed up to the County County meeting. They were concerned about the County’s approach to affordable housing at Silver Creek Village — that’s the 1200 unit development being built by Home Depot.
About 300 units are designated as affordable units. The County Council wanted to accelerate the affordable housing efforts and build most of those units in one section of the development at the beginning of the project. They wanted to build them at the beginning of the development, so they could get them done fast, and not put them alongside the other condos and townhouses.
One of the Planning Commissioners in attendance told the council “NO. That’s not right.” He articulated that good affordable housing development mixes affordable housing with market-rate houses. He said that’s how you make sure the community can function well. That way you don’t have the affordable houses all in one section and the wealthy in another.
It frankly makes sense.
Who was that? Canice Harte. He stood up to the County Council. He answered their questions. He provided personal experience. He withstood their criticism… even though he was in an appointed position and could not be invited back.
His willingness to stand up to the County Council was impressive on an issue that matters.
The second reason I voted for Canice is his take on the Boyer Tech Park. As many of you know, a developer wants to build a hotel and apartments on the area located under the Utah Olympic Park. Currently, it is “zoned” for a Technology Park. The idea, forged a decade ago, was trying to get higher-paying jobs to Park City. We wanted to increase the number of STEM jobs around Park City. Therefore, we wouldn’t be as reliant on tourism.
Now, a developer called Dakota Pacific is asking to change the rules. They want to build a hotel, retail businesses, and apartments on the land. This is currently in front of the Planning Commission — which both Canice Harte and Malena Stevens (his competitor) are a member of. The Planning Commission gets to forward a recommendation to the County Council on whether the hotel, retail, and apartments make sense.
My personal opinion is that we need to give the Tech Park a chance, and I don’t believe Boyer did a good job of marketing it. Things have changed because of the corona-virus. Companies want to move out of San Francisco and LA because they are too dense. Why not here? And while we wait, we have defacto open space. Waiting for high paying jobs gives us both open space in the short term and higher-paying jobs in the long-term.
So, in the Park Record’s article on the candidates’ debate they say, “Harte, though, implied that the project didn’t do enough to warrant its approval, saying that his opponent might think otherwise.”
Harte says, “For me, this is simply, we don’t have to do this. Someone’s going to have to show us a really good reason why we want to have a project if we were inclined to do so. They’re proposing 308 affordable housing units — 100 of those are between 40% and 60% of the (area median income) and that will … generate that much need just in the hotel project alone. So it’s not a net gain for the community. If anything it’s just going to break even.”
It sounds to me like he has a high bar for these changes. If we are going to give up the dream of higher-paying jobs here, we better not just give it away. To me, his position is good.
My view is that Canice Harte would provide a critical thinker who isn’t afraid to stand up for what he thinks. I’m sure we are not 100% aligned on every issue; however, I buy his character.
I don’t encourage you to vote for Canice Harte. You have to make up your own mind on the issues. However, I am voting for Canice and would ask you to critically think about this decision. It’s an important one. This decision will impact what you see around the County for the next decade.
I believe Canice will make incremental decisions that make our little corner of the world better. That’s why I voted for him.
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