At Central High School last week, while public schools across the state were closed due to the novel coronavirus, a Spanish teacher emailed students to suggest they check their Schoology accounts for a practice activity.
“These assignments won’t be graded,” she assured them.
Meanwhile, an IB Physics teacher at Central sent two emails to students listing eight assignments due before school resumes April 6.
“Hard deadline,” he wrote next to one assignment.
Since COVID-19 containment efforts began closing schools across the country earlier this month, teachers and school administrators have puzzled over what they can and should do with students.
WEEKS OFF NOT INTENDED FOR NEW INSTRUCTION
Some Minnesota teachers continue to assign graded work online, while others have offered optional assignments.
Some are asking families to test the technology they plan to use once the state-ordered closure ends March 30.
Still others have only checked in to say “hi” or have made no contact with students at all.
Education Commissioner Mary Cathryn Ricker said in an interview Friday that teachers should be using these two weeks to prepare for distance learning. She said she’d “absolutely encourage” students to complete any in-progress assignments, and she praised teachers sending short videos or notes to keep in touch.
But the two-week closure is not intended for new instruction, Ricker said.
“We are protecting this planning time, and I would say that assigning new work at this time is not your priority,” she said.
SPECIAL EDUCATION
Federal disabilities laws have complicated decisions about what schools should do.
The U.S. Department of Education advised earlier this month that when schools are closed because of COVID-19, they are under no obligation to serve students with disabilities.
Some school districts and states responded by halting teaching entirely out of fears that any online instruction, if it failed to reach every student, would run afoul of federal laws.
U.S. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos took issue with that position on Saturday. She issued new guidance describing a “serious misunderstanding” about distance learning and special education laws.
“It was extremely disappointing to hear that some school districts were using information from the Department of Education as an excuse not to educate kids,” she said in a statement. “This is a time for creativity and an opportunity to pursue as much flexibility as possible so that learning continues.”
Minnesota’s Ricker is more concerned about what instruction looks like starting March 30 — and that schools figure out how to serve students with disabilities, the homeless and English language learners.
“We are expecting that lessons based on the Minnesota academic standards are delivered through a distance learning model, and they are going to be ready to equitably meet the needs” of all students, she said.
TO TEACH OR NOT?
Minnesota school districts differ over where they’ve drawn the line on student contact and instruction during the two-week closure.
Minneapolis Public Schools has told teachers there is “no expectation” they communicate with student or families before April 6, when distance learning is expected to begin following spring break.
And Minneapolis students “are not expected to complete lessons that will impact their grades during this current school closing time,” the district said. It has, however, pointed to online resources students can do to “keep their minds active.”
Anoka-Hennepin spokesman Jim Skelly said he expects teachers are checking in on students and communicating about technology plans; the district has not told them “not to reach out to students.”
Likewise, St. Paul Public Schools hasn’t issued guidance to its teachers, but spokesman Kevin Burns said the two-week closure is meant for planning, not teaching.
“Teachers may be establishing connections with their students during this time, but actual instruction begins April 6,” after spring break, he said.
Central’s physics teacher discovered Monday that closed means closed. He sent a follow-up email to students to say that at the advice of the administration, the assigned work no longer was due.