How In-Person Teaching Might Work at Eastern and Other MCPS Middle Schools (as of 2/09/2021)
By Dermott Foley
By Dermott Foley
MCPS school buildings are almost ready to welcome students again, after almost a year of sitting empty. Social distancing signs have been put up, high-grade air filters have been installed and desks have been sanitized. But before students are able to return, school administrators must solve another puzzle: What is the best way for teachers to teach during a pandemic when some students are in person and some are virtual?
MCPS superintendent Jack Smith has not announced a detailed, system-wide strategy, but over the past few weeks a number of schools have shared their own plans —which differ greatly from school to school —leading to a lot of speculation and debate.
One model being considered in MCPS involves “simultaneous” or concurrent teaching in which a teacher would teach to those who are in person and virtual at the same time. Many school districts have used this model successfully during the pandemic, but educators say it can be extremely stressful because it splits their attention in many directions while having to deal with a curriculum and technology that was not designed for this type of instruction.
Another proposal is what schools are calling a “support model” where students are in buildings while teachers continue to Zoom in from their homes. Staff known as “classroom monitors,” who may be new hires to MCPS, would physically be in the classrooms to provide supervision.
Eastern Middle School has not formally announced its plans, but Principal Matt Johnson said both alternatives are being considered.
Mr. Johnson said the school is “hoping that a simultaneous model would be feasible.” However, he said, “we are also having to look into the support to virtual model for safety reasons as well as staffing constraints.”
The options that are open to each school differ based on how many students opted to return to in-person school, the square footage of available classroom space, and the number of teachers who are able to return in-person. Some MCPS teachers will not be able to return during the pandemic due to medical reasons that put them at higher risk of severe disease if they catch the coronavirus.
At Eastern, Mr. Johnson said the school is currently preparing for about 350 students total to return in person. That’s 35 percent or slightly more than a third of the student body.
In MCPS as a whole, 40 percent of all students selected hybrid, but preference vary widely from school to school which is why teaching models and schedules that have been announced are so different. It is as low as 20 percent and as high as 90 percent at individual schools, according to data obtained by Bethesda Beat through a Maryland Public Information Act.
Schools in the Bethesda and Chevy Chase areas appeared to have a higher percentage of families choosing hybrid than in the down county region, according to the data.
In zip code 20816 in Bethesda, for example, Wood Acres Elementary had 74 percent choosing hybrid; Westbrook Elementary 84 percent; and Westland Middle School, 67 percent.
That compares with 20901 in Silver Spring- which includes Eastern- where Pine Crest Elementary had 39 percent choosing hybrid; Burnt Mills Elementary, 26 percent; and Montgomery Blair, 34 percent.
Mr. Johnson said Eastern has a teaching staff of about 70, but he was unable to share information about how many received accommodations to teach remotely due to confidentiality reasons.
MCPS is in a trickier situation than other school districts which designed their hybrid programs from a blank slate at the beginning of the year. We are already halfway through the year, and the class groupings were not made with in-person, socially distanced instruction in mind.
In middle school, some math, science and social studies classes could have 32 students and if most of these students decide to return in person that could make social distancing impossible. The students might have to be split into at least two classrooms meaning the teacher would have to teach two classrooms and a third group logging in from their homes. But teachers cannot physically be in two places at one time so at least one of those in-person groups would have to listen to a broadcast lesson under this scenario.
One alternative would be to hire additional teachers and shuffle classes to make them smaller, but in a pandemic that is difficult or perhaps impossible. Additionally, many schools like Eastern are prioritizing keeping teachers with the same students and keeping students on their same schedule in order to minimize disruptions to learning.
Which is why the support model is on the table as an option.
Mr. Johnson also said that a critically important advantage of the support model is related to lowering the risk of coronavirus transmission for both the students and teachers: “The support model eliminated the movement from class to class which is why it is a safer model. Students would remain in their group for the days they are in school.”
Other middle schools are considering similar issues in making their plans.
Hallie Wells Middle School in Clarksburg appears to be fully using the support model. Students would be assigned a cohort of about 10 students, according to an announcement from the school published in The Washington Examiner. The school said the goal is to have cohorts of students in the same grade but “not necessarily” on the same schedule. Students would be in their school buildings but take classes virtually using Chromebooks and each classroom would have staff to provide support.
Pyle Middle School said in an email to parents on Jan. 31 that it had over 1,000 families who chose a return to in-person classes. The school has 1,440 students, according to MCPS data, so this represents about 73 percent of the student body. This gives Pyle more than double the percent of Eastern in students saying yes to hybrid.
“We are not able to bring all of these students back at once based on the protocols that have been established by MCPS for social distancing and the number of students allowed in a class,” Principal Chris Nardi said in the message. As a result the school is breaking students up in to Cohorts A and B. Cohort A would come into school for a week on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday while Cohort B would stay at home. And they would switch the following week and so forth. Mr. Nardi said the school will be using a “Simultaneous/Support model” and class size would be about 15 students.
Mr. Nardi let parents know “these classes will not look like they did pre-pandemic with regards to instruction and structure.” He said teachers “will be primarily at their desks presenting information and lessons to students.”
The idea of some schools only using the support model has already prompted a backlash among some parents and students. Critics of the plan have said it’s no different from distance learning and that it does not fulfill Governor Larry Hogan’s calls to re-open schools to at least partial in-person classes by March 1. Some have circulated a petition saying that this model is “absolutely unacceptable, and it borders on a dereliction of duty.”
MCPS said it will make its final decision on whether to re-open March 15 at a board meeting in late February. If the district sticks with that return date, the first group — which includes students in certain specialized programs — would go back at that time. Sixth graders would be part of the group “1.2” that would theoretically return a few weeks after that, followed by 8th graders, and then 7th graders.
At the Board of Education meeting on Tuesday, MCPS said it hoped middle school students would begin hybrid instruction no later than April 6, 8th graders no later than April 19, and 7th graders no later than April 26.
For 6th graders, many of whom may have been in the Eastern building only a handful of times or not at all, Mr. Johnson said the school will try to schedule a time for students to get an orientation “in such a manner that we follow social distancing guidelines.”
MCPS superintendent Jack Smith has not announced a detailed, system-wide strategy, but over the past few weeks a number of schools have shared their own plans —which differ greatly from school to school —leading to a lot of speculation and debate.
One model being considered in MCPS involves “simultaneous” or concurrent teaching in which a teacher would teach to those who are in person and virtual at the same time. Many school districts have used this model successfully during the pandemic, but educators say it can be extremely stressful because it splits their attention in many directions while having to deal with a curriculum and technology that was not designed for this type of instruction.
Another proposal is what schools are calling a “support model” where students are in buildings while teachers continue to Zoom in from their homes. Staff known as “classroom monitors,” who may be new hires to MCPS, would physically be in the classrooms to provide supervision.
Eastern Middle School has not formally announced its plans, but Principal Matt Johnson said both alternatives are being considered.
Mr. Johnson said the school is “hoping that a simultaneous model would be feasible.” However, he said, “we are also having to look into the support to virtual model for safety reasons as well as staffing constraints.”
The options that are open to each school differ based on how many students opted to return to in-person school, the square footage of available classroom space, and the number of teachers who are able to return in-person. Some MCPS teachers will not be able to return during the pandemic due to medical reasons that put them at higher risk of severe disease if they catch the coronavirus.
At Eastern, Mr. Johnson said the school is currently preparing for about 350 students total to return in person. That’s 35 percent or slightly more than a third of the student body.
In MCPS as a whole, 40 percent of all students selected hybrid, but preference vary widely from school to school which is why teaching models and schedules that have been announced are so different. It is as low as 20 percent and as high as 90 percent at individual schools, according to data obtained by Bethesda Beat through a Maryland Public Information Act.
Schools in the Bethesda and Chevy Chase areas appeared to have a higher percentage of families choosing hybrid than in the down county region, according to the data.
In zip code 20816 in Bethesda, for example, Wood Acres Elementary had 74 percent choosing hybrid; Westbrook Elementary 84 percent; and Westland Middle School, 67 percent.
That compares with 20901 in Silver Spring- which includes Eastern- where Pine Crest Elementary had 39 percent choosing hybrid; Burnt Mills Elementary, 26 percent; and Montgomery Blair, 34 percent.
Mr. Johnson said Eastern has a teaching staff of about 70, but he was unable to share information about how many received accommodations to teach remotely due to confidentiality reasons.
MCPS is in a trickier situation than other school districts which designed their hybrid programs from a blank slate at the beginning of the year. We are already halfway through the year, and the class groupings were not made with in-person, socially distanced instruction in mind.
In middle school, some math, science and social studies classes could have 32 students and if most of these students decide to return in person that could make social distancing impossible. The students might have to be split into at least two classrooms meaning the teacher would have to teach two classrooms and a third group logging in from their homes. But teachers cannot physically be in two places at one time so at least one of those in-person groups would have to listen to a broadcast lesson under this scenario.
One alternative would be to hire additional teachers and shuffle classes to make them smaller, but in a pandemic that is difficult or perhaps impossible. Additionally, many schools like Eastern are prioritizing keeping teachers with the same students and keeping students on their same schedule in order to minimize disruptions to learning.
Which is why the support model is on the table as an option.
Mr. Johnson also said that a critically important advantage of the support model is related to lowering the risk of coronavirus transmission for both the students and teachers: “The support model eliminated the movement from class to class which is why it is a safer model. Students would remain in their group for the days they are in school.”
Other middle schools are considering similar issues in making their plans.
Hallie Wells Middle School in Clarksburg appears to be fully using the support model. Students would be assigned a cohort of about 10 students, according to an announcement from the school published in The Washington Examiner. The school said the goal is to have cohorts of students in the same grade but “not necessarily” on the same schedule. Students would be in their school buildings but take classes virtually using Chromebooks and each classroom would have staff to provide support.
Pyle Middle School said in an email to parents on Jan. 31 that it had over 1,000 families who chose a return to in-person classes. The school has 1,440 students, according to MCPS data, so this represents about 73 percent of the student body. This gives Pyle more than double the percent of Eastern in students saying yes to hybrid.
“We are not able to bring all of these students back at once based on the protocols that have been established by MCPS for social distancing and the number of students allowed in a class,” Principal Chris Nardi said in the message. As a result the school is breaking students up in to Cohorts A and B. Cohort A would come into school for a week on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday while Cohort B would stay at home. And they would switch the following week and so forth. Mr. Nardi said the school will be using a “Simultaneous/Support model” and class size would be about 15 students.
Mr. Nardi let parents know “these classes will not look like they did pre-pandemic with regards to instruction and structure.” He said teachers “will be primarily at their desks presenting information and lessons to students.”
The idea of some schools only using the support model has already prompted a backlash among some parents and students. Critics of the plan have said it’s no different from distance learning and that it does not fulfill Governor Larry Hogan’s calls to re-open schools to at least partial in-person classes by March 1. Some have circulated a petition saying that this model is “absolutely unacceptable, and it borders on a dereliction of duty.”
MCPS said it will make its final decision on whether to re-open March 15 at a board meeting in late February. If the district sticks with that return date, the first group — which includes students in certain specialized programs — would go back at that time. Sixth graders would be part of the group “1.2” that would theoretically return a few weeks after that, followed by 8th graders, and then 7th graders.
At the Board of Education meeting on Tuesday, MCPS said it hoped middle school students would begin hybrid instruction no later than April 6, 8th graders no later than April 19, and 7th graders no later than April 26.
For 6th graders, many of whom may have been in the Eastern building only a handful of times or not at all, Mr. Johnson said the school will try to schedule a time for students to get an orientation “in such a manner that we follow social distancing guidelines.”