Distance learning at Oakland Middle Schools
My daughter will be starting 6th grade in Fall. We've accepted a spot at Claremont (our neighborhood school) but are in the 20's on the waitlist for Edna Brewer (our first choice), so we may be offered a spot there. I know the next school year is still up in the air, but since it seems likely to be at least partly distance learning, I would love to hear from parents at Claremont or Edna Brewer how distance learning went this school year?
Some specific questions:
How many hours a day did your kid(s) spend in Zoom classes? Since they have multiple subjects with different teachers, did each class still meet on the same schedule they would in person, or was it modified so that students aren't spending all day on Zoom? Was the overall workload manageable, between Zoom classes and assignments? How easy was it for your kid to get individual support from their teachers? What did social/emotional support look like? (My kids is pretty shy and I'm worried she won't really connect with new teachers and new classmates if school ends up being fully remote.) How did the school handle classes that don't transition easily to an online format, like PE, art, and music? I'm especially interested in hearing about the Edna Brewer music program--their amazing orchestra is one of the main things we like about that school.
If you have any other experiences to share those would be very welcome too!
Thanks!
Parent Replies
My son just graduated from Hillcrest MS, so I can only speak to this experience, although I have heard that both Claremont and EB are decent choices. I just wanted to flag for you that what teachers did in the spring may be quite different than how the program works this fall. Huge changes are happening at OUSD - they took a massive budget hit and most schools lost $40-$60,000 in funding. But - some MS are going to receive a generous grant from Salesforce that will offset that budget cut. Might be worth asking about. Distance learning looked different for each grade in our MS. 8th had about 3 hrs of instruction 3 days a week plus 1-2 hrs 2 days a week. This was more than enough screen time - Zooms are exhausting. They had loads of group projects and interesting assignments - they worked a full day and learned plenty. The teachers were outstanding. I do know that teachers are working most of this summer to design the next school year for distance learning - I anticipate a mix of distance and small group instruction. And substantial changes from the spring approach.