The Batavia City School District is welcoming back students for the first time since mid March on Monday morning.
The current COVID-19 pandemic closed all schools in the area on March 16th.
The City of Batavia School District includes four schools, Jackson Primary School, John Kennedy Intermediate School, Batavia Middle School and Batavia High School, with a population of about 2400 students.
“Teachers usually spend the summer making meticulous plans and over prepare for the next school year,” says Mark Warren, President of the Batavia Teachers’ Association.
“Detailed oriented people don’t have the finer details leaving them feeling a bit unprepared.”
On September 8th teachers started meeting to discuss the scenarios they will be dealing with. Teachers will also be learning, along with students about how to be be better remote/hybrid instructors and students.
“It’s different than anything we’ve ever had to do before. There are still a lot of questions that need to be answered , we still don’t know how to get our procedures to work again.”
There is also the worry of meeting in person during a pandemic and keeping safe while teaching and learning without contracting COVID-19.
Interim NYSDOH guidance for in person instruction below.
file:///G:/Pre-K_to_Grade_12_Schools_MasterGuidence.pdf
Parents are also full of questions, with a cohort schedule.
Link to Batavia City School District Reopening plan and Cohort schedules
The last time the Board of Education had to deal with a similar situation was during the Spanish Flu pandemic in 1918. In an article published by the Daily News on December 7, 1918, The BOE ordered all public schools closed after teachers sent kids home from school with headache, dizziness and sore throats. There were 600 students absent and 6 teachers sick on December 6, 1918. Superintendent Ladd told the paper that a state of panic exists among parents and children.
The article then went on to express the City of Batavia’s Board of Health opposition to the idea of closing schools.
“The Board of Health in the City of Batavia earnestly and emphatically protests the action of the BOE. It is unwise and unjust. It wastes the taxpayer’s money and it unnecessarily injures the Batavia Business District and it increases instead of diminishes sickness. Public health conditions in Batavia do not justify this action.”
It all began in September of 1918 according to local historian Larry Barnes in his book the History of Batavia: 1801-2015. Schools were closed. Houses were quarantined by the Health Officer . Travelers were allowed to pass through Batavia, but not to remain overnight. By the end of October, there had been 18 deaths and 35-40 new cases were occurring every 24 hours.
Many Schools in Genesee County remained closed through 1919, as three waves of the Spanish Flu swept through the country.
When schools did eventually reopen after the Spanish Flu pandemic, the only choice was in person learning, which makes the job of the current pandemic teacher twice as hard.
Learning to teach remotely and not knowing if students will even show up to class is an unknown each day. Some teachers say they just don’t know what to expect or how many kids they will actually be teaching.
Most teachers will be going day to day without their usual planning.
“It’s a different animal, things are up in the air and there is some frustration over planning. This year there is only so much you can do, we are starting over,” says Warren.