Amid Covid Concerns, Montana Parents Make Tough Calls
Covid-19 has already shifted so much in the way we live, and education is no exception. Parents and districts are facing tough choices as they prepare for the upcoming school year.
“Our kids will be homeschooled,” said Kristin Hoenstine, whose kids Kaleb and Chloe will be going into eighth and third grade, respectively. “ We were waiting to hear how our district was moving forward and after last night board meeting we made our choice.”
The Hoenstines live in the Hamilton school district.
”I’m afraid learning will be stressful in the current environment, but I appreciate the teachers and their willingness to be on the front lines and try to keep things normal,” she said.
Missoula County Public School’s Return to School Workgroup has been meeting regularly throughout the summer and intends to make recommendations before the School Board of Trustees meets on July 28. The school district has committed to maintaining the current school year calendar and will offer face-to-face learning (although likely on a shortened or part-time schedule), while providing remote learning options for students or families in the high-risk category.
But school leaders admit that regular health checks like taking the temperature of each student and maintaining six feet of distance as much as possible will make school look different than previous years. Covid-19 has changed everything about the way students, teachers, and staff interact in school, from requiring face masks to sharing seats on the bus, to extracurriculars. Under Montana’s Phase 2 restrictions, competitive sports games and other gatherings will be impossible. And the district’s Return to School plan denotes that if someone at the school tests positive, the whole campus will need to close for a few days.
Florence-Carlton School District’s Board of Trustees voted to open school with a full-day, on-sight learning. They are still ironing out details about potential distance learning options for students and families most at-risk of catching the novel coronavirus.
The uncertainty of the 2020-2021 school year is making some parents feel like they need to shop for a crystal ball when they do their back-to-school shopping. Others have already opted for homeschool or some other non-traditional learning environment instead.
Joining learning environments with like-minded families to create a micro-school is one option families are exploring, which combines the socialization and education of a school environment with a smaller crowd for easier distancing. Long before Covid-19, micro-schools or homeschool co-ops have been a strategy in homeschool communities to spread the burden of academics out. In some formats, students attend “class” in one subject at one household on Monday, another on Tuesday, and so on throughout the week. Others join supplementary classes through places like Learning with Meaning to get socialization, physical education. and more.
But homeschool or micro-school requires at least one parent to invest more time in their children’s education at the expense of their own career. That won’t be feasible for many families. Some households will see their income decline as parents switch priorities from work to academics.
Hoenstine and her husband own Mineshafty Pasty Co. in Hamilton. They homeschooled their older children and feel confident in their abilities to do so with their younger two despite the challenge of running a business at the same time.
”In some ways I do worry about dividing our time and how that could affect our business,” she said. “I think that this year will be a learning curve. Thankfully, we can take our kids to work with us and with a supportive and hands-on husband, we will be able to find creative ways to school the kids, both at work and at home.”