Parents struggling as schools reopen amid coronavirus surge

VIDEO THIS WEEK AND SAID HE CHOSE HIS WORDS POORLY. WHAT THE FALL SEMESTER WILL LOOK LIKE HAS BEEN AN EVER-CHANGING LANDSCAPE SINCE THE START OF THE PANDEMIC. AND AS ACTION 7 NEWS REPORTE BRANDON EVANS TELL US, A LOT COULD STILL CHANGE BETWEEN NOW AND WHEN KIDS RETURN TO CLAS BRANDON: WE CERTAINLY KNOW A LOT MORE ABOUT WHAT TO EXPECT WHEN SCHOOL STARTS BACK. BUT FOR PARENTS, TEACHERS, A STUDENTS, KNOWING WHAT TO EXPECT IS NOT THE SAME AS ADJUSTING TO IT. >> SHE WAS EXTRAORDINARILY DISAPPOINTED. SHE WAS LIKE, I WILL WEAR A MASK. I WILL HAVE SHIELDS BETWEEN ME. I’D NOT CARE WHAT THEY DO WHILE I’M THERE, AS LONG AS I CAN BE THERE. BRANDON: THIS MOM’S 11-YEAR-OLD DAUGHTER WAS GETTING READY TO START HER FIRST YEAR AT ALBUQUERQUE ACADEMY. BUT JUST LIKE THE PUBLIC SCHOOL DISTRICTS, THEY WILL BE STARTING THE YEAR ONLINE AND WHILE SHE KNOWS THAT’S THE SAFE ROUTE RIGHT NOW, SHE’S READY TO START LOOKING AT OTHER OPTIONS. >> I’VE LIVED IN OTHER COUNTRIES. I’M HAPPY TO LOOK AT WHAT OTHER COUNTRIES ARE DOING. I’M SEEING SOME SUCCESS IN OTH COUNTRIES IN LIMITING THE SPREAD IN COUNTRIES WHERE KIDS ARE BACK IN SCHOOL. BRANDON: MEANWHILE, THIS A TEACHER AND PARENT OF TWO IS BREATHING A SIGH OF RELIEF NOW THAT HE ALSO CAN TEACH FROM HOME DURING THIS TIME. MOST OF THE PEOPLE MY AGE THAT ARE TEACHING ARE NOT WORRIED ABOUT THEIR OWN HEALTH, THEY’RE WORRIED ABOUT THEIR PARENTS WHO HELP THEIR KIDS AND BRINGING IT HOME TO THEM. BRANDO SOME TEACHERS WANT TO REMAIN TEACHING IN THE CLASSROOM EVEN THOUGH IT’S ONLINE ONLY TO HAVE ACCESS TO THE TOOLS THEY’RE USED TO. BUT HE’S NOT ONE OF THEM. >> I FOUND OUT LAST SEMEST THAT HAVING VISUALS THIS WAY, WITH ME BEING THE TEACHER AND HAVING A WHITE BOARD OR CHALKBOARD BEHIND ME ACTUALLY DIDN’T DO MUCH TO HEIGHTEN THE EDUCATION EXPERIENCE OF MY STUDENTS. BRANDON: HOWEVER, HE ADMITS CONNECTING WITH STUDENTS ONLINE VERSUS IN-PERSON WILL NOT BE THE SAME. >> WE CAN WATCH TWO MINUTES OF VIDEO, TALK ABOUT THAT, MAYBE FLASH SOME PICTURES UP THERE, TALK ABOUT THAT, DO SOME DOCUMENT SHARING. BRANDON: THE OTHER PARENTS I SPOKE WITH SAY THEY KNOW TEACHERS HAVE A TOUGH ROAD AHEAD, BUT THEY HAVE EVERY CONFIDENCE THAT THEY’LL DO THE BEST JOB THEY CAN, EVEN WHEN THE CIRCUMSTANCES CHANGE AGAIN. BRANDON EVANS, KOAT ACTION 7 NEWS. BRITTANY: THOSE SAME PARENTS AND TEACHERS BELIEVE IT IS OUR BEHAVIOR, LIKE WEARING MASKS AND SOCIALLY DISTANCING IN PUBLIC, THAT WILL DETERMINE HOW QUICKLY THINGS RETURN TO NORMA ENOUGH IS BEING DONE FOR THAT TO HAPPEN. >> I FEEL LIKE THE GOVERNOR IS HOPING THAT WE’LL BEHAVE BETTER, BUT WE HAVEN’T BEEN. >> IT IS CHALLENGING. PEOPLE -- WE HAVE WONDERFUL FREEDOMS IN OUR COUNTRY. I THINK WE’VE FORGOTTEN A LOT ABOUT THOSE RESPONSIBILITIES THAT COME WITH THOSE FREEDOMS. BRITTANY: THE GOVERNOR’S CURRENT HEALTH ORDER, GOES THROUGH AUGUST 28. IT BA

Video above: Adjusting to Back to School changesShannon Dunn has to report in person to her job this week as a cafeteria manager at an elementary school in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, but she has no idea what she'll do when her daughter starts kindergarten with online-only instruction.As a new school year begins this week in some states, Dunn, like many working parents, is struggling to balance her job with her child's school work as the coronavirus pandemic continues to cause upheaval in school districts around the country.Dunn's East Baton Rouge school district has asked school employees to begin work this week, while students are set to begin virtual classes next week. School officials have said they hope to begin in-person classes after Labor Day.“My family works. I have no one I can take her to and say, okay, at 12 o'clock you are going to have to start working online with her for school,” Dunn said. Parents in Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi and Tennessee are among those who will be the first to navigate the new academic year as schools open up in parts of those states this week.In Indiana, where schools reopened last week for the first time since a pandemic-driven nationwide shutdown in March, a student at Greenfield-Central Junior High School tested positive for the coronavirus on the first day back to class. School Superintendent Harold Olin told The Associated Press that the student was tested for the virus days earlier and attended school before receiving the results. The student was isolated in the school clinic, while school nurses worked to identify other students or staff who may have had close contact with the student.“This really does not change our plans,” Olin said. “We knew that we would have a positive case at some point in the fall. We simply did not think it would happen on Day One.”Schools in Hawaii were supposed to reopen Tuesday, but the teachers union led a move to delay that until Aug. 17.Most schools in the state are planning a hybrid approach, with students alternating between attending in-person classes and online instruction. Some schools will have full in-person instruction for younger grade levels, but only a handful of schools will offer a full-time, in-person return.Many school districts around the country had offered parents a choice of at least some in-person classes or remote instruction. But an uptick in COVID-19 cases in many states has prompted school districts to scrap in-person classes at least for the start of the school year, including Los Angeles, Philadelphia and Washington.Dunn said she hopes her daughter will be able to attend in-person classes at her school after Labor Day. But even if she does, that will not ease her mother's mind completely.“I'm definitely going to worry," Dunn said."I will send her to in-person classes, but if I hear of the spread of COVID at the school, then I'd have to rethink it all over again."

Video above: Adjusting to Back to School changes

Shannon Dunn has to report in person to her job this week as a cafeteria manager at an elementary school in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, but she has no idea what she'll do when her daughter starts kindergarten with online-only instruction.

As a new school year begins this week in some states, Dunn, like many working parents, is struggling to balance her job with her child's school work as the coronavirus pandemic continues to cause upheaval in school districts around the country.

Dunn's East Baton Rouge school district has asked school employees to begin work this week, while students are set to begin virtual classes next week. School officials have said they hope to begin in-person classes after Labor Day.

“My family works. I have no one I can take her to and say, okay, at 12 o'clock you are going to have to start working online with her for school,” Dunn said.

Parents in Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi and Tennessee are among those who will be the first to navigate the new academic year as schools open up in parts of those states this week.

In Indiana, where schools reopened last week for the first time since a pandemic-driven nationwide shutdown in March, a student at Greenfield-Central Junior High School tested positive for the coronavirus on the first day back to class. School Superintendent Harold Olin told The Associated Press that the student was tested for the virus days earlier and attended school before receiving the results. The student was isolated in the school clinic, while school nurses worked to identify other students or staff who may have had close contact with the student.

“This really does not change our plans,” Olin said. “We knew that we would have a positive case at some point in the fall. We simply did not think it would happen on Day One.”

Schools in Hawaii were supposed to reopen Tuesday, but the teachers union led a move to delay that until Aug. 17.

Most schools in the state are planning a hybrid approach, with students alternating between attending in-person classes and online instruction. Some schools will have full in-person instruction for younger grade levels, but only a handful of schools will offer a full-time, in-person return.

Many school districts around the country had offered parents a choice of at least some in-person classes or remote instruction. But an uptick in COVID-19 cases in many states has prompted school districts to scrap in-person classes at least for the start of the school year, including , Philadelphia and .

Dunn said she hopes her daughter will be able to attend in-person classes at her school after Labor Day. But even if she does, that will not ease her mother's mind completely.

“I'm definitely going to worry," Dunn said.

"I will send her to in-person classes, but if I hear of the spread of COVID at the school, then I'd have to rethink it all over again."

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