Because it hasn’t been shared with any teacher, not yet. With Opening Day less than a month away, no teacher knows what will be in place, what their classes will look like, and how they will provide quality instruction under the circumstances they will face.

Parents, we know you would like your children to return to the school buildings, but if it boils down to teachers babysitting bored children while they figure things out on the fly, is that what you really want? It’s a recipe for disaster.

Teachers have more questions than Wikipedia can answer. And we warn students against using Wikipedia as a source when writing research papers.

Instruction takes careful planning. It’s not something teachers do when the first bell rings and the students arrive. No teacher waits for that moment and then opens the textbook for something to do for the day.

One great lesson from the grand distance-learning experiment of the spring is that in-person instruction differs greatly from on-line instruction. Zoom (or Microsoft Teams for my school district) is a different experience. What teachers do with 25 children sitting in a classroom is not the same as what we need to do with 25 children in a Zoom meeting.

The mediums are different and instruction must also be different to keep students engaged and learning.

It’s astounding that school administrations and district leaders don’t know this, but then again, they didn’t bother to survey teachers at the end of May to find out what was working, what wasn’t, and how to make distance-learning effective.

The best we can glean from the announcements is that, for secondary students, half will sit in the classroom and half will watch from home if they choose the hybrid option.

Have these people never heard of Zoom fatigue? Did they not pay attention when numerous parents described their children’s melt-downs when they were sat in front of their computers? Do they not pay attention to pediatricians’ warnings about the dangers of excessive screen time?

Apparently not. What we can glean from the hybrid plan for children to be in synchronous learning at home means that they will have to sit in front of the computer and watch their classmates being taught. Does that mean teachers have to stream their classes and allow the home-stuck children to butt in with questions and comments? How will that work off a laptop? Not every classroom has the big-screen TV to put the stream on.

Who really expects teenagers to stay online? Once the teacher marks them present, they are outtathere. One more lesson from the spring that the district is not asking teachers about.

The latest info is that teachers can apply to do the distance-learning. One week before they report to work, two weeks before school opens, they will be notified of their assignments.

Teachers have no memory of the plan for reopening.

That’s because the school district hasn’t shared it with them.