Classrooms in Crisis: Plan for Your Return to School
By: Everett H.
Tags: Classroom Management, Covid Diaries, Education

Photo by Aubrey Rose Odom on Unsplash

School has returned in full force. Today, the last of our grade level students returned to campus with our littlest ones rejoining us. The school is once again full of students with all the joys, and challenges, associated with school with the regulations required to operate under pandemic conditions.

I should note that Qingdao currently does not have any active cases of COVID-19 reported. This is from a local hospital that regularly reports these numbers to the expatriate public. There are also no cases of individuals in quarantine. This is a major milestone all around.

As our littlest ones rejoined us, we are not realizing the challenges of dealing with a full campus. The issues we are facing are mostly logistical in nature. Yes, we are concerned about the health and safety of our students and the return of COVID-19, but it is not a pressing issue at this time. Our concerns are focused on the movement, temperature checks, and distancing of 240 students over the course of the day.

Yes, my school is not a large school. With 240 students and the staff teach them in the school, we are not a large group. However, with over 300 bodies moving in the school from three years old to year twelve, we are big enough. This may seem like an easy issue to resolve, because you know, we are a small school. But on the flip side, we are a small school, students and structure. We are facing the same issues as larger schools, just with fewer students.

One issue we have found is just getting students onto campus. Every student and staff member are required to take their temperature and have it recorded. We have a single unit that takes our temperature and picture at the same time. The unit has facial recognition software in place which recognizes us as we record our temperature. This is used for our students in year six through to the adults.

Our students in year five and younger are required to have their temperature taken with a handheld temperature gauge. Skin is not touched in the process and all students cycle through the school nurse or another staff member and the temperatures are recorded for each student. Any late student is required to have his or her temperature taken upon arrival before going to class.

Frankly, for a small school this works. However, if we were at a large school this would be terribly inefficient. There are far better systems that a school of size could use to manage the temperatures of all students. Some schools use various types of thermal cameras and monitor the students and staff as they come through. These are more ideal for large volume temperature checks. If your school is going to be taking temperature checks, then you need to invest in a solid system for checking temperatures of every student. In addition, you need a plan in place to ensure that every student is checked, and none bypass the process in the morning.

There is a very real fear of what would happen if a student came back with a high temperature. At some schools, students are simply not returning. They are staying home and not coming in because of health concerns. At other schools, students will come in early, then leave before the midday checks because of the same concern. This creates significant teaching management issues when students are present then absent, or just absent.

The reality we face is, if a student has a fever at school, that student is moved to an isolation medical room. They are checked by the school nurse and medical personnel to determine if this is potentially COVID-19 or not. If it is a possible case, then students in the room the student came from are isolated, go through temperature checks, and are not allowed to leave this quarantine set up until it is determined if the student tested positive or not. Which could be several hours by the time the student arrives at the hospital and is tested. If the nurse determines that it is not likely COVID-19, then the students may return to their normal day.

Our classes are small, upwards of 12 students. Imagine trying to quarantine 25 students in a single classroom. How long before parents were called? The media was contacted. The students of the school were notified via electronic means. Not to mention, 25 students in some classes is a small number and the rooms are not that big. It is a concern when all students return to school.

In the event that a student has a fever at school, and it is caught at the beginning of the day, the students go to an isolation room and may be transported to the hospital. Their parents would be notified, but they might not see their child until the child has been tested at the hospital. We have not had to deal with that here, but that is the protocol we have been told will likely be followed.

This is one of many management pieces we as a school have addressed in the past two weeks. Like so many international schools in China, we are in session and managing. The students are in school and we are teaching. We have had to look at how we manage our students very differently. The discussions here have also been about public schools in the US, Canada, and UK. Our children are compliant and well trained. They will follow directions and understand why we are doing this. Now, imagine students who are not compliant and refuse to follow directions, or simply students who typically do their own thing. How well will this work?

As schools open in China and return to our new version of normal, not everyone is following along obediently. Speaking with educators in the region, some of the schools are very much the same as they were in January. Students crowding together, sitting next to each other, maybe wearing masks, and other normal teenage behaviors. We have been fortunate not to have another outbreak of COVID-19 yet. These are very real challenges for some of the schools.

Some might suggest that what we are doing is practicing for the second round when we are in school, but a virus is rampant again. The distancing protocols are in place and we know them, but they are not a priority right now. Whatever the reason, we are prepared for the worst.

As educators who are fearful about the re-opening of your schools because of the spread of COVID-19 can I just say this, remain calm. The worst thing you can do as an educator is to come to school panicked about the well being of everyone. Yes, there will be viruses in the schools in the fall. Yes, it is likely that COVID-19 will be in our society in the future. These are all known realities. We are better prepared to deal with them now than we were three months ago though and we will be better prepared in another three months.

Plan out your classroom environment. Get out the pens and paper and map it out. Where will the desks be? How will students travel through the room? How will you teach the students? Where will you teach from? What if you are synchronously teaching both live classrooms and online student groups? Plan for the worst cases scenario with only one half to one third of your students in the room.

As a school, plan out the return of students. My principal pointed out that our students had been out of school for over 130 days, over four months, before returning. We have faced some challenges and you will as well. Plan what the return to school looks like. They will be nervous and uncomfortable returning. They will be worried about their safety. Their parents will be nervous about their children’s safety. These are to be expected and anything you can do to alleviate their concerns as a school will help build positive relationships in the community.

Yes, you need a solid plan in place for the school. To many schools go into things such as this will little to no plan in place and make it up as they go along. This is one time that schools can not just wing it. They will damage relationships if they do not plan a smooth re-entry into school.

Also keep in mind that this will not last forever. We have been in school over two weeks and all our children are back. We have found that we have loosened our restrictions significantly in those two weeks. Masks are not required in school since children have cleared their health checks. Adults are not required to wear masks either. We still do temperature checks daily because those are required. However, our distancing measures have gotten a bit laxer. Students are playing games, working in small groups, and there is a sense of normal returning to our school a little bit more every day. The feeling is noticeable. We are still annoyed that we can’t turn the air conditioning on or the air filters but, you know, these are first world problems.

I feel we have done a fairly good job bringing our students back to school. It is painfully obvious that our admin team put hours of thought and planning into the details of returning to school. Of course, there are things we could have done better, but we have managed. The critical components of the return are there. Students know what is expected of them and where we have been a bit lax. The students are also very happy to be back with their friends for a short while before summer break.

If you are a teacher, start thinking about your classroom in reasonable terms. If you are an administrator plan your school transition to go as smoothly as possible. All groups should utilize the power of video and presentation software to show the students that you are ready for them and inform the parents in advance. Provide as much information to the students as possible in advance, even including training sessions on site for students.

We know what is coming in the fall. Or at least we have a very good idea. If we have been out of school, we have no excuse not to be ready for our students to enter our schools and begin a new chapter of education that is positively changed by the current events. I look forward to hearing stories from educators and administrators about their plans to return to school in a post — pandemic setting.