Santa Cruz County is blessed with educational choices which include traditional neighborhood public schools, private and parochial schools, public charter schools, homeschooling and various hybrid arrangements within these programs.
Parents, teachers and administrators are trying to plan for the 2020-21 school year. All are concerned with best practices for the benefit of the entire educational community and are faced with uncertainty about the future and the need to be flexible owing to external circumstances.
With the re-opening of schools coming up, parents are considering choices.
Parents and teachers have gained appreciation for each others’ roles in their children’s education. With the re-opening of schools coming up, parents are considering choices. As well as selecting the best educational environment for each of their children, parents need to factor in their own work requirements and health department regulations. For some families a vulnerable child or parent is a critical factor.
Teachers need to make plans for regular classroom, virtual or hybrid scenarios, not to mention following health department safe practice regulations. Teachers and families have learned new distant learning/teaching technologies, what worked well and what flopped, so are better prepared for new situations and potential fast pivots. Some teachers are questioning whether they can continue teaching in this uncertain environment.
Ocean Grove Charter/Homeschool has a wait list of 1,000 and is hiring teachers. Pacific School, which has traditional classrooms and a hybrid independent study program (part home/part classroom) has added a new homestudy program. Some parents are talking about forming co-ops in which they each contribute their talents and hire a teacher. Is there a growing homeschooling trend? If so, why and will it last?
