Henrico Schools' sample virtual-learning schedules met with some concerns

Henrico County Public Schools has posted sample schedules for each level and will be releasing the 2020-21 handbook Aug. 13.

Also on Aug. 13, elementary principals will send families their schools’ master schedules — a schedule that applies to the entire school. Elementary school teacher assignments will come out the week of Aug. 17. Middle and high school principals will send their master schedules on Aug. 28.

For now, the sample schedules show time spent in teacher-led activities, independent learning and breaks.

“Unlike the virtual learning of this past spring, the daily schedule, starting in September, will be more defined and consistent,” HCPS spokesman Andy Jenks said in the video.

The sample pre-K day begins at 8 a.m. and ends at about 2 p.m. The schedule starts with a 20-minute morning meeting and moves to 10 minutes of morning movement. The day is interspersed with movement and music breaks adding up to about an hour and half total, has instructional time in groups of two to three students and includes a 45-minute lunch break.

The sample schedule for kindergarten through second grade students begins at 8 a.m. and ends by 12:35 p.m. It begins with a 20-minute morning meeting and ends with a 5-minute afternoon meeting for a social-emotional closing lesson. Reading and math periods begin with teacher-led instruction to the whole class and then break into small group and independent practice time, and the period for science or social studies begins with teacher instruction and ends with independent assignments. The schedule includes a 10-minute movement and stretching period, a 30-minute recess and a 45-minute lunch break to add up to about an hour and a half of break time.

The schedule for third- through fifth-grade students follows the layout of the schedule for kindergarten through second grade students but has slightly longer periods. The school day ends by 1:05 p.m.

Morning activities for kindergarten through fifth grade students include daily attendance, morning announcements, class meetings and potentially songs, according to a video published on YouTube by Henrico Schools.

Secondary schedules
The middle school sample schedule shows the day beginning at 8 a.m. and ending at 3 p.m. The day begins with a 30-minute homeroom period and ends with 15 minutes of instructional support. Students have 5-minute breaks between four periods of an hour and 15 minutes, except for the two periods separated by a 30-minute lunch.

Class periods start with 10 minutes of independent warmup or attendance-taking time, move to 20 minutes of teacher instruction to the whole class, have 35-40 minutes of small group or independent practice time and end with a five- to 10-minute review or exit activity.

The high school day in the sample schedule begins at 9 a.m., or 8 a.m. for students in early bird classes, and ends by 3:55 p.m. Class periods are an hour and a half — except for the hour-long first period — with 10-minute breaks in between. After the second break, students have a 45-minute extended learning period for small group instruction or social emotional learning, a 30-minute lunch and then the next class period.

Classes start with a 5-minute independent warmup, have 25 minutes of whole group instruction or independent work, then have 30 minutes of small-group, whole-group or independent practice, followed by 20 minutes of independent practice and ending with a 10-minute review or exit activity.

Parents express concerns
Several reactions in the Facebook groups Parallel Learning and Nanny Cooperative and HCPS Back to School Safely were skeptical or disapproving, and some parents with children in multiple levels expressed concern about managing the varying schedules.

Heather Fowkes Boyce, a member of the Back to School Safely group, commented on a post about the sample schedules.

“I sure do wish elementary and middle at least were on the same start and end schedule,” she wrote. “It’s going to be hard to keep my younger two quiet while my middle-schooler continues learning for two hours. I’ll be interested to see if all that extra time is spent with teachers teaching instead of the kids logging off and doing independent work at the end of each block. I wish they could teach and then shorten the day so the kids could do independent work afterwards.”

Jennifer Bradshaw shares Boyce’s concerns; she has a student in elementary school and one in middle school and would like them to be on the same schedule. She serves as the director of operations for a clothing nonprofit, she said, and while she knows she is privileged in that she doesn’t need her job to pay the bills, she said she won’t be able to serve her clients and continue her charity work since she would not be able to go to the office until the middle school day ended.

Bradshaw also is concerned about other families who might have difficulties with the rigidity of the school day, she said, such as families whose parents work in the afternoon but would not be able to work before their oldest child’s school day ended or otherwise need flexibility.

Bradshaw emailed the superintendent’s office and received a response indicating that the schools have to reach the VDOE Standards of Quality, including a minimum seat hour requirement to earn credit and teaching Standards of Learning, which VDOE plans to test students on in the spring.

The handbook, called the “2020-21 Learning Plan: A Handbook for Families and Students” will be emailed to families and posted to henricoschools.us/returntoschool/ after a presentation to the School Board in their work session that will begin at 1 p.m.

School system educators and other staff members created the 68-page handbook using the input of community members and experts, Jenks said. It will include the plan for adapting the school day to a virtual format and for keeping students, including those who will be a part of limited in-person instruction, healthy. It will also have details about student support and involvement, limited in-person instruction and options for a gradual return to school.

The school system also will share a COVID-19 health plan at Thursday’s meeting.