Ocean City district survey says health, safety priorities, but so is the education
By DAVID NAHAN/Sentinel staff
When the Ocean City School District polled parents earlier this month, it found most are comfortable with their students returning to school, but they remain worried about their children’s physical health and safety and emotional needs.
The majority remain worried about their children catching COVID-19.
The results of the survey were posted on the school district’s website and are being used as the district makes plans for students returning to the classroom in September – even if all of the students aren’t actually in the classroom.
The survey received 1,425 responses.
“During this critical planning and preparing stage, it is so important that we hear from our parents and work together to face the challenges of returning to school together,” Superintendent of Schools Dr. Kathleen Taylor said Monday. “I was thrilled to see that over 1,400 district wide took the time to provide their feedback to us.
“This school year will be an unprecedented time for all of us,” she added. “However, together, I know we can ride the ebb and flow of the transition waves to provide the best for our students’ success.”
One survey question asked, “With a hybrid model for reopening of schools (a combined remote and onsite model), how comfortable are you with having your child(ren) in school in September 2020. One third of parents said they were “very comfortable” with the idea and another quarter were “comfortable.” A little less than a third (28.8 percent) said they were “somewhat comfortable” and the remaining 13 percent were “uncomfortable.”
The state has said it would follow federal Department of Education guidelines to allow parents to opt for remote learning for their children. The state has offered general guidelines. (See related story.)
As a follow-up to the comfort level question, the survey asked about the most important aspects that parents considered for that. They were allowed three choices. The top, receiving a full two-thirds of support, was the quality of instruction children would receive. That was followed by their children’s physical health and safety (56.9 percent) and children’s social needs (51.3 percent).
Nearly 40 percent of parents cited the “need to get back to a normal life” and nearly that amount (37.4 percent) cited their “child’s mental health needs.”
The family’s physical health and safety came in at 34.2 percent. Farther down the list were “equity of student access and opportunity” (13.8 percent), parents’ work responsibilities (12.5 percent), family schedule (7.4 percent), children’s special needs (6.5 percent); childcare needs (4.4 percent), and children’s nutritional needs (1.3 percent).
Parents were asked to rank their highest priorities for their children and the top one was advancing their education (ensuring they are on track from the interrupted 2019-20 school year) and protecting their physical health. Almost all parents rank those a high priority or a priority.
More than half of the respondents said it was a high priority to attend to their children’s emotional needs with nearly 500 saying it was a priority. The lowest priorities were getting support for trauma related to the pandemic and general supervision at home or school so the parents can work or attend other responsibilities.
Parents still worried
Another part of the survey asked parents their current concerns and the top one, by far, was their children catching or spreading coronavirus. Parents could list all of their concerns, but that one received a 61.3 percent response.
The next biggest concern, at 44.6 percent, was students not being able to socially distance at school. Nearly equally weighted were school cleanliness (40.1 percent) and children not being able to socialize with their peers (41.1 percent).
More than a third of parents (37.1 percent) remain worried about school closing again and just over a third (34.8 percent) are concerned about children not being prepared because of learning loss with remote learning taking place from mid-March to the end of the 2019-20 school year.
Thirteen percent said they had no concerns about the upcoming school year.
Athletics and other afterschool activities
About 850 parents said they were comfortable with their children taking part in athletics, and about 700 for clubs and extracurricular activities. Close to 100 said they were not comfortable with that participation. For those who supported it and had children on remote learning on a given day, four-fifths of parents said they could provide transportation to those activities after school.
With a hybrid model for schools, 46.5 percent of parents said they will transport their children to school while 42.2 percent would use school transportation. The other 11.3 percent will walk.
School lunches not so popular
More than half of the survey respondents (55.4 percent) said their kids would not buy a school lunch, but a third would “sometimes.” The other 12.1 percent plan to buy school lunches.
There was no comparison to how much students regularly buy school lunches in a normal year.
The Ocean City School District reported that of the 1,425 responses it received for the survey, 62.7 percent were from parents of high school students, 15.9 percent from parents of students in grades six to eight, 15 percent from parents of students in primary (pre-K to grade three) and the rest in grades four and five.