I am writing to appeal to your office to re-enable the Google Classroom as an online learning platform for Portland Public elementary schools. Removing an integral, familiar online learning platform in the middle of the pandemic, when students, teachers and families desperately need a familiar online learning tool, is not what is best for students or educators. Hundreds of PPS  teachers already have many units of instruction on the Google Classroom, which is a part of the Google Suite that PPS has been using for many years- it works intuitively, seamlessly, and efficiently for PPS students and teachers. 

In addition to grappling with the complexities and multitude of challenges created by the Covid-19 pandemic, as a Spanish Immersion elementary teacher, I also have a brand new math curriculum, a new Language Arts curriculum, as well as new health, science and Social Emotional Learning units this year. Educators have been expected to learn all of these new programs in a vacuum, in online courses with inadequate support, unable to see the student’s interface and with very little collaboration during the process. The only subject area in which I am teaching a familiar curriculum is Writing. Most of my writing units are already on the Google Classroom and both of my 5th grade classes in the first two years of the pandemic have successfully accessed and mastered the curriculum housed on the Google Classroom. This is not the time to force more change and new platforms on students and educators; we need to focus on effectively planning quality instruction, not on a new online learning platform. 

Google Classroom can communicate directly with both our new math and new Language Arts curricula. Teachers can create assignments within each program and assign them directly to their Google Classroom, saving students and families precious time and prevent frustration in trying to describe how to navigate through multiple platforms and pages to access assignments in each. Disabling a platform that integrates with newly adopted curricula does not support students or educators; it works against them. Canvas is the online platform being forced onto educators- it is not integrated with our new curricula.

Trying to teach elementary students to use Canvas is like teaching them to drive a car when all they need is a sound bicycle.  Google Classroom is intuitive for both educators and teachers, unlike other online platforms being forced on us, such as Canvas. In the six years I used the Google Classroom, I never experienced a single glitch or issue with accessibility or student’s work not attaching properly. In contrast, Canvas has a high amount of user error and all of our Middle and High School teachers’ grades were lost this fall in a huge glitch. The Office of Technology and Information Services (OTIS) has said that they cannot provide support to Google Classroom but it has never been an issue because it works seamlessly with the Google Suite for Education. 

As Covid-19 cases continue to rise again, more and more educators test positive and need to quarantine, and our hospitals fill up, educators are starting to prepare again for the event of online instruction. My students and I have spent many hours trying to learn how to use Canvas unsuccessfully. Rather than focusing on planning for instruction for the most essential time of the academic year, I am watching online videos trying to figure out how to help my 5th graders access our learning units via an easy-to-use online learning platform, overwhelmed and disheartened by my options. Please work with us rather than against us and re-enable the Google Classroom for elementary students.