So, how do you reopen schools? (Preschool to High School & even College)

[techboy]

4 minutes ago, tshile said:

No what they did was agree to a plan with the board and the county such that the entire summer was spent facilitating that. Then at the last minute they told everyone they would quit if the plans weren’t changed dramatically.  And then some started quitting. 
 

if they had said that back in June they would have been replaced. And they knew that. So they waited until the last minute because the county can’t replace that many people right now. 
 

and then they used their powers to force underprivileged children in an affordable/subsidized daycare situation to go from using unoccupied individual rooms so that they can be guided in their school work, to be forced into one big area with individual desks. It’s chaotic and I don’t see how it’s safe with the number of kids we’re talking about. 
 

and because that’s not good enough for them, they’re now forcing some of them to be shut down. 
 

my kids school isn’t having this problem that I’m aware of. But at least a few others are. 

 

I don't work in Loudon so I don't know anything about the situation you describe, but I'm wondering how this blog post dated July 6 fits into your timeline and scenario:

 

 https://loudounea.blogspot.com/2020/07/choose-distance-learning_6.html?m=1

 

[tshile]

I’m not in Loudoun. I actually am not sure how things are going there. Too caught up in here and the people I know that live there don’t have kids in school 🤷‍♂️

Edited August 31, 2020 by tshile

[techboy]

7 minutes ago, tshile said:

I’m not in Loudoun. 

 

Then that blog entry has no relevance and I apparently know even less than I thought I did about your situation (which was almost nothing to start with).

[tshile]

26 minutes ago, techboy said:

 

Then that blog entry has no relevance and I apparently know even less than I thought I did about your situation (which was almost nothing to start with).

Yeah it’s fine. I don’t want someone in trouble. I do not think any of it is privileged but there’s no point. 
 

just ranting about it. Ultimately it doesn’t even affect me. I’m sad for those that it does but... I’ll keep it in mental notes for next time I get to vote on something or I’m asked to donate for something. 
 

side note: sheriffs deputies are manning the school supply pickup locations. Which I only interpret as hedging against some of the more... angry I guess?... people out here who think it’s appropriate to take their frustrations out on school staff when they see them. 
 

spent the weekend with an Alexandria teacher. The stories of how some parents treat them is sad to say the least. (Not the source of my info. Nothing I said today was about Alexandria schools. I live in a different county/district entirely.)

Edited August 31, 2020 by tshile

[techboy]

49 minutes ago, tshile said:

 

side note: sheriffs deputies are manning the school supply pickup locations. Which I only interpret as hedging against some of the more... angry I guess?... people out here who think it’s appropriate to take their frustrations out on school staff when they see them.

 

Wow.

[TheDoyler23]

 

59 minutes ago, tshile said:

spent the weekend with an Alexandria teacher. The stories of how some parents treat them is sad to say the least.

I have a friend who teaches high school. Parents are wild. 
 

I survived my son’s 1st grade day today. One down, one hundred and seventy nine to go.

 

 

 

 

 

[tshile]

Finally convinced the wife to let me get a color laser printer. Just set it up. Printing all the boy’s stuff off now. Looks like we’re coloring dragons tomorrow!!

 

i can only imagine how things are going in households where people aren’t tech savvy.... I set his chrome book up with bookmarks to everything. I keep his calendar up to date with classes and links. Made a google sheet for all the accounts and a shortcut. Everything is set to auto login. 
 

Just trying to limit what the used-to-be-preschool-teacher-now-psuedo-kindergarten-teacher-for-who-knows-how-many-schools has to figure out to make sure my kid is doing what he needs to do. 
 

It’s kind of a pain in the ass but the joy of knowing I’m setting him up best I can makes it rewarding and surely worth doing. 
 

now to go watch 2 hours of videos from today’s classes so I can ask him questions about it and figure out how well this is actually going...

[China]

U.S. Coronavirus Rates Are Rising Fast Among Children

 

As some schools begin in-person classes, data compiled by the American Academy of Pediatrics from the summer show that cases, hospitalizations and deaths from the coronavirus have increased at a faster rate in children and teenagers than among the general public.

 

The data set, which spans from May 21 to Aug. 20, varies from state to state, possibly obscuring differences in how the virus affects infants, young children and adolescents.

 

For example, many states group infants and teenagers into the same category. One state even includes people up to age 24. But the rise remains similar across states.

 

Young children seem to catch and transmit the virus less than adults, and children of all ages tend not to experience severe complications from it. But Dr. Sean O’Leary, vice chairman of the American Academy of Pediatrics’ committee on infectious diseases, said that substantial community spread in many parts of the United States corresponded with more infections among children.

 

Click on the link for the full article

[Cooked Crack]

 

 

[Destino]

I’m bored with this constant feigned surprise at entirely predictable likely outcomes.  “Oh wow sending kids to college resulted in COVID spread”.  It’s not a surprise, it’s a choice they made knowing full well it would spread the virus.  That they prioritized something over this, that they did it because they wanted something else more than they cared about corona virus, doesn’t make the outcome unknown or an accident. 
 

 

[China]

University of Iowa reports additional 326 students test positive for COVID-19

 

Another 326 University of Iowa students have self-reported a positive or presumed positive COVID-19 diagnosis since Friday, bringing the university's total to 922 cases. 

 

In a message to campus Monday, the university said three more employees have tested positive, bringing the total number of employees with a positive COVID-19 test to 13. 

 

The semester officially began Aug. 18 and the first day of classes was Aug. 24. 

 

Click on the link for the full article

 

As I monitor my son's school I see they have 16 cases in the last week.  46 total since February.

[Cooked Crack]

 

[Cooked Crack]

 

 

[skinsmarydu]

I love the true Southern lingo..."heading out of town"...😄

[tshile]

How one superintendent plans to reopen her schools : The Indicator from Planet Money  - https://www.npr.org/2020/09/02/908922754/opening-schools-mission-impossible
 

just a brief podcast with Annapolis superintendent about what all goes into planning for schools this semester

 

 

[China]

On 8/28/2020 at 7:21 AM, Xameil said:

If Cornell is following the same rules as the NYS Universities and the rest of the state for that matter, they will...

 

Just got a message from the president of Cornell (excerpt below):

 

Quote

Last Friday, the State of New York issued new guidelines for universities and colleges. These guidelines require significant changes in operation whenever the number of positive COVID-19 cases over a two-week period on a college campus exceeds 100 or 5% of the campus population (faculty, staff, and students), whichever is smaller. They do not require the university to shut down in that circumstance, nor do they require students to quarantine in their rooms, except for those who are in quarantine for cause, e.g., because of a contact with a known positive case. But they do require that for a two-week period, all teaching moves online, dining halls move to take-out meals only, and a variety of other campus activities are reduced or suspended.

 

Because the limit of 100 applies to all universities with a population greater than 2,000, it sets a very high bar for large schools like ours. To stay below it, we need to keep weekly infections to just a small fraction of a percent. 

 

Staying below the new limit will be extremely difficult, and make no mistake: there is no guarantee of success. The new limit is less than half of the peak infection level that we had predicted and for which we prepared.

 

[bearrock]

Smh....  South Korea mulled hitting level 3 condition a week or two ago because their confirmed positives exceeded 300 for about a week straight, which apparently was a sign of the beginning of community spread.  Level 3 would've meant a shutdown like the one we were supposed to have in March.  So about 2-3K in a week in a country of 50 million people.  NYC, one of the most aggressive locality in the country, talking about 100 over 2 weeks among couple of tens of thousands as the threshold for triggering the next set of measures....  We are so behind the curve, we can't even see it now....

[Xameil]

6 hours ago, China said:

 

Just got a message from the president of Cornell (excerpt below):

 

 

Yeah well...I was praising the way state universities were handling it and then I heard today that SUNY Oneonta went to remote learning because they were not setting a good example to the students and 2 sororities threw a party and needless to say...there are over 300 cases there.

[Elessar78]

These lunk heads are going to now exacerbate the problem by sending kids home. Defund the Universities!

[tshile]

Oh god my county is rolling out that security nightmare called Zoom for classes now. And classes will be recorded and posted online. And if I don’t want my kid to be posted online, my only option is to turn off his webcam. Ie: turn a 5 year old into a passive student with no active engagement. Which doesn’t work at all. 
 

so that’s great. 

[purbeast]

Last night was my son's virtual back to school night and while we were meeting with the teacher, I noticed that 2 of her slides mentioned "when we get back to class."

 

So I asked her about that afterwards if there had been any talks about going back in class after the first semester, or even if there had been talks about reevaluating the whole "first semester until January 26th" decision being virtual.  And her response was that because Hogan wants to reopen things, the county (Montgomery) has been reevaluating things and looking into maybe going back into the classroom prior to the end of January being the earliest.

 

To me this was actually good news.  

 

I simply don't think my son will learn much in kindergarten sitting at the table behind the computer for an entire semester.  He's not programmed to do that.  No 5 year olds are.

 

Now I'm not saying to open the schools up all willy nilly again.  But if they did like 1/2 virtual and 1/2 in person, with strict protocol, I would be on board with that based on exactly what the protocol is.

 

We are lucky that we have 6 kids on our block in kindergarten and every day for an hour at the lunch/recess break, all the kids go to the bottom of our street and play.  Everyone is wearing masks too and the kids run around for an hour sweating with masks on.  It doesn't bother them too much and they are used to it.  Because of that I am confident they could handle wearing a mask at school most of the time if need be.

[GoCommiesGo]

Our kids go to a private school that opened back up the last week of August in a hybrid A / B week. It’s a cluster, my son is 5 and being in the classroom is the best thing for him but the standards they are trying to hold kids to are just not feasible. 
 

My daughter is in 5th grade and I’m honestly not sure if being in the same room / seat for as long as she is the best thing. The teachers rotate between classes to lessen interactions and hallway congestion. They have a snack break and recess. Other than that they are in the same spot all day, carry all of there books and have no shared materials. All the kids are responsible to have everything they need. 
 

My wife also teaches there and from talking to her and other teachers, this is the most challenging start in any of their careers. Her school spent just under a million dollars to get ready for this year and it’s still a cluster. 
 

 

[The Gibber]

My daughter had her first day of virtual kindergarten today as well. First hour was all technical difficulties with no one being able to hear the teacher. My daughter is pretty good with focusing (for a five year old)  but I can tell this is going to be a long year dealing with this and work. What a freaking time we are living through. 

[Xameil]

4 minutes ago, GoSkinsGo said:

Her school spent just under a million dollars to get ready for this year and it’s still a cluster. 
 

 

That doesn't seem like a lot of money to get ready for something of this magnitude to be honest..

[GoCommiesGo]

6 minutes ago, Xameil said:

That doesn't seem like a lot of money to get ready for something of this magnitude to be honest..

School is PRE K through 12 with about 675 kids and the expenditure constituted about 10% of their endowment. It doesn’t include additional staff just physical improvements and tech purchases. 
 

I should also say they hired something like 5+ teachers. They separated the students into pods with each pod around 10 kids. They also are offering a gateway option for families that don’t want to have their kids on compass. 

Edited September 9, 2020 by GoSkinsGo