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

[visionary]

 

[visionary]

 

[Cooked Crack]

 

[China]

'Astonishingly risky': COVID-19 cases at colleges are fueling the nation's hottest outbreaks

 

About three weeks ago, the University of Mississippi started its fall semester, bringing students from around the country back to Lafayette County. The university had hoped its mix of in-person and online classes and mask-wearing guidelines, among other measures, would be enough to prevent an outbreak.

 

On paper, the college appears to be doing well. According to recent numbers, the University of Mississippi has recorded about 430 confirmed cases since Aug. 24, the first day of classes in Oxford, and still has plenty of housing for those who have been infected or exposed to the virus. 

 

Data in Lafayette County, home to the Mississippi flagship, paint a starker picture. An analysis by USA TODAY shows the county has one of the highest per-capita rates of coronavirus infections in the country, at 1,053 COVID-19 cases per 100,000 people in the last two weeks.

 

Of the 25 hottest outbreaks in the U.S., communities heavy with college students represent 19 of them. Communities with the most total cases per capita during the past two weeks:

Harrisonburg, Virginia	James Madison University	1,562
Whitman County, Washington	Washington State University	1,295
Coryell County, Texas	Central Texas College	1,246
Bulloch County, Georgia	Georgia Southern University	1,222
Story County, Iowa	Iowa State University	1,172
Muskogee County, Oklahoma	None	1,157
Clarke County, Georgia	University of Georgia	1,154
Johnson County, Iowa	University of Iowa	1,147
Lafayette County, Mississippi	University of Mississippi	1,053
Grand Forks County, North Dakota	University of North Dakota	922
Starr County, Texas	None	848
Boone County, Missouri	University of Missouri-Columbia	848
Riley County, Kansas	Kansas State University	845
McLean County, Illinois	Illinois State University	844
Payne County, Oklahoma	Oklahoma State University-Main Campus	775
St. Francois County, Missouri	None	735
Champaign County, Illinois	University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign	735
Leon County, Florida	Florida State University	728
Webb County, Texas	None	706
Montgomery County, Virginia	Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University	679
Lubbock County, Texas	Texas Tech University	676
Pitt County, North Carolina	East Carolina University	647
Coles County, Illinois	Eastern Illinois University	640
Garfield County, Oklahoma	None	639
Burleigh County, North Dakota	None	616

 

NOTE Analysis includes counties and cities independent of counties.

SOURCE USA TODAY analysis of Johns Hopkins University coronavirus data and U.S. Department of Education enrollment data. Counties had at least 50,000 people, and in college towns enrollment must be at least 10% of the population.

 

Click on the link for the full article

[China]

Meanwhile locally:

 

COVID-19 Outbreaks Being Investigated At 7 County Private Schools

 

ROCKVILLE, MD — Public health officials are investigating possible coronavirus cases at seven Montgomery County private schools.

 

County Health Officer Dr. Travis Gayles, who made the announcement at a Thursday press briefing, did not disclose the names of the schools due to "privacy concerns" and the "ongoing nature of the investigations."

 

The latest investigations bring the total to 13 private schools with reported infections.

 

"To date, we have had, I believe, approximately 13 different schools that have had instances of cases involving teachers, staff, and students," Gayles said. "We currently have seven ongoing investigations involving nonpublic schools that have cases. And in at least two of those cases, we've had to quarantine a group of students who may have been exposed."

 

Gayles said schools are required under Maryland law to report any coronavirus cases to the local health department.

 

Click on the link for the full article

[LD0506]

[tshile]

Oh boy. **** is blowing up in my county. School board meeting consisted of people reaming out the board members. For lack of planning and a failure of a virtual system (my kid is using it, it’s a mess) and demanding schools reopen. 
 

the people are right to be angry. The virtual system is a **** show and “learning” is hardly adequate (I’m sure some kids are doing great but the average experience seems to be awful.)

 

I think their anger is misdirected. The teachers tied their hands with their bull****, but no one wants to blame the teachers (seems like one of those common situations where people think their specific person is not to blame so they don’t want to blame the group - ie yeah doctors suck but mines great, etc)

 But the anger is real and justified. Hard to tell what the result will be. Public pressure can force things even if it’s not the right thing to force. The teachers aren’t cooperating (and they’re majority of the problem I see with the virtual learning I’m exposed to - simple things that, as someone in IT, I can spot as being a bad practice the second I read about it, I don’t need to actually experience it)

 

 

 

[GoCommiesGo]

We are three weeks into school and two pods of kids have been quarantined along with their teachers in both the elementary and middle school. This is an absolute **** show. 
 

I don’t have any clue how a large public school is going to be able to operate when they return. 
 

God speed everyone. 

Edited September 16, 2020 by GoSkinsGo

[Springfield]

Well my wife has been doing most of the home schooling but I’ve been taking part this week for our kindergartener.

 

Our schedule is basically the following:

Monday: 1 hour math in the evening

Tuesday: 1 hour social studies in the evening

Wednesday: 3 hours reading, social studies and science spread through the day

Thursday: Nothing, soccer practice

Friday: 1 hour reading in the evening

 

Thats it. It ****ing sucks. I feel ill prepared and like he gets antsy before we are done with his hour of learning. He goes to grandma’s house during the day while we are at work and we give him workbooks and Kahn Academy to work on but grandma is not a teacher. Lucky for us, our kid is ****ing smart.

 

We don’t have to deal with virtual learning, or anything like that though. So there’s that.

 

Im looking forward to Fairfax county transition to in person learning though. My kid will be re-enrolled with the county the moment that they announce that.

[techboy]

I have been teaching for almost 20 years. Several years ago, I began blending my curriculum, so I was already teaching online (while still in the room to help students). Apparently I'm psychic, because two years ago I enrolled in a Master's Degree program in blended and online learning, which I finished in the Spring with a 4.0 GPA. I have led school wide trainings on aspects of blended learning. 

 

I am as close to an expert on distance learning as there is, short of being a researcher on the topic, and even then, I have more practical experience than some there too.

 

I also am lucky enough to work in a district that has a huge budget and has provided a laptop to every student and pretty good software to deliver the material.

 

I'm not satisfied with how my classes are going. At all.

 

It's important to remember that even in what could be considered the ideal scenario, with programs that were designed from the ground up to be online, teachers hired and specifically trained to do the job virtually, and students that chose for one reason or another to be in that online setting, research shows the outcomes to be AT BEST what could charitably described as "mixed".

 

This is not an ideal scenario.

 

People should cut their children, their children's teachers, and themselves a lot of slack here.

 

 

 

 

[Springfield]

I don’t envy the teachers at all.

[techboy]

6 minutes ago, Springfield said:

I don’t envy the teachers at all.

 

On the other hand, my commute's pretty nice.

[Sniffler]

2 hours ago, techboy said:

I have been teaching for almost 20 years. Several years ago, I began blending my curriculum, so I was already teaching online (while still in the room to help students)...

 

People should cut their children, their children's teachers, and themselves a lot of slack here.

 

 

 

 

As a teacher in my 20th year also, thank you for saying this. I saw the tide turning a few years ago as well and began building my online classrooms. I believed I was ready for this... then virtual classes started and my audio cuts out every 5 minutes for 10 seconds at a time. 

 

We're resilient, though. Learn, adapt, teach.

[Elessar78]

2 hours ago, techboy said:

People should cut their children, their children's teachers, and themselves a lot of slack here.

We went with an established cyber charter school, we figured they would already how to do this efficiently. For the most part it has worked out that way, but I've been the weak link in the chain. Being the "learning coach" and using a new (to me) platform WHILE working from home was a challenging the first two weeks. Cutting the kids some slack, cutting yourself (parent) some slack, cutting the teachers/tech support/admins some slack—is DEFINITELY spot on advice. 

 

Week 3 has gone well, kids are actually a day ahead of schedule. But the material is mostly review and I imagine it'll get harder as the year progresses.

 

What I like about this program is that it's asynchronous and we can work at our own pace. We found that doing a little bit of work on Saturday and Sunday makes the week MUCH easier.

[China]

Can you guys do something about this?  Is it any wonder Trump has so many ignorant supporters?

 

Nearly two-thirds of US young adults unaware 6m Jews killed in the Holocaust

 

Almost two-thirds of young American adults do not know that 6 million Jews were killed during the Holocaust, and more than one in 10 believe Jews caused the Holocaust, a new survey has found, revealing shocking levels of ignorance about the greatest crime of the 20th century.

 

According to the study of millennial and Gen Z adults aged between 18 and 39, almost half (48%) could not name a single concentration camp or ghetto established during the second world war.

 

Almost a quarter of respondents (23%) said they believed the Holocaust was a myth, or had been exaggerated, or they weren’t sure. One in eight (12%) said they had definitely not heard, or didn’t think they had heard, about the Holocaust.

 

More than half (56%) said they had seen Nazi symbols on their social media platforms and/or in their communities, and almost half (49%) had seen Holocaust denial or distortion posts on social media or elsewhere online.

 

Click on the link for the full article

[mammajamma]

So, thanksgiving break should be fun when all of these positive cases go back home. Makings of a great December

[China]

18 minutes ago, mammajamma said:

So, thanksgiving break should be fun when all of these positive cases go back home. Makings of a great December

 

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

[EmirOfShmo]

6 minutes ago, mammajamma said:

So, thanksgiving break should be fun when all of these positive cases go back home. Makings of a great December

Wow! Hadn't considered that. Definitely going to start staying inside more & more starting November 15...

 

[TheGreatBuzz]

39 minutes ago, China said:

Can you guys do something about this?  Is it any wonder Trump has so many ignorant supporters?

 

Nearly two-thirds of US young adults unaware 6m Jews killed in the Holocaust

 

Almost two-thirds of young American adults do not know that 6 million Jews were killed during the Holocaust, and more than one in 10 believe Jews caused the Holocaust, a new survey has found, revealing shocking levels of ignorance about the greatest crime of the 20th century.

 

According to the study of millennial and Gen Z adults aged between 18 and 39, almost half (48%) could not name a single concentration camp or ghetto established during the second world war.

 

Almost a quarter of respondents (23%) said they believed the Holocaust was a myth, or had been exaggerated, or they weren’t sure. One in eight (12%) said they had definitely not heard, or didn’t think they had heard, about the Holocaust.

 

More than half (56%) said they had seen Nazi symbols on their social media platforms and/or in their communities, and almost half (49%) had seen Holocaust denial or distortion posts on social media or elsewhere online.

 

Click on the link for the full article

Those that don't learn history are doomed to repeat it.

[Springfield]

1 hour ago, mammajamma said:

So, thanksgiving break should be fun when all of these positive cases go back home. Makings of a great December

My niece that goes to CNU said that they are coming home for Thanksgiving break and not going back until after the new year.

[tshile]

7 hours ago, techboy said:

 

People should cut their children, their children's teachers, and themselves a lot of slack here.

I would never take my anger out on anyone at the school and have always been thankful and say positive things when I do speak with them. My wife and I have resigned ourselves to an “we’re doing our best, it is what it is” attitude. 
 

unfortunately cutting everyone some slack doesn’t change the very real long term effects on this. Class size projections are going to be out of whack for all the hold backs. Each individual kid is going to be affected differently which means handling that appropriately is going to be harder - it’s hard enough if you could generally assume the same impact across the board, as you’re talking about curriculum adjustments and such. But we’re talking about having a very wide range of outcomes from generally unaffected all the way to shouldn’t progress to the next grade. There’s zero chance this system has the ability to address that. Even if they came up with the perfect algorithm for it all, they’d fight every other parent on what should be done with their child. And none of this is being worked on or considered because the people who have to do that are too busy putting out the day to day fires. 
 

and we have a different situation out here than most of VA. Most of northern VA made their decisions a while ago. We had an agreement worked in for months and at the last minute the teachers (from what I can tell not even a majority just enough) pulled the rug out from under the whole system. 
 

so my **** show of a system is what happens when a poorly implemented and inadequate resources (including the teachers, as you said they weren’t prepped for this) take a “here’s something for you to do 2 days a week when you’re not in class” (which was minimal because there was a high value placed on the in classroom time) system and turn it into a full time solution. 
 

it was bad for what it was designed for. It worse for being a 100% model. 
 

im lucky. It doesn’t matter for my child. He’ll ultimately be fine. its easy for me to only say nice things and be thankful to them when I see them. 
 

I absolutely get why a parent of a high school student is absolutely pissed. I’m pissed for them. It’s a bad situation made ****ed up by awful decision making, and the people responsible saying “hey don’t you dare be mad we’re do the best we can”

 

what they don’t seem to get is the best they can isn’t really good enough. And it’s highly debatable this is the best they can.

 

 

edit: rereading my post it’s comes across heavy on criticizing the teachers. But I need to add the school board ****ed up royally. As pissed at the teachers as I can be, the board should have never been in that position. It was clear to me for a while trying to hold classrooms in school was a bad idea and it’s not my job to know such things. I fully expect every one of them to be replaced as the soonest opportunity  

 

they should have came out in may and said the default stance is 100% virtual. We are working 100% towards it being virtual. If things change well let you know. 

Edited September 17, 2020 by tshile

[tshile]

On a more positive note, and I may be late to the party on this but I was told this today at the weekly supply pickup/dropoff

 

for Va residents, northam has used the cares act to fully fund every school district to provide 7 days worth of food. Weekly pickups. all grades. No restrictions. 
 

we originally declined because we don’t have issues providing breakfast and lunch for our kid and we think it’s nutritious (or at least enough so.)

 

but what I learned today is that the cafeteria staff is paid based on sales. If we don’t pick up our food they stop getting my child’s portion of the money. On a bigger scale that means laying off staff. I was also given the rise in operational costs because it’s more expensive to shut things down and spin them up for a small size order. 
 

so instead of saving it for people that need it, like we thought, we were just contributing toward cutting in funding and those people in our community not getting paid enough or laid off. 
 

so, we’ll be picking our food up. If you didn’t know that like us, start picking your food up. Helps your community. 
 

 

[tshile]

@techboy

ps: I sent your post to my wife. It was a really good one. Thank you 

[Springfield]

Other than the dearth of qualified teachers in this country, why not cut all classes down to like 10 students? Figure out a way to keep them all distanced together. Come up with some creative ways to get children taught in person, while limiting the risk as much as possible.

[GoCommiesGo]

13 minutes ago, Springfield said:

Other than the dearth of qualified teachers in this country, why not cut all classes down to like 10 students? Figure out a way to keep them all distanced together. Come up with some creative ways to get children taught in person, while limiting the risk as much as possible.

Physical available space would make it impossible. Most schools are old and budgeting and construction takes place over many years. 
 

The lack of investment into education over the last several decades makes it impossible. I’ve lived in the same general area Broadneck / Annapolis my entire life. The only way new schools get built or renovated is if a home builder effectively pays for it to add housing in the district. 
 

Before my wife left teaching in the county she was selected for a leadership class. They spent a few days with the county comptroller and the way he explained how education budgeting is done for construction is crazy.