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

[Xameil]

So, I would consider the school my daughter goes to as being a fairly large one ( over 800 in the 9th grade). This is the first week of school for her. So far, I haven't heard any complaints. For her, she's virtual Monday through Wednesday ( the whole school is virtual on Wednesdays). Today is her first day of actually being in class. Basically the virtual students watch the class from home, so it's the same lesson as the rest, and if have questions can still ask the teacher. The teachers have been good at getting the students ready by making sure they have their google classroom links all set up before school started. Classes have been adjusted to less actual different classes per a 4 day cycle. 

So....so far so good for her district....I'll let ya know how the next few weeks shape up.

My 4 year old goes to pre-k everyday, but she's been going there since it opened back up a couple months ago. They are pretty strict there with the safety regs.

[tshile]

4 hours 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.

That was our plan. 
 

teachers nixed it. (After spending 3 months implementing it, which they originally agreed to)

 

now they’re trying to slowly roll kids back in by grade level. My kids grade is in the first batch. We’ll see what happens. 

1 hour ago, Xameil said:

Basically the virtual students watch the class from home, so it's the same lesson as the rest, and if have questions can still ask the teacher. The

This was how my senior level CS classes were in college. The class was recorded so you could miss class and catch it later, but you miss out on the chance to ask questions during class (obviously) but you could always follow up next time, email the teacher, or swing by office hours. It worked great. Target audience quite a bit different though. 

 

That was over 10 years ago.....

 

my masters classes at GA Tech for AI were also the exact same and they also worked great. That was about 5-6 years ago. 

Edited September 17, 2020 by tshile

[Xameil]

2 hours ago, tshile said:

 

This was how my senior level CS classes were in college. The class was recorded so you could miss class and catch it later, but you miss out on the chance to ask questions during class (obviously) but you could always follow up next time, email the teacher, or swing by office hours. It worked great. Target audience quite a bit different though. 

 

That was over 10 years ago.....

 

my masters classes at GA Tech for AI were also the exact same and they also worked great. That was about 5-6 years ago. 

Difference is that this is being done real time. She can see her friends that are in the class and I believe they can see her.

[tshile]

8 minutes ago, Xameil said:

Difference is that this is being done real time. She can see her friends that are in the class and I believe they can see her.

Ours was too. And we could see/hear everyone too.

 

They just also offered the class as a recording so that you didn't necessarily have to be there live to get the material. It just changed your options for questions/follow up (email, next class, office hours.) I think I did every class live because I was afraid I'd not go back and watch it later. There were absolutely a ton of people that just did it later, as it was more convenient for them. No one ever had any complaints about any of it from what I remember. It worked really well. (We were all also undergrad/grad students... so different target audience...)

Edited September 17, 2020 by tshile

[Xameil]

1 minute ago, tshile said:

Ours was too. And we could see/hear everyone too.

 

They just also offered the class as a recording so that you didn't necessarily have to be there live to get the material. It just changed your options for questions/follow up (email, next class, office hours.) I think I did every class live because I was afraid I'd not go back and watch it later. There were absolutely a ton of people that just did it later, as it was more convenient for them. No one ever had any complaints about any of it from what I remember. It worked really well.

Ahhh ok...sorry misunderstood ya before.

 

So far I am pleased with how her school is handling it...but it's only been a few days...my opinion may change in a couple weeks.

[Dan T.]

 

[China]

Georgia School District to Teachers With Health Problems: Tough Luck

 

Georgia teacher Samantha Mbozi hasn’t even entered a grocery store in the last six months. The 51-year-old just finished chemotherapy a year ago and is taking immunosuppressive drugs for two other illnesses. Her doctor told her strict quarantine could be a matter of life or death.

 

But late last month, the Gwinnett County School District gave her an ultimatum: Return to the classroom to teach in person, or stop teaching altogether.

 

“I said, ‘It’s not like I don’t want to work. I’m a single parent, I don’t know where my paychecks are coming from after this month,’” said Mbozi, an immigrant from Guyana and a single mother of two. “They said, ‘There’s no work-from-home options. If you’re not in the building, you take leave.’”

 

As the school year begins, Georgia teachers with potentially life-threatening medical conditions are being denied the ability to work from home—even in districts where the majority of students are learning remotely. Some, like Mbozi, are taking extended leave, unsure if their jobs will be there when the pandemic ends. Others have chosen to stick it out in situations that could jeopardize their lives, while still others have quit teaching entirely. A Gwinnett County spokesperson said 42 teachers had resigned over COVID-19 concerns so far. 

 

Click on the link for the full article

[visionary]

 

[China]

Just found out that they are switching to hybrid from online here in the City of Falls Church.  Part of their message:

 

Quote

There is very positive news from our local and state health departments regarding the data trends regarding the transmission of the COVID virus, specifically in our area. 

 

Here are the last few weeks of VDH health data metrics for our region to give you an idea of where we stand.

 

Additionally, the Virginia Department of Education has given schools currently online their most explicit guidance about opening yet; we should be moving to a hybrid solution based on the local data (Falls Church City has the lowest rate of transmission and disease burden in Northern Virginia). Our region has been in and remains in Phase 3 of the Governor's reopening status for the Commonwealth of Virginia. Schools in our Region IV consortia have opened in hybrids and are finding great success. 

 

We are starting to return our “first wave” of students during the first two weeks in October. 

 

As a part of this planning process, we have worked with staff, consulted with the Fairfax County Health Department, reviewed CDC/VDH guidelines and VDOE processes for reopening schools. 

 

The list of our tight expectations is outlined below to help us provide a safe environment for reopening school to our students for in-person instruction in a hybrid model.

-Face coverings are required when people are within 6 feet of others unless there are ADA, medical or developmental issues impacting this.

-Maintain 6 feet of physical distancing for all staff and students whenever possible

-Staff/Students follow daily health screening and stay home if not feeling well.

-Students will have temperature checks before boarding buses and entering buildings.

-Classrooms and any identified materials are deep cleaned each evening

-High touch areas are cleaned throughout the day

-Ventilation systems have been adjusted to increase airflow and improve filtering

-PPE and training on the use of PPE will be provided to all special populations staff members who work in roles that necessitate this type of equipment

 

 

[China]

Coronavirus presents risk for about half of school employees, study finds

 

About half of school employees are at risk for contracting coronavirus, according to a study.

 

A group of researchers found that up to 51% of all school employees in the United States met criteria established by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention(CDC) for having increased risk or a potential increased risk for contracting SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, according to the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.

 

“Between 42.0% and 51.4% of all school employees met the CDC definition for being at increased risk of severe COVID-19, depending on whether we used the main or broader CDC definition of increased risk," the authors of the preprinted study, which was released ahead of peer review by the journal Health Affairs this week, stated in their report.

 

Click on the link for the full article

[Elessar78]

So far, I feel like I overreacted to COVID with regards to keeping my kids out of school. But I know it's early in the game in a state that had it under control pretty well. We had a slight uptick early in the season and numbers came back down again. We were at 42 per 100k the past two week and now it's back down to 24.5. It's was 13 per 100k for the course of the summer. Infection rates also spiked a bit (because of college back in session) and we were looking at 4.9% positivity last week after being at 1.9% all summer. Now it's back down down 3.3%. Hospitalizations stayed down throughout.

 

From the data from other countries, I probably wasn't too concerned back in January but I live in a Red county and things could have gone sideways pretty quickly. Our neighboring states (OH and WV) are/were kinda bad—as well as neighboring counties.

 

But right now isn't the dangerous times, because many can still be outdoors. Once we are indoors with recirculated air, or the holidays with college kids coming back and having thanksgiving with extended family from many states—it could get really bad.

 

[visionary]

 

[Elessar78]

^^^^^

If anywhere should reopen schools in America, it's should be NYC.

[Cooked Crack]

 

[skinsmarydu]

^^^OMG what the **** is going on????? I'm so frustrated with people's stupidity and nonchalant disregard for the health of our fellow men & women. 🤬 

[dfitzo53]

That was one of my biggest concerns with returning to school. All it takes is one, and in a building with hundreds of people, the odds are good someone will come to school positive whether they know it or not.

[TD_washingtonredskins]

Looks like Loudoun is slowly moving toward hybrid beginning in October. If I understood the summary correctly, K-2nd should all be back 2 days per week by the end of the month. Makes sense to start with the younger kids to free some parents up, if needed. 

[Xameil]

So..here is where I am having a HUGE issue...

My youngest daughter has allergies. So she woke up, was perfectly fine, no fever, no runny nose...nothing.  she got sent home because of a sniffle...that's right 1 ****ing sniffle...

She's out of pre-k and me work from home until a negative test. This is the 2nd time in 3 months we've had to do this.

 

Can we find some ****ing middle ground?!?

Subjecting a 4 year old to this for 1 sniffle is ****ing crazy..

[TD_washingtonredskins]

2 hours ago, Xameil said:

So..here is where I am having a HUGE issue...

My youngest daughter has allergies. So she woke up, was perfectly fine, no fever, no runny nose...nothing.  she got sent home because of a sniffle...that's right 1 ****ing sniffle...

She's out of pre-k and me work from home until a negative test. This is the 2nd time in 3 months we've had to do this.

 

Can we find some ****ing middle ground?!?

Subjecting a 4 year old to this for 1 sniffle is ****ing crazy..

 

So, to me personally, that's ridiculous as I've been pretty outspoken about things on here. 

 

BUTTTTTTTT

 

I understand the school reacting extremely cautiously...if the opposite happens, they are suddenly one of those schools on the news for "opening and needing to shut down for 4 days to clean" which sucks too. 

[Xameil]

9 minutes ago, TD_washingtonredskins said:

 

So, to me personally, that's ridiculous as I've been pretty outspoken about things on here. 

 

BUTTTTTTTT

 

I understand the school reacting extremely cautiously...if the opposite happens, they are suddenly one of those schools on the news for "opening and needing to shut down for 4 days to clean" which sucks too. 

If she had a fever..or even close to a fever, I would agree..

BUT a runny nose or just sniffling is not nearly enough to subject a 4 year old to testing....twice...in 3 months

Edited September 23, 2020 by Xameil

[TD_washingtonredskins]

2 minutes ago, Xameil said:

If she had a fever..or even close to a fever, I would agree..

BUT a runny nose or just sniffling is not nearly enough to subject a 4 year old to testing....twice...in 3 months

Again, I personally agree 100%, but I'm guessing they have protocols that they must stick to. I'm done "debating" though because I think much of this is ridiculous

[Xameil]

Just now, TD_washingtonredskins said:

Again, I personally agree 100%, but I'm guessing they have protocols that they must stick to. I'm done "debating" though because I think much of this is ridiculous

Lol I told them the same thing. While I don't agree, I understand. However, Dr's I have talked to are getting upset about this overtesting. Especially if its just a runny nose or sniffling. 

If it's like this now during allergy season...just wait until common cold season hits in the northeast...

[TD_washingtonredskins]

3 minutes ago, Xameil said:

Lol I told them the same thing. While I don't agree, I understand. However, Dr's I have talked to are getting upset about this overtesting. Especially if its just a runny nose or sniffling. 

If it's like this now during allergy season...just wait until common cold season hits in the northeast...

 

Yeah, the overreaction is going to be a problem. I had one of my teams at work (12 people) go back on-site last week. At least 5-6 asked about hypothetical situations where they or their spouses experience fall allergies or catch a cold and what we'd do. I sounded idiotic but I had to keep saying "we'll have to figure this out as we go and deal with each situation separately" 

 

Ugh, this sucks 

[tshile]

3 hours ago, Xameil said:

 

Can we find some ****ing middle ground?!?

Subjecting a 4 year old to this for 1 sniffle is ****ing crazy..

I understand your frustration. 
 

but I just spent time being barred from visiting clients because someone at a building I was in had a positive test, and the only sign was sniffling. And because of that the person kept working and waited a week to get the test. Which meant they were around me at one point. Which meant I had to go through my companies exhaustive procedure for exposure (exhaustive not meant in anyway to belittle it, it’s the best process I could think a company could have if it cares about the seriousness of this)
 

On the range of options, when it comes to actually putting kids in school, over reacting seems like the best course of action. Obviously it sucks. But if some other kid wasn’t sent home and then got your kid sick... 

 

it’s just a ****ty situation and we’re gonna have to pick and choose which ****ty parts we just have to accept

ps - I read the rest of your posts. I totally get where you stand on it and I’m in the same place. Not trying to lecture just participating in the conversation 

Edited September 23, 2020 by tshile

[tshile]

15 minutes ago, Xameil said:

Dr's I have talked to are getting upset about this overtesting

Yeah. They’re in a bad spot as is, all the way around. Dealing with every instance of a symptom is time consuming and it gets them away from their other work. 
 

Early on I had a couple telemedicine appointments for it. My wife’s job puts her around covid every day. We were/easily freaked out. I had to apologize profusely for over reacting. Obvious my doctors never said anything other than some form of “don’t worry about it, you’re doing the right thing” but yeah, their lives suck right now. In many areas they were over worked and understaffed and dealing with unreasonableness before covid. It’s certainly orders of magnitude worse right now.