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

[Commander -JB-]

What a wasted school year last year.  

[purbeast]

25 minutes ago, -JB- said:

What a wasted school year last year.  

I guess it depends on where you are and how your kids handled it.

 

My son did okay in virtual but once he could go back he loved going to school.  I'm happy with how much he progressed with reading and math.

 

On the flip side one of his friends who lives up the street that was in the same exact boat is having trouble with the sight words they are supposed to know by the end of the year, and she may either be held back or take some summer school to help with it.

[dfitzo53]

31 minutes ago, -JB- said:

What a wasted school year last year.  

What was your experience like?

[TD_washingtonredskins]

For my kids and their friends it wasn't wasted at all. It wasn't ideal, but it was more productive than I would have expected. At least that's my stance for Loudoun County (both those who chose back in-person and remote). 

[tshile]

Yeah my son going into first grade can do basic math equations and is now reading to us at night. 
 

waste isn’t the word I’d use

 

all things considered, for us, it feels like the best outcome we could hope for in a crappy situation. 

[Elessar78]

This last year was tough, but not wasted. Not all learning is from class, from experience. My kids learned empathy, toughness, adjusting, sacrifice. I, as a dad, stayed home with them while I worked and they did school. We got to spend a very unique time together that never would've happened otherwise. By March 2021, we had all reached our breaking point. I wish we could've been tougher but they were sad, I was frustrated—it was time to go back in school.

 

I'd watched closely all year and there weren't obvious outbreaks in schools here, so masking and distancing efforts—even without improved ventilation—worked.

 

The variants are concerning but I don't know how concerned. I like the independent studies that I have seen that with distancing, masking, and improved ventilation you can reduce risk of transmission by 90%+.

[Commander -JB-]

15 hours ago, dfitzo53 said:

What was your experience like?

My son (8th grade) was completely tuned out with the virtual school.  Every child is different but he was completely out of it.  My daughter it was her senior year of HS.  What a terrible way to end HS.  Just overall terrible but take the good with the bad.  She was always a stellar student and didn’t struggle academically but what a waste.  

[Die Hard]

My son (grade 10 with Aspergers) loved not having to go to school. He doesn’t have friends there.... and he hasn’t been as stressed (angered) as he was when he was in school. Academically, he’s doing much better. And he’s learned how to become independent - doesn’t mean he doesn’t mess up, but at he’s taking ownership. We were worried about him going away to college/university, but not any longer.

 

My daughter (grade 8,) had also excelled academically. But she’s suffering emotionally and socially. She’s a perfectionist, and with no regulated school hours, she’s prone to working on school all day. And getting overwhelmed.
 

Speaking with many other parents, we’ve enjoyed a pretty rare experience comparatively. Most children are struggling. So we’re grateful for that.

 

My wife and I are looking forward to getting the kids out of the house again (school, activities)... and having an empty house from time to time. Having them home all day has really cramped our style. 😂

[China]

School Lunch Crisis Sees Juice Boxes and Beef Patties in Short Supply

 

The pandemic wreaked havoc on food supply chains, and now U.S. schools are feeling the hunger pains. The Wall Street Journal reports that with manufacturers facing labor and product shortages, many education systems are worried they won’t be able to order enough food for school breakfasts and lunches when children return to the classroom en masse this fall. Juice boxes, beef patties, and chicken tenders are among items in likely short supply. The result is that some schools are whittling down menus, and suppliers are reducing their offerings. “We haven’t had a 100 percent head count school season in 15 months. It’s going to blow the doors open,” Andy Mercier of Merchants Foodservice told the Journal.

 

Click on the link for the full article

[GoCommiesGo]

My wife is a teacher and has been in a semi serious conversation to join a psychological practice to help provide educational support to kids with learning challenges. 
 

We had a conversation last night that basically boiled down to if they go back to hybrid learning she’s leaving teaching. The last 1.5 years coupled with low earnings and high stress have pretty much broken her. 
 

Her school has had five teachers leave this summer for other careers.
 

She loves teaching and working with the kids but from a job perspective I don’t see how it’s worth it for the stress and low pay compared to other jobs with  the same degrees.

[China]

Sparked by pandemic fallout, homeschooling surges across US

 

Although the pandemic disrupted family life across the U.S. since taking hold in spring 2020, some parents are grateful for one consequence: They’re now opting to homeschool their children, even as schools plan to resume in-person classes.

 

The specific reasons vary widely. Some families who spoke with The Associated Press have children with special educational needs; others seek a faith-based curriculum or say their local schools are flawed. The common denominator: They tried homeschooling on what they thought was a temporary basis and found it beneficial to their children.

 

“That’s one of the silver linings of the pandemic — I don’t think we would have chosen to homeschool otherwise,” said Danielle King of Randolph, Vermont, whose 7-year-old daughter Zoë thrived with the flexible, one-on-one instruction. Her curriculum has included literature, anatomy, even archaeology, enlivened by outdoor excursions to search for fossils.

 

The surge has been confirmed by the U.S. Census Bureau, which reported in March that the rate of households homeschooling their children rose to 11% by September 2020, more than doubling from 5.4% just six months earlier.

 

Click on the link or the full article

[bearrock]

With the cases going the way it is and delta spreading, can they reopen Elementary before vaccines are available for 12 and younger?  

[Ball Security]

16 minutes ago, China said:

Sparked by pandemic fallout, homeschooling surges across US

 

Although the pandemic disrupted family life across the U.S. since taking hold in spring 2020, some parents are grateful for one consequence: They’re now opting to homeschool their children, even as schools plan to resume in-person classes.

 

The specific reasons vary widely. Some families who spoke with The Associated Press have children with special educational needs; others seek a faith-based curriculum or say their local schools are flawed. The common denominator: They tried homeschooling on what they thought was a temporary basis and found it beneficial to their children.

 

“That’s one of the silver linings of the pandemic — I don’t think we would have chosen to homeschool otherwise,” said Danielle King of Randolph, Vermont, whose 7-year-old daughter Zoë thrived with the flexible, one-on-one instruction. Her curriculum has included literature, anatomy, even archaeology, enlivened by outdoor excursions to search for fossils.

 

The surge has been confirmed by the U.S. Census Bureau, which reported in March that the rate of households homeschooling their children rose to 11% by September 2020, more than doubling from 5.4% just six months earlier.

 

Click on the link or the full article

It’ll be interested to see what those numbers look like over the next couple of years.  There were a number of children in my daughter’s class  (5th grade) who opted for homeschool.  I know of mix who plan to return in the fall, remain with homeschooling, and start private school.

[Cooked Crack]

 

 

 

[justice98]

Academically, I think my 6 year old did fine last year.  Even when they opened up at the end of the year, we kept her home. I think there wound up only being 3-4 kids in her class that were virtual by the end, she being one of them.  It was the socialization part that was killing her.  Made worse by the fact she's an only child. We did what we could to have playdates with her friends. My wife is a nurse and she sees stuff and hears stuff from her nurse friends and just could not get comfortable with sending the kid back. 

 

So we're going to send her back for 2nd grade, but we dont love it.  If they would just get the damn vaccine ready for these kids, I'd be so much more at ease. There wasn't Delta proliferating in the spring like it is now.  So my anxiety over that is ramping up with a school full of unvaxxed kids.  Only mitigated by the fact that my kid is in camp now and it's been fine (mostly).  She's gotten sick twice since late June with non-covid colds.  And they’re outside 75% of the time.  A full school of indoor children gives me pause.  But as of right now, we're still gonna send her.

 

The thing is, now, the logistics of virtual schooling a kid aren't the same.  I won't be at home 5 days a week anymore come September since my office set thst as the "return to office" date.  We get more remote days though.

Edited August 5, 2021 by justice98

[bearrock]

I hate the (mostly) binary choice that is being foisted on parents.  I would not consider distance learning in perpetuity, but my kids were fine enough with it that given the choice between full in person learning from the start of 21-22 school year vs few months of virtual to start until full vaccinated and then going back in person, I would definitely choose option 2.  Yet at least my county is only offering full in person, full year virtual on documented medical necessity, or private/home schooling.

 

I keep hearing from parents and experts that kids need to be back in school.  That's definitely true.  But no one is proposing to hold them out forever.  Why are a few additional months of in person learning so crucial that waiting until fully vaccinated to go back isn't even an option?  If everyone is so hung up on freedom to make a choice, shouldn't parents have the option of deciding whether those few additional months of in person learning is worth the increased risk, especially in times of these uncertainty surrounding the delta and its effect on kids?

 

Oh btw, Fairfax is right back where we were in August 2020 in terms of new cases and positivity rate.  But acceleration is steeper than it was during the summer of 2020.  With more people throwing caution to the wind now, we are supposed to feel comfortable with sending unvaccinated kids back to a school in an indoor setting where almost no student is even eligible to be vaccinated?

[Ball Security]

12 minutes ago, bearrock said:

I hate the (mostly) binary choice that is being foisted on parents.  I would not consider distance learning in perpetuity, but my kids were fine enough with it that given the choice between full in person learning from the start of 21-22 school year vs few months of virtual to start until full vaccinated and then going back in person, I would definitely choose option 2.  Yet at least my county is only offering full in person, full year virtual on documented medical necessity, or private/home schooling.

 

I keep hearing from parents and experts that kids need to be back in school.  That's definitely true.  But no one is proposing to hold them out forever.  Why are a few additional months of in person learning so crucial that waiting until fully vaccinated to go back isn't even an option?  If everyone is so hung up on freedom to make a choice, shouldn't parents have the option of deciding whether those few additional months of in person learning is worth the increased risk, especially in times of these uncertainty surrounding the delta and its effect on kids?

 

Oh btw, Fairfax is right back where we were in August 2020 in terms of new cases and positivity rate.  But acceleration is steeper than it was during the summer of 2020.  With more people throwing caution to the wind now, we are supposed to feel comfortable with sending unvaccinated kids back to a school in an indoor setting where almost no student is even eligible to be vaccinated?

There are teachers who are still not comfortable returning to school.  There are parents who are not sending their kids back to school.  You would think they could come up with a solution here.

 

Your point about cases is true, but they are still lower than they were when kids were actually in school in the spring.  
 

It’s tough for everyone.

[bearrock]

8 minutes ago, Ball Security said:

There are teachers who are still not comfortable returning to school.  There are parents who are not sending their kids back to school.  You would think they could come up with a solution here.

 

Your point about cases is true, but they are still lower than they were when kids were actually in school in the spring.  
 

It’s tough for everyone.

 

Yeah, the 7 day average is slightly lower than end of April when kids went back 4 days.  But the trend is certainly the opposite when end of April 2021 was things improving and heading in the right direction after the winter surge as opposed to now, which is when we expect to see far better metrics compared to late fall and winter.  Given the Delta and that numbers that we see now are comparable to summer of 2020, I don't have much reason to believe that winter 2021 will be any better or safer for unvaccinated compared to winter 2020.  People keep pointing to the fact that Fairfax has a much higher rate of vaccination than the real surge areas like some areas of the South, but that hasn't done much to make the late July / Early August numbers from being better than the same period in 2020.  Vaccine will likely protect the people who got them from serious concerns this coming winter, but for the unvaccinated, it's likely going to be much worse than 2020.

[Ball Security]

4 minutes ago, bearrock said:

 

Yeah, the 7 day average is slightly lower than end of April when kids went back 4 days.  But the trend is certainly the opposite when end of April 2021 was things improving and heading in the right direction after the winter surge as opposed to now, which is when we expect to see far better metrics compared to late fall and winter.  Given the Delta and that numbers that we see now are comparable to summer of 2020, I don't have much reason to believe that winter 2021 will be any better or safer for unvaccinated compared to winter 2020.  People keep pointing to the fact that Fairfax has a much higher rate of vaccination than the real surge areas like some areas of the South, but that hasn't done much to make the late July / Early August numbers from being better than the same period in 2020.  Vaccine will likely protect the people who got them from serious concerns this coming winter, but for the unvaccinated, it's likely going to be much worse than 2020.

My oldest daughter was four days a week when the case counts were 300-400+ back in February.  Granted, not many kids were there, but the adults were not fully vaccinated at the beginning.  It’s definitely worrisome, and seeing the picture of the Florida child is painful.  I still feel okay sending them as of today when I weigh the risk and probabilities.  We saw firsthand how damaging it is to not have them in school.  I am concerned about the disruptions we’ll likely see.  We had two close calls with my oldest as her teacher and someone on her summer school bus had it.  We were informed, but not asked to get tested.

[TheGoodBits]

As of now, we’re planning to send my 5 year to kindergarten. They aren’t offering a virtual option, but at least are requiring masks while indoors. 
 

I’m still so damn pissed there isn’t a children’s vaccine available. With family members we have regular primary and secondary exposure to resuming their lives with minimal precautions, vaccinated or not, I don’t see how we’re going to be lucky enough to avoid the kids contracting COVID prior to their vaccine eligibility (I have two in the under 5 category… they’re talking November for that). 

[bearrock]

1 minute ago, Ball Security said:

My oldest daughter was four days a week when the case counts were 300-400+ back in February.  Granted, not many kids were there, but the adults were not fully vaccinated at the beginning.  It’s definitely worrisome, and seeing the picture of the Florida child is painful.  I still feel okay sending them as of today when I weigh the risk and probabilities.  We saw firsthand how damaging it is to not have them in school.  I am concerned about the disruptions we’ll likely see.  We had two close calls with my oldest as her teacher and someone on her summer school bus had it.  We were informed, but not asked to get tested.

 

Yeah, I think that's where it comes down to individual decisions by the parents.  My kids did fine in virtual both academically and emotionally (one did better in a virtual setting), but a close friend of mine had a son who was bouncing off the walls during virtual.  I think every kid is different and thus the pros and cons of virtual vs in person are different too for every family.

[bearrock]

1 minute ago, skinsfan_1215 said:

As of now, we’re planning to send my 5 year to kindergarten. They aren’t offering a virtual option, but at least are requiring masks while indoors. 
 

I’m still so damn pissed there isn’t a children’s vaccine available. With family members we have regular primary and secondary exposure to resuming their lives with minimal precautions, vaccinated or not, I don’t see how we’re going to be lucky enough to avoid the kids contracting COVID prior to their vaccine eligibility (I have two in the under 5 category… they’re talking November for that). 

 

Yeah, definitely feel like having vaccine available for all school age children by start of school should've been an extremely high priority.  Tbf, I don't think they foresaw how many adults would be this resistant to being vaccinated.  Had they been, the delta surge would not have happended or would've been much milder and kids would've enjoyed a generally protective effect.

 

All in all, it looks like kids are still much less likely to suffer serious consequences from the delta.  But different situations have different calculus when it comes to that few months of risk exposure of in person learning.  Had I been given a choice, I probably would've gone virtual till fully vaccinated in a few months.

[tshile]

Still no mask mandate. 
 

not looking good. 
 

the fact that the main driver is parents who aren’t even in the school is super frustrating. 
 

I will always hold some hatred in my heart for these people. 

[TD_washingtonredskins]

We recently learned that Loudoun County will be requiring masks for all students and teachers, regardless of vaccination status. Also, fall sports have kicked off this week so students are slowly starting to head back to schools on a regular basis. 

[Ball Security]

3 minutes ago, TD_washingtonredskins said:

We recently learned that Loudoun County will be requiring masks for all students and teachers, regardless of vaccination status. Also, fall sports have kicked off this week so students are slowly starting to head back to schools on a regular basis. 

Hope the mask mandate doesn’t negatively affect all the CRT that’s going on in dem dare Loudoun Co.😲