Should we prepare for virtual schooling starting in January?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Rhey will do rolling closures. If this spreqds fast and has a bight breakthrough percentage, even if its mild, techers cant come in and teach while sick and not enough subs. And those classes are all exposed if teacher tests positive.

This is the only logical piece of thought on this thread.
Yes- if teachers are sick with it and we already know there are no subs, yes. Then we could go virtualnor close briefly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
The "it's not happening people" are cute. As if they could somehow WILL schools not to close in the face of Omicron!

If anyone wants to prepare for school closures (re-arrange your January work projects if it's possible, think about creating a bubble with a relative who can watch your kids, get that desk out of the basement), you can do that during the break.

Come January, schools will close. It's not possible to deal with the wave that's building up and NOT close down both businesses and schools.

There won't be recriminations about schools closing and not bars and restaurants. It will ALL close.

And to add a ghastly piece of recent news: UK scientists have not seen that Omicron actually gives milder symptoms than Delta, which is contrary to what S. African scientists claimed. We need to sort that out, because Omicron is wildly more infectious, and we were all banking on the fact that it was mild. And now it may not be.

So, yeah, closed schools are a given.

There's going to be far less overall closure than you think. There is no money to pay for it. There is no will to abide by it. It's futile because it just drags it out.

No money to pay for what? All MCPS kids who want one, have an MCPS computer and MCPS has all the platforms.

I doubt there will be closures.

Widespread business closures like PP was being overly dramatic about. It's not going to happen because there's no more government money to finance it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
The "it's not happening people" are cute. As if they could somehow WILL schools not to close in the face of Omicron!

If anyone wants to prepare for school closures (re-arrange your January work projects if it's possible, think about creating a bubble with a relative who can watch your kids, get that desk out of the basement), you can do that during the break.

Come January, schools will close. It's not possible to deal with the wave that's building up and NOT close down both businesses and schools.

There won't be recriminations about schools closing and not bars and restaurants. It will ALL close.

And to add a ghastly piece of recent news: UK scientists have not seen that Omicron actually gives milder symptoms than Delta, which is contrary to what S. African scientists claimed. We need to sort that out, because Omicron is wildly more infectious, and we were all banking on the fact that it was mild. And now it may not be.

So, yeah, closed schools are a given.

This made me laugh out loud "Close in the Face of Omicron!"
Cower Before The Almighty Omicron!"

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
The "it's not happening people" are cute. As if they could somehow WILL schools not to close in the face of Omicron!

If anyone wants to prepare for school closures (re-arrange your January work projects if it's possible, think about creating a bubble with a relative who can watch your kids, get that desk out of the basement), you can do that during the break.

Come January, schools will close. It's not possible to deal with the wave that's building up and NOT close down both businesses and schools.

There won't be recriminations about schools closing and not bars and restaurants. It will ALL close.

And to add a ghastly piece of recent news: UK scientists have not seen that Omicron actually gives milder symptoms than Delta, which is contrary to what S. African scientists claimed. We need to sort that out, because Omicron is wildly more infectious, and we were all banking on the fact that it was mild. And now it may not be.

So, yeah, closed schools are a given.

There's going to be far less overall closure than you think. There is no money to pay for it. There is no will to abide by it. It's futile because it just drags it out.

No money to pay for what? All MCPS kids who want one, have an MCPS computer and MCPS has all the platforms.

I doubt there will be closures.

Widespread business closures like PP was being overly dramatic about. It's not going to happen because there's no more government money to finance it.

They should restrict indoor dining and other indoor activities but shutting down businesses is silly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
The "it's not happening people" are cute. As if they could somehow WILL schools not to close in the face of Omicron!

If anyone wants to prepare for school closures (re-arrange your January work projects if it's possible, think about creating a bubble with a relative who can watch your kids, get that desk out of the basement), you can do that during the break.

Come January, schools will close. It's not possible to deal with the wave that's building up and NOT close down both businesses and schools.

There won't be recriminations about schools closing and not bars and restaurants. It will ALL close.

And to add a ghastly piece of recent news: UK scientists have not seen that Omicron actually gives milder symptoms than Delta, which is contrary to what S. African scientists claimed. We need to sort that out, because Omicron is wildly more infectious, and we were all banking on the fact that it was mild. And now it may not be.

So, yeah, closed schools are a given.

This made me laugh out loud "Close in the Face of Omicron!"
Cower Before The Almighty Omicron!"

Ignore the spikes of Omicron at your own peril. We are all eaters of souls.

[Anonymous]

I'm an elementary school teacher and I hated distance learning. Having kids back in the building has been such a welcome change. However, I do think MCPS should consider being virtual that first week of January to help stop the spread in schools. Let's be honest, there are going to be staff and students who get sick from COVID over break. Operationally, we don't have the subs needed to cover classes on a normal day. If we have the usual absences and people out with COVID we wouldn't be able to operate the school. We had so many staff out one day this week that every non-classroom teacher was covering classes which meant our students weren't getting their much needed intervention groups.

[Anonymous]

https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/omicron-five-times-more-likely-reinfect-than-delta-study-says-2021-12-17/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm an elementary school teacher and I hated distance learning. Having kids back in the building has been such a welcome change. However, I do think MCPS should consider being virtual that first week of January to help stop the spread in schools. Let's be honest, there are going to be staff and students who get sick from COVID over break. Operationally, we don't have the subs needed to cover classes on a normal day. If we have the usual absences and people out with COVID we wouldn't be able to operate the school. We had so many staff out one day this week that every non-classroom teacher was covering classes which meant our students weren't getting their much needed intervention groups.

Give an inch, and they'll take a mile. That one week is going to turn into the remainder of 2022.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/omicron-five-times-more-likely-reinfect-than-delta-study-says-2021-12-17/

"The conclusions made are based on making assumptions about Omicron where we still don't have sufficient data," Dr Dix said.

"This is a crucial missing assumption in the modelling."

Some of the conclusions are different to the data emerging from South Africa, where vaccines are holding up well against severe disease and death at present, he said.

"There is a huge amount of uncertainty in these modelled estimates and we can only be confident about the impact of boosters against Omicron when we have another month of real-world data on hospitalisation ICU numbers and deaths," he said.


Great stuff, poster. What other fear porn have you managed to Google?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm an elementary school teacher and I hated distance learning. Having kids back in the building has been such a welcome change. However, I do think MCPS should consider being virtual that first week of January to help stop the spread in schools. Let's be honest, there are going to be staff and students who get sick from COVID over break. Operationally, we don't have the subs needed to cover classes on a normal day. If we have the usual absences and people out with COVID we wouldn't be able to operate the school. We had so many staff out one day this week that every non-classroom teacher was covering classes which meant our students weren't getting their much needed intervention groups.

Give an inch, and they'll take a mile. That one week is going to turn into the remainder of 2022.

This. You can’t close because we’ll never reopen. Thank god, Virginia has a governor that won’t allow misguided school closures again

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm an elementary school teacher and I hated distance learning. Having kids back in the building has been such a welcome change. However, I do think MCPS should consider being virtual that first week of January to help stop the spread in schools. Let's be honest, there are going to be staff and students who get sick from COVID over break. Operationally, we don't have the subs needed to cover classes on a normal day. If we have the usual absences and people out with COVID we wouldn't be able to operate the school. We had so many staff out one day this week that every non-classroom teacher was covering classes which meant our students weren't getting their much needed intervention groups.

Give an inch, and they'll take a mile. That one week is going to turn into the remainder of 2022.

This. You can’t close because we’ll never reopen. Thank god, Virginia has a governor that won’t allow misguided school closures again

Northam, you mean?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm an elementary school teacher and I hated distance learning. Having kids back in the building has been such a welcome change. However, I do think MCPS should consider being virtual that first week of January to help stop the spread in schools. Let's be honest, there are going to be staff and students who get sick from COVID over break. Operationally, we don't have the subs needed to cover classes on a normal day. If we have the usual absences and people out with COVID we wouldn't be able to operate the school. We had so many staff out one day this week that every non-classroom teacher was covering classes which meant our students weren't getting their much needed intervention groups.

Teacher, you and the posters who responded to you don't understand this wave. It won't go away after a week. When your school district tells you to go home, expect it to be for an extended period of time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm an elementary school teacher and I hated distance learning. Having kids back in the building has been such a welcome change. However, I do think MCPS should consider being virtual that first week of January to help stop the spread in schools. Let's be honest, there are going to be staff and students who get sick from COVID over break. Operationally, we don't have the subs needed to cover classes on a normal day. If we have the usual absences and people out with COVID we wouldn't be able to operate the school. We had so many staff out one day this week that every non-classroom teacher was covering classes which meant our students weren't getting their much needed intervention groups.

Give an inch, and they'll take a mile. That one week is going to turn into the remainder of 2022.

This. You can’t close because we’ll never reopen. Thank god, Virginia has a governor that won’t allow misguided school closures again

Northam, you mean?

Youngkin won the race against all odds in large part to how NOVA handled school closures. They were quite as asinine as MoCo about it, but they were pretty bad.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm an elementary school teacher and I hated distance learning. Having kids back in the building has been such a welcome change. However, I do think MCPS should consider being virtual that first week of January to help stop the spread in schools. Let's be honest, there are going to be staff and students who get sick from COVID over break. Operationally, we don't have the subs needed to cover classes on a normal day. If we have the usual absences and people out with COVID we wouldn't be able to operate the school. We had so many staff out one day this week that every non-classroom teacher was covering classes which meant our students weren't getting their much needed intervention groups.

Teacher, you and the posters who responded to you don't understand this wave. It won't go away after a week. When your school district tells you to go home, expect it to be for an extended period of time.

The only way it goes away is if we get enough people infected by it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I posted in the wrong forum but Prince Georges county just announced they are moving to virtual through January 18.

https://wjla.com/news/coronavirus/prince-georges-county-schools-extend-winter-holiday-break-due-increase-covid-19-cases-outbreaks?fbclid=IwAR27lLTPVRJAKH2zF3_HgoJqiQRolTsNHDRjq0EvxualJAG-SCDU6oOumO0

I'm kind of shocked.

Me too.

I thought the reason Montgomery county couldn’t go virtual was because of state mandated closures and openings. If Prince George’s is closing then what’s the real reason Montgomery county Can’t go virtual?

I am an MCPS teacher and I am confused about the closure as well. There was an excuse given that they are already 300 bus drivers short and expected and expected more to call in sick. Three schools already went virtual today.

I personally want to keep MCPS open, but loads of kids didn’t show up for my classes today. Between 10 and 25%. I expect a bigger drop by Monday. Fighting the good fight is important and all but if the kids aren’t showing up anyways, virtual might actually make sense for the time being. Omicron has the opportunity to overwhelm our entire system since not enough people have a third dose.