4.4 percent of MCPS staff report having COVID

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That number includes some who tested positive at the beginning of winter break and who are now out of the quarantine stage and able to return to work. Stop with your fear mongering attempts to shut down the schools.

It doesn’t include those who have it now who don’t have symptoms yet, those who can’t find tests and those who will remain asymptomatic but who will pass it along to others.

So pipe down with the whole deadly virus isn’t a big deal. MCPS has downplayed the numbers all along and even more so during the break.

If you lost a dear family member to covid, you’d feel differently.
Your unfortunate combination of ignorance and selfishness is why we are in this mess.

I understand you are sad, and perhaps also mad, but that’s no reason to take it out on kids. You should refocus your energy on mitigations targetting higher risk groups than kids at school.

She’s a complete looney bird. Yeah, you’re the reason her loved one died. Can you imagine thinking that, much less saying it? Crazy.

[Anonymous]

The schools are staying open losers, deal with it.

[Anonymous]

My brother teaching in a Frederick county MD ES said only 55% of the kids showed up Monday.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Except that all schools had trouble filling in with subs before the break - where do you think they are magically going to come from to cover for those teachers? Schools were already doubling up for classes, eliminating planning periods for teachers as they covered for their peers.

Why didn’t Central Office work during winter break to hire additional staff? There were new graduates as colleges held winter commencements. Perhaps new graduates would help fill the substitute rolls or permanent hires.

Oh yeh - Dr. McKnight gave administrators an extra week of vacation. That was more important than dealing with staffing shortages and developing a current plan for the impact of a new COVID variant.

No one is applying over winter break.

And gee, I wonder why new grads aren’t rushing to jump into total chaos and Omicron soup NOW NOW NOW.

What a mystery.

What are you talking about? You’re spamming this board with incoherent hysteria.

Really it again, slower this time, for comprehension.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For goodness sake.

I should have made quitting DCUM my New Year's resolution. Maybe there's still time.

That number includes some who tested positive at the beginning of winter break and who are now out of the quarantine stage and able to return to work.

Source? Proof?

I can tell you that from Dec 24 to Jan 2, parents at my ES got 6 notifications for different staff members that had COVID. The MCPS pdf that circulated yesterday said we had 2 staff cases.

Regardless, MCPS is still doing a 10-day quarantine, correct? If so, 10 days from Dec 24 is exactly Jan 3, but any later than Dec 24, the person may still be in quarantine.

Just looking at this data point, it strikes me how these numbers mimic the community maps of COVID (by zip code) which might be indicative of lesser vacations and access to boosters. MCPS should work with DHHS to increase vaccinations and boosters for these communities.

...what? The data point that shows that most schools are very close to each other, especially with regard to raw numbers? Enough that the variation between 9 (Whitman) and 11 (Wheaton) could easily be explained by random chance? Even 7 (Churchill) vs 13 (Gaithersburg). It's almost double, but it's also only 6 people.

This is a really small sample size and very small actual numbers. At most, there is a small association. And maybe there is a correlation if some of these staff members got it from their student populations before break.

But you do realize that teachers and staff don't often live very near the schools they teach at anymore, right?

And these are staff numbers. These aren't a special population of poor, disadvantaged people who need more outreach and vaccine education because they live in poor, disadvantaged Silver Spring or w/e-- not on average.

In a school with 40 teachers that is less than 2 out. Very low. You're nuts.

So here's something interesting about viruses-- COVID in particular, and omicron very specifically. They-- get this-- replicate. They spread. Shocking, I know.

4% becomes 8% quite quickly, which becomes 16% pretty quickly, too, and then 32%. Without mitigation efforts, anyway. Then maybe things slow down a bit because of overlapping exposures and fewer hosts and so on. But it doesn't stop at 4% or even 8%.

When you start with a number that's already the number of typical absences during flu season-- and you're not counting additional people out with colds and flus-- and the disease is far more contagious-- that's not so good.

Barring some quirk, like another week of snow days, it's not going to stop at 4%.

And yeah, yeah, yeah, "Wait two weeks, that's what you said about X and Y and Z, I don't believe you..." Do you believe that it's never true that things will get worse in a week or two? Do you think we haven't already seen that happening with omicron, and rapidly?

The silver lining here, and a big reason that virtual should be appealing, is that it should blow through in just a few total weeks. But if we have kids in virtual during the worst of it, that will actually save lives and reduce disability among our population down the line. Sigh.

You are writing an educated analysis on a forum where education in not valued. This forum is only for people that want their children out of the house. They do not value education, learning, knowledge or analysis. They only value the removal of their children from their lives. Location is not important.

That's not true. It's for incessant whiners like you as well. Look, you're contributing some whine right now.

I KNOW you obsessive Open Schools people aren’t calling OTHER people “obsessive whiners.”

You’re putting on a whining exhibition right now.

You people are so precious.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My brother teaching in a Frederick county MD ES said only 55% of the kids showed up Monday.

What does this mean? This means nothing. You don’t know why those kids were out neither does the teacher.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The schools are staying open losers, deal with it.

This.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Except that all schools had trouble filling in with subs before the break - where do you think they are magically going to come from to cover for those teachers? Schools were already doubling up for classes, eliminating planning periods for teachers as they covered for their peers.

Why didn’t Central Office work during winter break to hire additional staff? There were new graduates as colleges held winter commencements. Perhaps new graduates would help fill the substitute rolls or permanent hires.

Oh yeh - Dr. McKnight gave administrators an extra week of vacation. That was more important than dealing with staffing shortages and developing a current plan for the impact of a new COVID variant.

No one is applying over winter break.

And gee, I wonder why new grads aren’t rushing to jump into total chaos and Omicron soup NOW NOW NOW.

What a mystery.

What are you talking about? You’re spamming this board with incoherent hysteria.

Really it again, slower this time, for comprehension.

*Read, obviously. Ugh, Autocorrect.

Here, let me help you, using smaller words this time.

PP demanded to know why schools didn't just magically "hire new grads" who graduated in December so they could staff COVID vacancies.

Leaving aside the fact that these vacancies are temporary while teachers and staff are sick, and that there's no way in hell new December grads would be magically onboarded by January 3rd anyway, what is needed to address the immediate crisis is subs, and lots of them. Omicron is spreading faster than measles. Teachers are having other classes dumped into their classes, so both learning and classroom management is impossible. They get no breaks or planning periods because they're being used to plug holes. Student behavior is abysmal this year even at the best of times, which these are decidedly not. Sub pay is *laughable* and spending 6-7 hours a day indoors with children who don't mask correctly or wear useless comfy masks, greatly increases everyone's risk of getting COVID.

So why aren't "new grads" and existing subs beating down the doors to jump into this mess? Gee, I can't imagine.

Glad you're caught up now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My brother teaching in a Frederick county MD ES said only 55% of the kids showed up Monday.

So an otherwise typical Monday in Frederick County Public Schools?

[Anonymous]

Why haven't they updated the document listing the number of cases? I know a bunch of people who reported yesterday/today, and likely lots of people just had testing come back--the number of reported cases has probably gone up quite a bit.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why aren't they making testing before returning to school (for all) mandatory like other school districts? That would easily solve the problem and we'd be virtual.

Because they didn't do enough planning to order the tests, and they couldn't get enough in time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Except that all schools had trouble filling in with subs before the break - where do you think they are magically going to come from to cover for those teachers? Schools were already doubling up for classes, eliminating planning periods for teachers as they covered for their peers.

Why didn’t Central Office work during winter break to hire additional staff? There were new graduates as colleges held winter commencements. Perhaps new graduates would help fill the substitute rolls or permanent hires.

Oh yeh - Dr. McKnight gave administrators an extra week of vacation. That was more important than dealing with staffing shortages and developing a current plan for the impact of a new COVID variant.

No one is applying over winter break.

And gee, I wonder why new grads aren’t rushing to jump into total chaos and Omicron soup NOW NOW NOW.

What a mystery.

You can’t interview and hire when offices are closed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Except that all schools had trouble filling in with subs before the break - where do you think they are magically going to come from to cover for those teachers? Schools were already doubling up for classes, eliminating planning periods for teachers as they covered for their peers.

Why didn’t Central Office work during winter break to hire additional staff? There were new graduates as colleges held winter commencements. Perhaps new graduates would help fill the substitute rolls or permanent hires.

Oh yeh - Dr. McKnight gave administrators an extra week of vacation. That was more important than dealing with staffing shortages and developing a current plan for the impact of a new COVID variant.

No one is applying over winter break.

And gee, I wonder why new grads aren’t rushing to jump into total chaos and Omicron soup NOW NOW NOW.

What a mystery.

What are you talking about? You’re spamming this board with incoherent hysteria.

Really it again, slower this time, for comprehension.

*Read, obviously. Ugh, Autocorrect.

Here, let me help you, using smaller words this time.

PP demanded to know why schools didn't just magically "hire new grads" who graduated in December so they could staff COVID vacancies.

Leaving aside the fact that these vacancies are temporary while teachers and staff are sick, and that there's no way in hell new December grads would be magically onboarded by January 3rd anyway, what is needed to address the immediate crisis is subs, and lots of them. Omicron is spreading faster than measles. Teachers are having other classes dumped into their classes, so both learning and classroom management is impossible. They get no breaks or planning periods because they're being used to plug holes. Student behavior is abysmal this year even at the best of times, which these are decidedly not. Sub pay is *laughable* and spending 6-7 hours a day indoors with children who don't mask correctly or wear useless comfy masks, greatly increases everyone's risk of getting COVID.

So why aren't "new grads" and existing subs beating down the doors to jump into this mess? Gee, I can't imagine.

Glad you're caught up now.

Again, you can’t interview and hire new staff when school administrative offices are closed.

Yes - the pay for substitutes is abysmal. Perhaps school administrators should take the wage issue into account when they have a staffing shortage. However, a new graduate (who has had student teaching experience) might be interested in a substitute position as a way to get his/her foot in the door with MCPS. If MCPS could streamline a sub to permanent position next fall, MCPS might be able to find new hires to fill the void.

Come on people - these are unprecedented times that needs leadership and ingenuity to solve the staffing problems. None occurs with office closures and snow days. It’s bs that administrators reported two hours late this morning and will be reporting two hours late tomorrow. No one was answering phones at Central Office today and I no one will be answering the phones tomorrow. The school system is on autopilot.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why aren't they making testing before returning to school (for all) mandatory like other school districts? That would easily solve the problem and we'd be virtual.

Because they didn't do enough planning to order the tests, and they couldn't get enough in time.

Other school districts didn’t close administrative offices for 10 days.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why aren't they making testing before returning to school (for all) mandatory like other school districts? That would easily solve the problem and we'd be virtual.

Because they didn't do enough planning to order the tests, and they couldn't get enough in time.

Other school districts didn’t close administrative offices for 10 days.

Who cares if they closed the offices. Really, it doesn't matter.