CDC planning to release new guidance on how K-12 students can physically return to classroom. 7/6/20

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I just filled out that survey (and now understand why everyone was complaining—what horribly worded questions). I said that if they go with 100% DL as the only option then any family should be able to opt out of school for 2020-2021 without having to homeschool. Their children should then enter the 2021-2022 in whatever grade they should have been in during the 2020-2021 year.

I don’t need my kid to be babysat. But I do need her to learn. I am incapable of homeschooling her, and MCPS is incapable of providing her with an education via 100% DL.

That's interesting. We found the DL to be a lot better use of time than their regular in-person program.

That’s great! You should certainly have the option to enroll next year for 100% DL, and I think you will on the off-chance that there is any in-person instruction.

My daughter was in 2nd grade last year, and it was awful for her. Essentially it was a half hour to say a quick hello to her class with no academic instruction, and then a half hour video later in the day from either Benchmark and Eureka. She was really disengaged and I ended up having to opt her out of DL before the end of the year. If public health officials say that schools need to be closed next year for in-person instruction, then for her it basically means a lost year. If that’s the case then parents like me who don’t want the DL should have the option of deferring the grade for the year. That is not without challenges—she is already among the oldest in her class with a fall bday, so she might be close to 2 years older than some kids when she does start back up. But given these extraordinary times, it should be an option for parents of distance learning is the only way to keep kids, teachers, and staff safe.

How can you complain about lost time when you pulled your child out early?

Because she got nothing out of it. We did it for 2 months. She was miserable and got nothing academically out of it.

I don’t have a problem with their going to 100% DL next year as long as three are fine with letting families opt out and completely, letting them pick back up the following year at the grade level they should have been in for 2020-2021. But I’m not going to send my kid into a situation in which she is miserable and learning nothing again. That is not providing an education to her. Families that found DL effective (and some in HS seem to be saying that it was) can you forward with it. But it was a failure for my ES kid, and I’m not going to repeat that.

The hope is that they will improve distance learning this Fall. I have heard they are making significant changes to the program. Efforts should be made to push the county to improve their distance learning (more live Zooms, more interactive with their teachers). I heard they will not be having those same pre-recorded Eureka videos this year.

[Anonymous]

A lot of the problems with remote instruction are inherent in remote instruction, though, especially for the younger children.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:The positivity rate in MD and MoCo is now under 5% and still decreasing (It used to be more than 30%.) There used to be 1700 Covid patients in the hospitals (even then the hospitals in MD were not overwhelmed), now there are about 400 patients, and constantly decreasing every day.
At some point, you have to do risk/benefit analysis and allow the kids to schools. There are huge educational, mental, social, economical costs of keeping schools shut.

If the schools turn out to be virus central, what’s the back up plan? “Oh well”, the current administrations national plan, won’t work cause parents won’t send their kids if schools become epicenter .

"Something bad might happen if there's school" is not a good reason to keep schools closed.

It's more accurate to say that something bad WILL happen when they open schools amidst a pandemic.

Exactly! Opening up schools amidst this crisis is simply accepting the notion that some people need to die so others can be less inconvenienced.

You do realize that not being in school for an indefinite amount of time isn't merely an "inconvenience" for MILLIONS of kids and families in this country, do you? Are you really this clueless?

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:I read a great post on FB from Christine Esposito

I get it. I do. You need schools to open because...holy crap you’re not getting anything done, your kids need to see other kids, you have a job to do, and you just plain need a break. I get it. I do.

Actually I need schools to open because my kids, and everybody else's kids, need an education.

So maybe that person actually doesn't get it.

6 months to one year is not going to harm your kids. Unless youre suggesting that you give them no simulation and they have no interests of their own to enjoy or learn about. And as stated in her post

"We’re going to be facing kids who are dealing with layer upon layer of trauma, we need to make time and space for that, so stop telling me kids are behind. They’re not any further behind than anyone else. They’re behind some arbitrary lines we drew in the sand so long ago we’re not sure we remember why we drew them. We need to meet our kids where they are. I don't want to hear one word about testing, unless it involves a nasal or throat swab. Not. One. Word."

What exactly do you mean by education? Testing, checking off boxes? Or learning- because students can do that without risking others. Because what happens to your kids education when the teachers are out sick from COVID and they end up having a long term sub, if they can even find one? Or teachers leave because they cant put their own children or family members at risk? Do you think there is a never-ending supply of educated and experienced teachers to teach your children, and everyone else's kids? Because you would be wrong. There was already a shortage of teachers prior to the pandemic as it is highly underpaid and undervalued. And Im sure if I were to suggest that you quit your job and become a teacher- you would bemoan that you're job pays too well or you dont possibly have the patience for 30 kids x 4-5 periods. You either respect them or you dont and if you just want childcare then I guess it really wont matter who watches your kids, but if you want them to get an education you'll value what teachers- the ones actually in the classrooms and taking on the risks- have to say.

My kids are in high school. One of them will be a senior. I don't need childcare. My kids do need to have high school.

I am beginning to understand the snowflake term. Just to be clear- you want all schools to open so your senior can have a normal senior year? Would you feel differently if you knew that some recovering patients were being diagnosed with T1D?

Just a newsflash, if your high school kids cant get anything out of DL, then college will be a really big shock. Besides labs and graduate level research courses, I basically never had anything but medium to huge lecture hall classes and/or online learning. Think of it as preparation for them!

NP. I don't have a high school senior, but I don't feel any different about this after reading the letter to the editor of NEJM you linked in another post. Those were extremely rare cases. I am not getting freaked out about every rare Covid complication we now see thanks to being able to observe millions of infections with this particular virus at once. I always try to put risks in perspective when living my life. Otherwise, I would never leave my house.

[Anonymous]

I assume that people who say "6 months to one year out of school won't harm your kid" don't have kids in high school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I assume that people who say "6 months to one year out of school won't harm your kid" don't have kids in high school.

The high school kids are the most capable to weather this. Assuming your child has wifi and no special needs they should be able to follow the online learning directives pretty easily. They have the whole of human knowledge at their fingertips. Yes I am the parent of a senior, at this point if we get a proper graduation ceremony in 2021 I'd be thrilled but feel like even that has long odds.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A lot of the problems with remote instruction are inherent in remote instruction, though, especially for the younger children.

+1. Our teachers did a good job with distance learning but my 1st grader wasn't going to sit still and watch the lesson, and that was only for 1 hour per day.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I assume that people who say "6 months to one year out of school won't harm your kid" don't have kids in high school.

The high school kids are the most capable to weather this. Assuming your child has wifi and no special needs they should be able to follow the online learning directives pretty easily. They have the whole of human knowledge at their fingertips. Yes I am the parent of a senior, at this point if we get a proper graduation ceremony in 2021 I'd be thrilled but feel like even that has long odds.

Maybe you think remote instruction should work well for high school students, but the reality is that for many high school students, it does not work well. "Online learning directives" is not school. So, then what?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I assume that people who say "6 months to one year out of school won't harm your kid" don't have kids in high school.

The high school kids are the most capable to weather this. Assuming your child has wifi and no special needs they should be able to follow the online learning directives pretty easily. They have the whole of human knowledge at their fingertips. Yes I am the parent of a senior, at this point if we get a proper graduation ceremony in 2021 I'd be thrilled but feel like even that has long odds.

Maybe you think remote instruction should work well for high school students, but the reality is that for many high school students, it does not work well. "Online learning directives" is not school. So, then what?

It doesn't matter how well it works. If it's necessary to implement DL-only for safety reasons, that's what will be done.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I assume that people who say "6 months to one year out of school won't harm your kid" don't have kids in high school.

The high school kids are the most capable to weather this. Assuming your child has wifi and no special needs they should be able to follow the online learning directives pretty easily. They have the whole of human knowledge at their fingertips. Yes I am the parent of a senior, at this point if we get a proper graduation ceremony in 2021 I'd be thrilled but feel like even that has long odds.

Maybe you think remote instruction should work well for high school students, but the reality is that for many high school students, it does not work well. "Online learning directives" is not school. So, then what?

It doesn't matter how well it works. If it's necessary to implement DL-only for safety reasons, that's what will be done.

Yes, and if it isn't, then it isn't. Currently, it isn't. School is important for the well-being of children, and closed schools harm the well-being of children.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I assume that people who say "6 months to one year out of school won't harm your kid" don't have kids in high school.

The high school kids are the most capable to weather this. Assuming your child has wifi and no special needs they should be able to follow the online learning directives pretty easily. They have the whole of human knowledge at their fingertips. Yes I am the parent of a senior, at this point if we get a proper graduation ceremony in 2021 I'd be thrilled but feel like even that has long odds.

Maybe you think remote instruction should work well for high school students, but the reality is that for many high school students, it does not work well. "Online learning directives" is not school. So, then what?

It doesn't matter how well it works. If it's necessary to implement DL-only for safety reasons, that's what will be done.

Then they need to let people defer education for a year. Because it is not actually providing an education For many kids. -DP

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I just filled out that survey (and now understand why everyone was complaining—what horribly worded questions). I said that if they go with 100% DL as the only option then any family should be able to opt out of school for 2020-2021 without having to homeschool. Their children should then enter the 2021-2022 in whatever grade they should have been in during the 2020-2021 year.

I don’t need my kid to be babysat. But I do need her to learn. I am incapable of homeschooling her, and MCPS is incapable of providing her with an education via 100% DL.

You make no sense. You need her to learn, but you want to be able to opt out of any school. So she spends a year doing what exactly? You would chose to have her do nothing, instead of the other options?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I just filled out that survey (and now understand why everyone was complaining—what horribly worded questions). I said that if they go with 100% DL as the only option then any family should be able to opt out of school for 2020-2021 without having to homeschool. Their children should then enter the 2021-2022 in whatever grade they should have been in during the 2020-2021 year.

I don’t need my kid to be babysat. But I do need her to learn. I am incapable of homeschooling her, and MCPS is incapable of providing her with an education via 100% DL.

You make no sense. You need her to learn, but you want to be able to opt out of any school. So she spends a year doing what exactly? You would chose to have her do nothing, instead of the other options?

DP. The so-called distance learning, which the PP opted their child out of because it was causing more harm than good, was not school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I assume that people who say "6 months to one year out of school won't harm your kid" don't have kids in high school.

The high school kids are the most capable to weather this. Assuming your child has wifi and no special needs they should be able to follow the online learning directives pretty easily. They have the whole of human knowledge at their fingertips. Yes I am the parent of a senior, at this point if we get a proper graduation ceremony in 2021 I'd be thrilled but feel like even that has long odds.

Maybe you think remote instruction should work well for high school students, but the reality is that for many high school students, it does not work well. "Online learning directives" is not school. So, then what?

It doesn't matter how well it works. If it's necessary to implement DL-only for safety reasons, that's what will be done.

Yes, and if it isn't, then it isn't. Currently, it isn't. School is important for the well-being of children, and closed schools harm the well-being of children.

Lack of consistency harms the well-being of children. Children are more likely to be harmed by schools opening, then closing, then opening, then closing, and then adults they care for getting sick, than they are to be harmed by 100% DL or hybrid school that keeps family members and teachers safe.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I assume that people who say "6 months to one year out of school won't harm your kid" don't have kids in high school.

The high school kids are the most capable to weather this. Assuming your child has wifi and no special needs they should be able to follow the online learning directives pretty easily. They have the whole of human knowledge at their fingertips. Yes I am the parent of a senior, at this point if we get a proper graduation ceremony in 2021 I'd be thrilled but feel like even that has long odds.

Maybe you think remote instruction should work well for high school students, but the reality is that for many high school students, it does not work well. "Online learning directives" is not school. So, then what?

It doesn't matter how well it works. If it's necessary to implement DL-only for safety reasons, that's what will be done.

Yes, and if it isn't, then it isn't. Currently, it isn't. School is important for the well-being of children, and closed schools harm the well-being of children.

Lack of consistency harms the well-being of children. Children are more likely to be harmed by schools opening, then closing, then opening, then closing, and then adults they care for getting sick, than they are to be harmed by 100% DL or hybrid school that keeps family members and teachers safe.

You go ahead and write to the American Academy of Pediatrics and tell them that they're wrong, then.