How come other states can make it work

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our private has been open since September and only 2 children 2 separate times have been reported to have COVID till now. They contracted it somewhere outside of school and no one else in the school was infected so far. We have daily temp checks before school. Everyone is seated 6 ft apart, masks are worn at all times except lunch, teachers come to the classroom and recess is done in “ Classroom PODS” u cannot venture outside of your pod At PE or recess. Lunch is eaten at your desk and extra curricular clubs are thru zoom or google meets. Both times when the two kids tested positive, classes were moved online and they closed the school for deep cleaning and for the health dept to do contact tracing-It’s not ideal, it’s a risk we take, but are kids really wanted to go back to school and our youngest is terrible at distance learning. Crossing my fingers we make it ok till June.

That’s great for you. The point is, those of us who don’t have a spare 40k should also be able to educate our children.

DP. I agree with you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Can you name one of these mythical states where things opened up and community spread didn’t get out of control? It would be easier to sort out why this this is happening with a specific example, but no one ever gives one.

BVSD and Jeffco in Colorado. Jeffco is 5 days a week and BVSD is 4.

[Anonymous]

Shenandoah county schools in Virginia started hybrid in OCTOBER. it isn’t just “other states” that have schools open.

[Anonymous]

Few places on earth are as risk averse as the nova area.

[Anonymous]

50% of the countries kids are in an online only scenario. 50% of the countries kids are in some type of in-person school situation. The choices are made based on the metrics in specific areas and specific areas risk acceptance.

Not surprisingly, counties and States that voted for President Trump tend to have more schools with some type of in-person school. It is not surprising because those areas were more likely to either not believe that COVID is as serious as the experts say or they think it is more important to keep everything open for economic reasons. Those areas have had a mix of lots of outbreaks and issues to none at all in their schools. There is either a lack of belief that COVID is an issue or a far greater risk acceptance.

State that voted for President Biden are more likely to have online school because they see COVID as a bigger concern. There are concerns about spread and many people are more risk averse when it comes to COVID.

[Anonymous]

Lewisville ISD in Texas (near Dallas) has been 5 days since maybe late Sept/Oct.

A different friend in Grapevine, TX has been hybrid since then.

A different friend north of Phoenix is also 4 days all year, with 1 asynchronous day.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Few places on earth are as risk averse as the nova area.

+1000

That’s the problem here. None of our leaders wanted to try. Our governor drew a strong line in the spring and the fear instilled here is way different than in other areas.

Other schools, districts, and states are having some success because they keep working AT it and not against it. Yes they’ve had starts and stops but they are doing it. They are dedicated to it. Even in areas with high community spread

Then there are small town areas that don’t have the community spread. My family is in such a place and have not had one case at their school all year. 5 days full time. No major mitigation besides masks and cleaning. Nothing like what FCPS talks about here.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:They’re not making it work.
The schools that have reopened are only doing it two days a week. And kids/teachers are constantly having Togo back and forth between concurrent and
and 100% virtual due to Covid exposures at school.
I have several family members in various states whose kids are doing concurrent, and they tell me it’s an absolute sh**show.

That is just not true. I posted earlier about Dade County, which is the 4th largest district in the country. They are open and have remained open since early October. And everyone, including the CDC, agrees it has been successful. It can and is being done, but it takes commitment and tuning out the noise of fear and hyperbole.

[Anonymous]

Small towns and smaller school districts are different beasts then FCPS or even APS or ACPS or LCPS. Are their schools over crowded? Do they have the same needs for the level of ESOL or SPED?

There are not too many schools in FCPS that are not overcrowded or at their max. This makes setting up distancing far more difficult.

Small towns tend to be more isolated and are far less likely to have people exposed to COVID in day to day interactions because of their size. Even with that, North Dakota and South Dakota had a massive spike this summer that was highly problematic for their health care systems.

We need to compare like systems and not unlike systems. Smaller school districts in Virginia are going to have a better chance of some in-person learning because they do not have the same issues that the larger, more crowded school districts have.

People talk about moving to those areas but you choose not to live there for a reason. I would guess a large part of it is the commute to work. I would also guess that many people did not want to live in areas that are, normally, far more conservative than this area is.

I want my kid back in school but I want him back in school safely. Safely for him, his teachers, and the staff. I think we could have gone back in the fall, like LCPS did. I understand why Teachers were worried, the information that we had about the virus and the like was not great. Looking back, it would have been fine but I don't know that the info we had back then was strong enough to feel comfortable with that decision.

I don't like concurrent, it sounds awful. I think that if Teachers are vaccinated then we should be looking at hybrid and not concurrent. Once vaccines are out, there should be enough Teachers in the classroom to handle hybrid. Parents who are still interested in DL can be grouped together so their kids can have 5 days DL with Teachers with ADA exemptions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Small towns and smaller school districts are different beasts then FCPS or even APS or ACPS or LCPS. Are their schools over crowded? Do they have the same needs for the level of ESOL or SPED?

There are not too many schools in FCPS that are not overcrowded or at their max. This makes setting up distancing far more difficult.

Small towns tend to be more isolated and are far less likely to have people exposed to COVID in day to day interactions because of their size. Even with that, North Dakota and South Dakota had a massive spike this summer that was highly problematic for their health care systems.

We need to compare like systems and not unlike systems. Smaller school districts in Virginia are going to have a better chance of some in-person learning because they do not have the same issues that the larger, more crowded school districts have.

People talk about moving to those areas but you choose not to live there for a reason. I would guess a large part of it is the commute to work. I would also guess that many people did not want to live in areas that are, normally, far more conservative than this area is.

I want my kid back in school but I want him back in school safely. Safely for him, his teachers, and the staff. I think we could have gone back in the fall, like LCPS did. I understand why Teachers were worried, the information that we had about the virus and the like was not great. Looking back, it would have been fine but I don't know that the info we had back then was strong enough to feel comfortable with that decision.

I don't like concurrent, it sounds awful. I think that if Teachers are vaccinated then we should be looking at hybrid and not concurrent. Once vaccines are out, there should be enough Teachers in the classroom to handle hybrid. Parents who are still interested in DL can be grouped together so their kids can have 5 days DL with Teachers with ADA exemptions.

Miami Dad has been opening and Clarke County (huge system) is opening. These are very good comparisons to FCPS.

[Anonymous]

Studies have shown since about October that it's about the politics of the people in the area and the strength of the teachers unions.

Basically it's about whether or not there's a collective will to open schools. Bluer areas have a lower collective will to open schools (and here for years I've thought conservatives were the more risk-averse group...). I'm sure the why is complex.

[Anonymous]

My nephews attend school in a large county in the metro Atlanta area. In-person has been an option since October (4 days a week). For the most part, there has been very little to no spread of Covid within the schools.

I haven’t seen headlines about teachers dying after contracting Covid from teaching. Can you please share links? I think the media would be jumping at the chance to report this.