Quarantining entire classrooms at ES level

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Seriously? You want to complain about reasonable precautions?

At okra Singer they quarantined 8 classes for 3 positive cases. That’s not reasonable. That’s trying to keep as many kids home as possible.

I thought I heard the principal say it was two classes quarantined for three positive cases, plus some close contacts from KAH. The third case had not been at school while symptomatic or around test date so they did not quarantine that class. Now that they are rapid testing, I am all in favor of whole class. Seems less disruptive than making teacher teach in hybrid model. And wouldn’t teacher be a close contact? So you’d have to have substitutes. The principal at Singer is awesome and it’s a hard year.

There were 8 classes quarantined.

New poster. I really don't think this is true. Where are you getting your information, and which 8 classes do you think are quarantined? (Whole classes, not just classes that happen to have a few kids out being quarantined.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If my kid classroom get quarantined for 10 days due to a positive kid, can my kid go outdoor to play, go to doctor appointment, go to my workplace, or he/she has to stay home for 10 days?

Yes, kid should stay home in this scenario (unless sick and needed doc of course). If they could just go anywhere they wouldn’t be quarantined and could go to school.

This rule is so unclear. Also, if one of your kids gets quarantined for a positive case in their class, it does not mean any of your other kids need to enter quarantine which makes no sense to me. If mcps is so worried your child who was exposed could contract covid then why do they allow other members of that same household to attend school while their sibling is at home potentially harboring covid?

Maybe they’re hoping parents will use common sense? Unlike the parents who brought their child to soccer this morning when I know their youngest’s class is quarantined because of a positive in their classroom.

Well according to mcps their older kid doesn’t need to quarantine and can attend school. So I can see why the parents think it is ok to bring their older child to soccer. I don’t agree dog this rule at all but I get why you’d think your older kid can continue life as normal if they are allowed back at school.

100% positive that the child who was participating in soccer was quarantined due to exposure in the classroom. It wasn’t a misinterpretation of the rule by the parent. It was willful ignoring.

Didn’t you say it was the sibling of the child who was playing in soccer that was in quarantine? If it’s a sibling that’s in quarantine then only that child needs to stay isolated, secondary contacts like their other siblings can attend school and sports. So this parent was not wrong to let their kid play soccer, assuming it was only their younger sibling asked to quarantine as a close contact.

Yea if you’re going to get upset about your child playing soccer with “contacts of contacts” then you need to just withdraw from soccer. This is going to be too much for you.

When my kid had to quarantine because of a sick classmate, we asked her pediatrician for guidence and followed the doctors suggestions. (Which was wait 5 days and resume normal activities if she tested negative). Maybe ask a professional not a message board

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Mcps does not want to know. Simple. No tests mans no Covid.

So why quarantine entire classes? Why not follow the actual guidance?

Plus they're essentially going to to do more testing because the consent for rapid testing and the random testing has not been separated. They're gonna get a bunch new recruits into the random testing now because it's the only way to consent for rapid.

So they're testing, just not making the most efficient use of resources.

First, it’s not the only way to consent. You can verbally consent to rapid testing if your child is sent to the nurse with symptoms.

Second, I’m not sure why you’d even bother with rapid testing in that situation. The school is going to make you get a PCR test if the rapid is negative anyway.

If your kid is sick pick them up.

Right. If they’re sick, pick them up and get a PCR. There’s no reason to bother with the rapid test at school.

A negative rapid test will allow other kids in the class to stay in school. Our principal has said he may be forced to send the class home if the family does not consent to the test (which seems to differ a bit from the official policy).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Seriously? You want to complain about reasonable precautions?

At okra Singer they quarantined 8 classes for 3 positive cases. That’s not reasonable. That’s trying to keep as many kids home as possible.

I thought I heard the principal say it was two classes quarantined for three positive cases, plus some close contacts from KAH. The third case had not been at school while symptomatic or around test date so they did not quarantine that class. Now that they are rapid testing, I am all in favor of whole class. Seems less disruptive than making teacher teach in hybrid model. And wouldn’t teacher be a close contact? So you’d have to have substitutes. The principal at Singer is awesome and it’s a hard year.

There were 8 classes quarantined.

New poster. I really don't think this is true. Where are you getting your information, and which 8 classes do you think are quarantined? (Whole classes, not just classes that happen to have a few kids out being quarantined.)

NP. I don’t think it’s 8 classes either- my understanding was two full classes plus the kindergarten/it’s graders from KAH, and that the KAH quarantine decision came from the county health department, not the school.

Now, I don’t necessarily agree with this broad application of the MCPS policy and will be holding my breath all fall, but I agree the Singer principal is great and it seems like all the ESs are doing this.

[Anonymous]

1st, not it’s!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Mcps does not want to know. Simple. No tests mans no Covid.

So why quarantine entire classes? Why not follow the actual guidance?

Plus they're essentially going to to do more testing because the consent for rapid testing and the random testing has not been separated. They're gonna get a bunch new recruits into the random testing now because it's the only way to consent for rapid.

So they're testing, just not making the most efficient use of resources.

First, it’s not the only way to consent. You can verbally consent to rapid testing if your child is sent to the nurse with symptoms.

Second, I’m not sure why you’d even bother with rapid testing in that situation. The school is going to make you get a PCR test if the rapid is negative anyway.

If your kid is sick pick them up.

Right. If they’re sick, pick them up and get a PCR. There’s no reason to bother with the rapid test at school.

A negative rapid test will allow other kids in the class to stay in school. Our principal has said he may be forced to send the class home if the family does not consent to the test (which seems to differ a bit from the official policy).

That's only the case if the person has a known exposure, and if that's the case, the person should have been quarantining and not in school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Mcps does not want to know. Simple. No tests mans no Covid.

So why quarantine entire classes? Why not follow the actual guidance?

Plus they're essentially going to to do more testing because the consent for rapid testing and the random testing has not been separated. They're gonna get a bunch new recruits into the random testing now because it's the only way to consent for rapid.

So they're testing, just not making the most efficient use of resources.

First, it’s not the only way to consent. You can verbally consent to rapid testing if your child is sent to the nurse with symptoms.

Second, I’m not sure why you’d even bother with rapid testing in that situation. The school is going to make you get a PCR test if the rapid is negative anyway.

If your kid is sick pick them up.

Right. If they’re sick, pick them up and get a PCR. There’s no reason to bother with the rapid test at school.

A negative rapid test will allow other kids in the class to stay in school. Our principal has said he may be forced to send the class home if the family does not consent to the test (which seems to differ a bit from the official policy).

That's only the case if the person has a known exposure, and if that's the case, the person should have been quarantining and not in school.

If you say so.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Seriously? You want to complain about reasonable precautions?

At okra Singer they quarantined 8 classes for 3 positive cases. That’s not reasonable. That’s trying to keep as many kids home as possible.

I thought I heard the principal say it was two classes quarantined for three positive cases, plus some close contacts from KAH. The third case had not been at school while symptomatic or around test date so they did not quarantine that class. Now that they are rapid testing, I am all in favor of whole class. Seems less disruptive than making teacher teach in hybrid model. And wouldn’t teacher be a close contact? So you’d have to have substitutes. The principal at Singer is awesome and it’s a hard year.

There were 8 classes quarantined.

New poster. I really don't think this is true. Where are you getting your information, and which 8 classes do you think are quarantined? (Whole classes, not just classes that happen to have a few kids out being quarantined.)

NP. I don’t think it’s 8 classes either- my understanding was two full classes plus the kindergarten/it’s graders from KAH, and that the KAH quarantine decision came from the county health department, not the school.

Now, I don’t necessarily agree with this broad application of the MCPS policy and will be holding my breath all fall, but I agree the Singer principal is great and it seems like all the ESs are doing this.

As a parent of a kindergartner who was quarantined due to potential KAH exposure, I don't know how they could havd decided any differently. There's no way they could be expected to actually keep track of shich of the kids played how close to eachother for how long on which days, which means anyone in the same cohort could theoretically be a close contact of anyone else.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Seriously? You want to complain about reasonable precautions?

At okra Singer they quarantined 8 classes for 3 positive cases. That’s not reasonable. That’s trying to keep as many kids home as possible.

I thought I heard the principal say it was two classes quarantined for three positive cases, plus some close contacts from KAH. The third case had not been at school while symptomatic or around test date so they did not quarantine that class. Now that they are rapid testing, I am all in favor of whole class. Seems less disruptive than making teacher teach in hybrid model. And wouldn’t teacher be a close contact? So you’d have to have substitutes. The principal at Singer is awesome and it’s a hard year.

There were 8 classes quarantined.

New poster. I really don't think this is true. Where are you getting your information, and which 8 classes do you think are quarantined? (Whole classes, not just classes that happen to have a few kids out being quarantined.)

NP. I don’t think it’s 8 classes either- my understanding was two full classes plus the kindergarten/it’s graders from KAH, and that the KAH quarantine decision came from the county health department, not the school.

Now, I don’t necessarily agree with this broad application of the MCPS policy and will be holding my breath all fall, but I agree the Singer principal is great and it seems like all the ESs are doing this.

As a parent of a kindergartner who was quarantined due to potential KAH exposure, I don't know how they could havd decided any differently. There's no way they could be expected to actually keep track of shich of the kids played how close to eachother for how long on which days, which means anyone in the same cohort could theoretically be a close contact of anyone else.

+1. We decided against before/aftercare for this fall for precisely this reason. I'm still teleworking, and it's not that I'm worried about my kid getting Covid there, but the disruptions of 10 day quarantines every time someone in the program tests positive would be far greater than my kid interrupting my work for the last hour of the workday. We'll re-enroll post-vaccination.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I see the upside of the whole-class quarantine, which we experienced this week, as being that they are all virtual together with their teacher, so no one is missing out on instruction.

I'm sure they weren't all virtual together. I'm sure some of those kids were forced into situations where virtual classes were not possible to join. Not everyone can just stay home with their kids on workdays.

If you cannot stay home with your kids you hire help, friend, family or figure it out. That's what parents do.

Kids under the age of 8 cant be home by themselves according to MD law. If the government via the health department is requiring quarantine they should be paying parents if they need to miss work and enable protections of jobs. Not all of us have family. Most of us have friends that are in the same age group and WORKING so they have their own jobs and own children to care for during school hours. Im not leaving my child with a stranger for PT hours and exorbitant pay that isnt a choice parents should have to make.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I see the upside of the whole-class quarantine, which we experienced this week, as being that they are all virtual together with their teacher, so no one is missing out on instruction.

I'm sure they weren't all virtual together. I'm sure some of those kids were forced into situations where virtual classes were not possible to join. Not everyone can just stay home with their kids on workdays.

If you cannot stay home with your kids you hire help, friend, family or figure it out. That's what parents do.

Kids under the age of 8 cant be home by themselves according to MD law. If the government via the health department is requiring quarantine they should be paying parents if they need to miss work and enable protections of jobs. Not all of us have family. Most of us have friends that are in the same age group and WORKING so they have their own jobs and own children to care for during school hours. Im not leaving my child with a stranger for PT hours and exorbitant pay that isnt a choice parents should have to make.

+1. Not to mention, good luck finding a sitter for a child who has been designated as "exposed" to covid. I certainly wouldn't ask my 70yo parents to travel in from out of state to care for them either, since MCPS can't really tell me if my child was a legit close contact or not.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I see the upside of the whole-class quarantine, which we experienced this week, as being that they are all virtual together with their teacher, so no one is missing out on instruction.

I'm sure they weren't all virtual together. I'm sure some of those kids were forced into situations where virtual classes were not possible to join. Not everyone can just stay home with their kids on workdays.

If you cannot stay home with your kids you hire help, friend, family or figure it out. That's what parents do.

Kids under the age of 8 cant be home by themselves according to MD law. If the government via the health department is requiring quarantine they should be paying parents if they need to miss work and enable protections of jobs. Not all of us have family. Most of us have friends that are in the same age group and WORKING so they have their own jobs and own children to care for during school hours. Im not leaving my child with a stranger for PT hours and exorbitant pay that isnt a choice parents should have to make.

+1. Not to mention, good luck finding a sitter for a child who has been designated as "exposed" to covid. I certainly wouldn't ask my 70yo parents to travel in from out of state to care for them either, since MCPS can't really tell me if my child was a legit close contact or not.

I actually find the suggestion to use friends, family, or hire help for a quarantined child pretty poor advice, because they are supposed to be QUARENTINED at home and not interacting with people outside their household. I could see the argument for one of these arrangements after 7 days and a negative test like the CDC recommends. But the point of these quarantines is to reduce spread, and given that a child could still pass covid to a vaccinated individual, who could in turn pass it to others, you're just potentially changing one avenue of spread for another.

Which means parents are pretty much on their own like last year, only a lot of employers are not terribly sympathetic anymore.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Seriously? You want to complain about reasonable precautions?

At okra Singer they quarantined 8 classes for 3 positive cases. That’s not reasonable. That’s trying to keep as many kids home as possible.

I thought I heard the principal say it was two classes quarantined for three positive cases, plus some close contacts from KAH. The third case had not been at school while symptomatic or around test date so they did not quarantine that class. Now that they are rapid testing, I am all in favor of whole class. Seems less disruptive than making teacher teach in hybrid model. And wouldn’t teacher be a close contact? So you’d have to have substitutes. The principal at Singer is awesome and it’s a hard year.

There were 8 classes quarantined.

New poster. I really don't think this is true. Where are you getting your information, and which 8 classes do you think are quarantined? (Whole classes, not just classes that happen to have a few kids out being quarantined.)

NP. I don’t think it’s 8 classes either- my understanding was two full classes plus the kindergarten/it’s graders from KAH, and that the KAH quarantine decision came from the county health department, not the school.

Now, I don’t necessarily agree with this broad application of the MCPS policy and will be holding my breath all fall, but I agree the Singer principal is great and it seems like all the ESs are doing this.

As a parent of a kindergartner who was quarantined due to potential KAH exposure, I don't know how they could havd decided any differently. There's no way they could be expected to actually keep track of shich of the kids played how close to eachother for how long on which days, which means anyone in the same cohort could theoretically be a close contact of anyone else.

+1. We decided against before/aftercare for this fall for precisely this reason. I'm still teleworking, and it's not that I'm worried about my kid getting Covid there, but the disruptions of 10 day quarantines every time someone in the program tests positive would be far greater than my kid interrupting my work for the last hour of the workday. We'll re-enroll post-vaccination.

DP, whose second grader is now quarantined thanks to KAH exposure: yeah, it’s a pain and in hindsight, we might have thought harder about enrolling him and his siblings. But, our school has a KAH waitlist for the first time ever thanks to COVID, so it’s not as simple as enrolling them once they’re vaccinated. Assuming the vaccines rollout for kids their age this Fall, we’ll take potential disruptions for a few months if it means we get aftercare/day off coverage for the whole year, rather than no care all year.

Also, MCPS could have done it differently and not assumed everyone is a close contact given that the kids are all masked. They could have implemented a test to stay policy at the beginning of the year (instead of whenever they’ll roll it out). They could have allowed a shorter quarantine with a negative PCR for exposed kids. There are plenty of ways they could have made things easier on kids and families, but they chose not to.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I see the upside of the whole-class quarantine, which we experienced this week, as being that they are all virtual together with their teacher, so no one is missing out on instruction.

I'm sure they weren't all virtual together. I'm sure some of those kids were forced into situations where virtual classes were not possible to join. Not everyone can just stay home with their kids on workdays.

If you cannot stay home with your kids you hire help, friend, family or figure it out. That's what parents do.

Kids under the age of 8 cant be home by themselves according to MD law. If the government via the health department is requiring quarantine they should be paying parents if they need to miss work and enable protections of jobs. Not all of us have family. Most of us have friends that are in the same age group and WORKING so they have their own jobs and own children to care for during school hours. Im not leaving my child with a stranger for PT hours and exorbitant pay that isnt a choice parents should have to make.

+1. Not to mention, good luck finding a sitter for a child who has been designated as "exposed" to covid. I certainly wouldn't ask my 70yo parents to travel in from out of state to care for them either, since MCPS can't really tell me if my child was a legit close contact or not.

I actually find the suggestion to use friends, family, or hire help for a quarantined child pretty poor advice, because they are supposed to be QUARENTINED at home and not interacting with people outside their household. I could see the argument for one of these arrangements after 7 days and a negative test like the CDC recommends. But the point of these quarantines is to reduce spread, and given that a child could still pass covid to a vaccinated individual, who could in turn pass it to others, you're just potentially changing one avenue of spread for another.

Which means parents are pretty much on their own like last year, only a lot of employers are not terribly sympathetic anymore.

This. I teach at a college in person. My son is currently in a class that has quarantined for 10 days. My DH can be home with him for a few days but I have to figure out care the other days. He tested negative so my mom will keep an eye on him while she works from home but technically, he is supposed to avoid being around other people. I can probably move my classes online for 1 10-day quarantine but I'm worried about this happening again before the end of my semester. Should I hire a stranger who could potentially be exposed by my kid next time or expose us to covid? Rely on my mom whose health isn't great?

Yes, I have a partner who can help but more than one10-day quarantine will affect our ability to do our jobs. I am thankful distance learning is being provided but why do the leaders at MCPS assume everyone has either a SAHP, WAH parent or non-vulnerable caregiver on call to help with quarantine childcare?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I see the upside of the whole-class quarantine, which we experienced this week, as being that they are all virtual together with their teacher, so no one is missing out on instruction.

I'm sure they weren't all virtual together. I'm sure some of those kids were forced into situations where virtual classes were not possible to join. Not everyone can just stay home with their kids on workdays.

If you cannot stay home with your kids you hire help, friend, family or figure it out. That's what parents do.

Kids under the age of 8 cant be home by themselves according to MD law. If the government via the health department is requiring quarantine they should be paying parents if they need to miss work and enable protections of jobs. Not all of us have family. Most of us have friends that are in the same age group and WORKING so they have their own jobs and own children to care for during school hours. Im not leaving my child with a stranger for PT hours and exorbitant pay that isnt a choice parents should have to make.

+1. Not to mention, good luck finding a sitter for a child who has been designated as "exposed" to covid. I certainly wouldn't ask my 70yo parents to travel in from out of state to care for them either, since MCPS can't really tell me if my child was a legit close contact or not.

I actually find the suggestion to use friends, family, or hire help for a quarantined child pretty poor advice, because they are supposed to be QUARENTINED at home and not interacting with people outside their household. I could see the argument for one of these arrangements after 7 days and a negative test like the CDC recommends. But the point of these quarantines is to reduce spread, and given that a child could still pass covid to a vaccinated individual, who could in turn pass it to others, you're just potentially changing one avenue of spread for another.

Which means parents are pretty much on their own like last year, only a lot of employers are not terribly sympathetic anymore.

This. I teach at a college in person. My son is currently in a class that has quarantined for 10 days. My DH can be home with him for a few days but I have to figure out care the other days. He tested negative so my mom will keep an eye on him while she works from home but technically, he is supposed to avoid being around other people. I can probably move my classes online for 1 10-day quarantine but I'm worried about this happening again before the end of my semester. Should I hire a stranger who could potentially be exposed by my kid next time or expose us to covid? Rely on my mom whose health isn't great?

Yes, I have a partner who can help but more than one10-day quarantine will affect our ability to do our jobs. I am thankful distance learning is being provided but why do the leaders at MCPS assume everyone has either a SAHP, WAH parent or non-vulnerable caregiver on call to help with quarantine childcare?

Can we please stop lumping parents working at home with parents who don’t work outside the home or a paid caregiver? Most of the parents working at home that I know, DH and I included, need to actually pay attention to our work during regular working hours, not serve as paraeducators. We can’t just drop everything based on the school’s schedule.