Should we prepare for virtual schooling starting in January?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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. [b]Omicron has the opportunity to overwhelm our entire system since not enough people have a third dose.[b]

Lots of people didn't show up because of the fake threat. Let's let public health officials decide if and when to shut things down. Hopefully, it won't be the case that they will shut schools and nothing else because that does nothing except placate the union. Never again should the teacher's union be involved in these decisions.

[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.

I know they're so dramatic! A little covid only hurt a million plus people...

[Anonymous]

They are going to have to close. Writing is on the wall. Cases are skyrocketing. It is better to do it sooner rather than later. How will teachers pivot to virtual with no notice?

[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.

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.

Sure, but not all at once, otherwise your pending heart attack or your future car accident will kill you because there won't be enough staff to care for you at the hospital.
See how that works?

This is why everything's going to get shut down for a while. We want Omicron to not rip through the population, but for everyone to catch it a tad bit slower, so that we don't overburden our hospitals and infect all our medical staff at once.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:They are going to have to close. Writing is on the wall. Cases are skyrocketing. It is better to do it sooner rather than later. How will teachers pivot to virtual with no notice?

Cases do not matter unless outcomes are severe. You people are exhausting. Virtual education was one of an unmitigated catastrophe—particularly for poor and underprivileged kids. But you don’t care about that do you? You’re willing to sacrifice the education of a child so that you don’t get a bad cold

[Anonymous]

PG county is going virtual on Monday. https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/586391-maryland-school-district-temporarily-going-back-to-virtual-learning-amid

Absolutely crazy. Is it not clear to these people that virtual learning was a disaster? How many more studies do we need to show that school closings do not prevent community spread? If MCPS does this, I’m going to start voting republican for the first time in my life.

[Anonymous]

How is PGCPS closing in light of state requirements? Did they change and say that virtual-only days will count toward the # of required days?

[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.

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.

Sure, but not all at once, otherwise your pending heart attack or your future car accident will kill you because there won't be enough staff to care for you at the hospital.
See how that works?

This is why everything's going to get shut down for a while. We want Omicron to not rip through the population, but for everyone to catch it a tad bit slower, so that we don't overburden our hospitals and infect all our medical staff at once.

Why won’t that just happen when we reopen? Lockdowns simply delay surges that’s it. They are ineffective for their purpose are effective at destroying people’s livelihoods

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:PG county is going virtual on Monday. https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/586391-maryland-school-district-temporarily-going-back-to-virtual-learning-amid

Absolutely crazy. Is it not clear to these people that virtual learning was a disaster? How many more studies do we need to show that school closings do not prevent community spread? If MCPS does this, I’m going to start voting republican for the first time in my life.

Yep. Me too. This is lunacy and the opposite of equity. This will be catastrophic for these kids

[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.

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.

Sure, but not all at once, otherwise your pending heart attack or your future car accident will kill you because there won't be enough staff to care for you at the hospital.
See how that works?

This is why everything's going to get shut down for a while. We want Omicron to not rip through the population, but for everyone to catch it a tad bit slower, so that we don't overburden our hospitals and infect all our medical staff at once.

That was the argument in March 2020…. And then it took an entire year to get the schools open again. All while every other activity was allowed to go on.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They are going to have to close. Writing is on the wall. Cases are skyrocketing. It is better to do it sooner rather than later. How will teachers pivot to virtual with no notice?

Cases do not matter unless outcomes are severe. You people are exhausting. Virtual education was one of an unmitigated catastrophe—particularly for poor and underprivileged kids. But you don’t care about that do you? You’re willing to sacrifice the education of a child so that you don’t get a bad cold

Stop using poor as talking points. If you cared about them or others you’d make different choices. Cases do matter.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Please no.

DD did fine with DL, but DS… he’s learned so much more this year already than last year. His anxiety is much better. I know I’m going to get bashed and told I’m an awful, uninvolved parent that DS didn’t excel at virtual learning. I am involved, but it just didn’t work for him.

Its not going to happen so nothing to worry about.

After the first kid dies, and it's on the news - they'll change their tune.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:PG county is going virtual on Monday. https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/586391-maryland-school-district-temporarily-going-back-to-virtual-learning-amid

Absolutely crazy. Is it not clear to these people that virtual learning was a disaster? How many more studies do we need to show that school closings do not prevent community spread? If MCPS does this, I’m going to start voting republican for the first time in my life.

Yep. Me too. This is lunacy and the opposite of equity. This will be catastrophic for these kids

But switching to virtual gives them the warm and fuzzies. "We're DOING something!"

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They are going to have to close. Writing is on the wall. Cases are skyrocketing. It is better to do it sooner rather than later. How will teachers pivot to virtual with no notice?

Cases do not matter unless outcomes are severe. You people are exhausting. Virtual education was one of an unmitigated catastrophe—particularly for poor and underprivileged kids. But you don’t care about that do you? You’re willing to sacrifice the education of a child so that you don’t get a bad cold

Stop using poor as talking points. If you cared about them or others you’d make different choices. Cases do matter.

Should I list the literal hundreds of studies that say that distance learning was a disaster for poor children?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Please no.

DD did fine with DL, but DS… he’s learned so much more this year already than last year. His anxiety is much better. I know I’m going to get bashed and told I’m an awful, uninvolved parent that DS didn’t excel at virtual learning. I am involved, but it just didn’t work for him.

Its not going to happen so nothing to worry about.

After the first kid dies, and it's on the news - they'll change their tune.

Been waiting for that since March 2020 and yet kids are not severely affected by it