Sidwell, GDS, Maret: Keep schools open

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Am I the only one who wishes that we would stop testing? I want my kids to go to school. They are vaxed, they have masks and statistically should be fine. Why are we still doing all of this?

We are doing this because it’s f’d up out here.

[Anonymous]

This thread makes me laugh at those pointing fingers at the families who are traveling being the vector of spread, but DC has had the highest covid rates in the country the entire winter break!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I teach at a local private. We are lucky to have a few long-term subs on campus everyday. However, we still don’t have enough subs to cover for everyone who’s been sick, experiencing mild symptoms but awaiting PCR test results (3-4 days in DC), or home with a sick or quarantined child. Our division heads and admin staffers are covering classes and duties. It’s meant that we don’t always have people available when a child needs to be sent to the office or school counselor. It’s meant canceling parent meetings or attending them for just a few minutes so that teaching staff can substitute for absent staff. That’s sustainable for a week or two, but if post-break absences are any higher than they were throughout December, sustaining operations will be difficult. We can’t magic up more personnel, no matter how many angry letters the HoS gets.

Parents will sub.

We’ve seen our tooth private schools kids - particularly lower school - fall quite behind in their foundational skills. And no review this year after 1.5 years of 2.5 hours of virtual school a day.

Great time to be a $100/30 min tutor!

I prefer in-person to virtual, but if we're to the point of putting random parents in the classroom to sub, someone please give me a heads up so I can keep my child home. There are a lot of parents I wouldn't trust to be in charge of a classroom for a day. And most of the ones I would trust wouldn't volunteer because they understand they don't have the skills to do it well. If you think it's easy, you probably don't understand the job very well. I might feel different for middle/upper school (where you could basically make one class out of the day into a parent-supervised study hall), but for elementary it's very different situation.

[Anonymous]

Could the schools like SFS just make the call right now and cancel January final exams?

With so many kids and families sick with covid in the DC area, that would be the right call.

Everything has been disrupted. It seems wrong to ask the kids to hold it together and push forward with exams next week when, as of today, the school doesn't know if it can safely open.

Signed, A parent who normally advocates for pushing forward (but who believes we all just need a break)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Could the schools like SFS just make the call right now and cancel January final exams?

With so many kids and families sick with covid in the DC area, that would be the right call.

Everything has been disrupted. It seems wrong to ask the kids to hold it together and push forward with exams next week when, as of today, the school doesn't know if it can safely open.

Signed, A parent who normally advocates for pushing forward (but who believes we all just need a break)

+100

[Anonymous]

+1000. For those schools that hold exams after the winter break, they need to adjust and cancel them now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This thread makes me laugh at those pointing fingers at the families who are traveling being the vector of spread, but DC has had the highest covid rates in the country the entire winter break!

Oh you didn’t hear, now it’s cool to point fingers if you stayed in DC during holidays 😂

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Could the schools like SFS just make the call right now and cancel January final exams?

With so many kids and families sick with covid in the DC area, that would be the right call.

Everything has been disrupted. It seems wrong to ask the kids to hold it together and push forward with exams next week when, as of today, the school doesn't know if it can safely open.

Signed, A parent who normally advocates for pushing forward (but who believes we all just need a break)

Nice to see SFS still doing the crazy thing and having exams after break- then again, Maret insisted on having them for upper schoolers before break even though the cancelled school for 5-8

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So with all the parties on the 31st and 1st, will the back to school testing on Sunday-Tuesday be too early to detect the spread of Covid? I want to keep the kid home for the first week anyway and would prefer virtual classes for the first week.

Schools should at least offer those cautious families a virtual option for the first two weeks

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So with all the parties on the 31st and 1st, will the back to school testing on Sunday-Tuesday be too early to detect the spread of Covid? I want to keep the kid home for the first week anyway and would prefer virtual classes for the first week.

Schools should at least offer those cautious families a virtual option for the first two weeks

Omg. We’re never going to go back to normal with people like this. Sigh.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Could the schools like SFS just make the call right now and cancel January final exams?

With so many kids and families sick with covid in the DC area, that would be the right call.

Everything has been disrupted. It seems wrong to ask the kids to hold it together and push forward with exams next week when, as of today, the school doesn't know if it can safely open.

Signed, A parent who normally advocates for pushing forward (but who believes we all just need a break)

Your kids have been coddled enough. They just had a break.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So with all the parties on the 31st and 1st, will the back to school testing on Sunday-Tuesday be too early to detect the spread of Covid? I want to keep the kid home for the first week anyway and would prefer virtual classes for the first week.

Schools should at least offer those cautious families a virtual option for the first two weeks

No, they should not. "Cautious families" need to get over themselves and realize that the entire framework of producing an elite education does not revolve around having their children beamed in online.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So with all the parties on the 31st and 1st, will the back to school testing on Sunday-Tuesday be too early to detect the spread of Covid? I want to keep the kid home for the first week anyway and would prefer virtual classes for the first week.

Schools should at least offer those cautious families a virtual option for the first two weeks

No, they should not. "Cautious families" need to get over themselves and realize that the entire framework of producing an elite education does not revolve around having their children beamed in online.

What are you so cautious about anyways? Aren’t your kids vaccinated. Ugh.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Could the schools like SFS just make the call right now and cancel January final exams?

With so many kids and families sick with covid in the DC area, that would be the right call.

Everything has been disrupted. It seems wrong to ask the kids to hold it together and push forward with exams next week when, as of today, the school doesn't know if it can safely open.

Signed, A parent who normally advocates for pushing forward (but who believes we all just need a break)

Your kids have been coddled enough. They just had a break.

Thanks Scrooge. Most seniors were working on college applications during break.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Could the schools like SFS just make the call right now and cancel January final exams?

With so many kids and families sick with covid in the DC area, that would be the right call.

Everything has been disrupted. It seems wrong to ask the kids to hold it together and push forward with exams next week when, as of today, the school doesn't know if it can safely open.

Signed, A parent who normally advocates for pushing forward (but who believes we all just need a break)

Your kids have been coddled enough. They just had a break.

+1. They're on break NOW. The last thing they need is an extended "break."