Charters: When is yours dropping the outdoor mask mandate?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our charter is dropping it this coming week thank goodness.

Would you mind sharing which one? Is this outside only or also inside optional? I am guessing you don't have a health check or 10 day quarantine.

MV, no outdoor mask starting this week. No health check. Vaccinated asymptomatic kids do not have to quarantine. We have a very high vax rate, high 70%, so basically only kids not vax are ECE kids. Positive Covid cases 7 day quarantine.

They also said they are reviewing new changes with mask optional now and will let us know in a week or so about that. Hopefully indoor will be dropped too.

IMO they have done a really good job with school wide testing , protocols, and keeping classes open during the Omicron surge. They are very transparent about number of cases at the school and the data is sent out in the weekly bulletin to families. Cases at our school have been low. I think this helps with decision making hopefully in lifting indoor masks.

DC has left the masking decision to schools. If your school doesn’t know their vax rate and case rate and don’t have the data, then I’m not sure how the principal or leadership can make these decisions on a school by school basis.

I’m all for following CDC guidelines but it doesn’t sound like OSSE is mandating lifting indoor masking so it sounds like it will be up to individula schools.

They could just follow CDC guidance, which is actually the right thing to do. School principals aren't public health authorities and shouldn't be making public health decisions. Listen to experts, amirite?

Yeah. I get that during early COVID, we were all running around trying to figure out what was the right thing to do because the situation was so complicated and what we were hearing wasn't necessarily complete or reliable. I was reading studies and trying to make decisions on the basis of that, and I'm sure that school leadership felt like they had to make these kinds of decisions for their communities as well. But we're so past that now. All you have to do is do the thing that public health guidance is telling you to do and that practically everyone else is already doing.

I agree but the majority of DCPS schools have very low vax rate if the total vax percentage in DC for kids is in the 20’s. So these families likely want all kids to be masked. The school vax rate does not correlate with community vax rates and why it’s important to know what the vax rate is in your school. Just like how the CDC base their recommendations on vax rate.

It is not the case that CDC recommendations regarding school masking are tied to vaccination rates either in the community or in the school. The metrics are number of cases and hospital admissions/bed availability. They do not recommend masking in DC.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our charter is dropping it this coming week thank goodness.

Would you mind sharing which one? Is this outside only or also inside optional? I am guessing you don't have a health check or 10 day quarantine.

MV, no outdoor mask starting this week. No health check. Vaccinated asymptomatic kids do not have to quarantine. We have a very high vax rate, high 70%, so basically only kids not vax are ECE kids. Positive Covid cases 7 day quarantine.

They also said they are reviewing new changes with mask optional now and will let us know in a week or so about that. Hopefully indoor will be dropped too.

IMO they have done a really good job with school wide testing , protocols, and keeping classes open during the Omicron surge. They are very transparent about number of cases at the school and the data is sent out in the weekly bulletin to families. Cases at our school have been low. I think this helps with decision making hopefully in lifting indoor masks.

DC has left the masking decision to schools. If your school doesn’t know their vax rate and case rate and don’t have the data, then I’m not sure how the principal or leadership can make these decisions on a school by school basis.

I’m all for following CDC guidelines but it doesn’t sound like OSSE is mandating lifting indoor masking so it sounds like it will be up to individula schools.

They could just follow CDC guidance, which is actually the right thing to do. School principals aren't public health authorities and shouldn't be making public health decisions. Listen to experts, amirite?

Yeah. I get that during early COVID, we were all running around trying to figure out what was the right thing to do because the situation was so complicated and what we were hearing wasn't necessarily complete or reliable. I was reading studies and trying to make decisions on the basis of that, and I'm sure that school leadership felt like they had to make these kinds of decisions for their communities as well. But we're so past that now. All you have to do is do the thing that public health guidance is telling you to do and that practically everyone else is already doing.

I agree but the majority of DCPS schools have very low vax rate if the total vax percentage in DC for kids is in the 20’s. So these families likely want all kids to be masked. The school vax rate does not correlate with community vax rates and why it’s important to know what the vax rate is in your school. Just like how the CDC base their recommendations on vax rate.

We have no idea what "these families likely want." Furthermore, these families aren't public health authorities either.

I was keen on tying the vaccination rates to masking for a while there, too, but given that 1) we don't have a strong signal that vaccination does a lot for transmission reduction for the 5-11 year olds, 2) cases really aren't that meaningful any more, 3) there are low rates of severe illness for kids anyway (with or without vax), I've begun thinking that vaccination isn't that important *in making decisions about schools*. Yes, vaccination is very important for older people in preventing them from severe illness and death. I just think it's not that important regarding kids (new variants may change that).

You live in a bubble PP. The kids don’t live by themselves, they go home to parents who likely have lots of co-morbidities and grandparents who live with them who may not be vax.

DP. It is outrageous that you seem to think that we should keep masking our kids to protect people who have chosen not to protect themselves! What bubble do you live in that you think you can justify that?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our charter is dropping it this coming week thank goodness.

Would you mind sharing which one? Is this outside only or also inside optional? I am guessing you don't have a health check or 10 day quarantine.

MV, no outdoor mask starting this week. No health check. Vaccinated asymptomatic kids do not have to quarantine. We have a very high vax rate, high 70%, so basically only kids not vax are ECE kids. Positive Covid cases 7 day quarantine.

They also said they are reviewing new changes with mask optional now and will let us know in a week or so about that. Hopefully indoor will be dropped too.

IMO they have done a really good job with school wide testing , protocols, and keeping classes open during the Omicron surge. They are very transparent about number of cases at the school and the data is sent out in the weekly bulletin to families. Cases at our school have been low. I think this helps with decision making hopefully in lifting indoor masks.

DC has left the masking decision to schools. If your school doesn’t know their vax rate and case rate and don’t have the data, then I’m not sure how the principal or leadership can make these decisions on a school by school basis.

I’m all for following CDC guidelines but it doesn’t sound like OSSE is mandating lifting indoor masking so it sounds like it will be up to individula schools.

They could just follow CDC guidance, which is actually the right thing to do. School principals aren't public health authorities and shouldn't be making public health decisions. Listen to experts, amirite?

Yeah. I get that during early COVID, we were all running around trying to figure out what was the right thing to do because the situation was so complicated and what we were hearing wasn't necessarily complete or reliable. I was reading studies and trying to make decisions on the basis of that, and I'm sure that school leadership felt like they had to make these kinds of decisions for their communities as well. But we're so past that now. All you have to do is do the thing that public health guidance is telling you to do and that practically everyone else is already doing.

I agree but the majority of DCPS schools have very low vax rate if the total vax percentage in DC for kids is in the 20’s. So these families likely want all kids to be masked. The school vax rate does not correlate with community vax rates and why it’s important to know what the vax rate is in your school. Just like how the CDC base their recommendations on vax rate.

We have no idea what "these families likely want." Furthermore, these families aren't public health authorities either.

I was keen on tying the vaccination rates to masking for a while there, too, but given that 1) we don't have a strong signal that vaccination does a lot for transmission reduction for the 5-11 year olds, 2) cases really aren't that meaningful any more, 3) there are low rates of severe illness for kids anyway (with or without vax), I've begun thinking that vaccination isn't that important *in making decisions about schools*. Yes, vaccination is very important for older people in preventing them from severe illness and death. I just think it's not that important regarding kids (new variants may change that).

You live in a bubble PP. The kids don’t live by themselves, they go home to parents who likely have lots of co-morbidities and grandparents who live with them who may not be vax.

Why is my post indicative of living in a bubble? You don't have survey data of what "these families want". You are just guessing. "These families" may want to not vax, but also to not wear masks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our charter is dropping it this coming week thank goodness.

Would you mind sharing which one? Is this outside only or also inside optional? I am guessing you don't have a health check or 10 day quarantine.

MV, no outdoor mask starting this week. No health check. Vaccinated asymptomatic kids do not have to quarantine. We have a very high vax rate, high 70%, so basically only kids not vax are ECE kids. Positive Covid cases 7 day quarantine.

They also said they are reviewing new changes with mask optional now and will let us know in a week or so about that. Hopefully indoor will be dropped too.

IMO they have done a really good job with school wide testing , protocols, and keeping classes open during the Omicron surge. They are very transparent about number of cases at the school and the data is sent out in the weekly bulletin to families. Cases at our school have been low. I think this helps with decision making hopefully in lifting indoor masks.

DC has left the masking decision to schools. If your school doesn’t know their vax rate and case rate and don’t have the data, then I’m not sure how the principal or leadership can make these decisions on a school by school basis.

I’m all for following CDC guidelines but it doesn’t sound like OSSE is mandating lifting indoor masking so it sounds like it will be up to individula schools.

They could just follow CDC guidance, which is actually the right thing to do. School principals aren't public health authorities and shouldn't be making public health decisions. Listen to experts, amirite?

Yeah. I get that during early COVID, we were all running around trying to figure out what was the right thing to do because the situation was so complicated and what we were hearing wasn't necessarily complete or reliable. I was reading studies and trying to make decisions on the basis of that, and I'm sure that school leadership felt like they had to make these kinds of decisions for their communities as well. But we're so past that now. All you have to do is do the thing that public health guidance is telling you to do and that practically everyone else is already doing.

I agree but the majority of DCPS schools have very low vax rate if the total vax percentage in DC for kids is in the 20’s. So these families likely want all kids to be masked. The school vax rate does not correlate with community vax rates and why it’s important to know what the vax rate is in your school. Just like how the CDC base their recommendations on vax rate.

We have no idea what "these families likely want." Furthermore, these families aren't public health authorities either.

I was keen on tying the vaccination rates to masking for a while there, too, but given that 1) we don't have a strong signal that vaccination does a lot for transmission reduction for the 5-11 year olds, 2) cases really aren't that meaningful any more, 3) there are low rates of severe illness for kids anyway (with or without vax), I've begun thinking that vaccination isn't that important *in making decisions about schools*. Yes, vaccination is very important for older people in preventing them from severe illness and death. I just think it's not that important regarding kids (new variants may change that).

You live in a bubble PP. The kids don’t live by themselves, they go home to parents who likely have lots of co-morbidities and grandparents who live with them who may not be vax.

If grandparents have chosen to be unvaccinated, that is certainly their right. But there's no action I can take that will have even a small fraction of the effect in terms of keeping them safe that they can take, and that they have chosen not to. We have the tools to protect ourselves, with vaccination obviously being the biggest.

[Anonymous]

I just think when we get into these convos about "what those families want" (which is an oblique reference in this case to the unvaccinated of DC, who are disproportionately AA), we shouldn't make assumptions, even by playing white savior.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I just think when we get into these convos about "what those families want" (which is an oblique reference in this case to the unvaccinated of DC, who are disproportionately AA), we shouldn't make assumptions, even by playing white savior.

Yeah. Plus there are certainly high-vaccinated schools with parent populations that want to continue masking.

[Anonymous]

We shouldn’t be having conversations about what anybody wants in terms of public health measures. We need to follow the CDC recommendations and that’s it. No more forced masks, indoors or out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I just think when we get into these convos about "what those families want" (which is an oblique reference in this case to the unvaccinated of DC, who are disproportionately AA), we shouldn't make assumptions, even by playing white savior.

Yeah. Plus there are certainly high-vaccinated schools with parent populations that want to continue masking.

Right. We don't have a strong sense of what really any particular group want.

However, it's not really that pertinent to the DC Health guidance. If people are given a choice, which the DC Health guidance now allows, then we shouldn't have popular opinion change public health policy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We shouldn’t be having conversations about what anybody wants in terms of public health measures. We need to follow the CDC recommendations and that’s it. No more forced masks, indoors or out.

Of course but that is not going to change things in DC. I don’t see the mayor or OSSE mandating lifining indoor masks in school. They just are not going to do it. This is the best you are going to get and that is it will be up to the schools.

[Anonymous]

Ok, so DC Health has guidance, and OSSE usually adopts that, correct? Or how does this go?

Like, if OSSE adopts DC Health guidance, then individual LEAs can just....not follow OSSE? That doesn't sound right.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our charter is dropping it this coming week thank goodness.

Would you mind sharing which one? Is this outside only or also inside optional? I am guessing you don't have a health check or 10 day quarantine.

MV, no outdoor mask starting this week. No health check. Vaccinated asymptomatic kids do not have to quarantine. We have a very high vax rate, high 70%, so basically only kids not vax are ECE kids. Positive Covid cases 7 day quarantine.

They also said they are reviewing new changes with mask optional now and will let us know in a week or so about that. Hopefully indoor will be dropped too.

IMO they have done a really good job with school wide testing , protocols, and keeping classes open during the Omicron surge. They are very transparent about number of cases at the school and the data is sent out in the weekly bulletin to families. Cases at our school have been low. I think this helps with decision making hopefully in lifting indoor masks.

DC has left the masking decision to schools. If your school doesn’t know their vax rate and case rate and don’t have the data, then I’m not sure how the principal or leadership can make these decisions on a school by school basis.

I’m all for following CDC guidelines but it doesn’t sound like OSSE is mandating lifting indoor masking so it sounds like it will be up to individula schools.

They could just follow CDC guidance, which is actually the right thing to do. School principals aren't public health authorities and shouldn't be making public health decisions. Listen to experts, amirite?

Yeah. I get that during early COVID, we were all running around trying to figure out what was the right thing to do because the situation was so complicated and what we were hearing wasn't necessarily complete or reliable. I was reading studies and trying to make decisions on the basis of that, and I'm sure that school leadership felt like they had to make these kinds of decisions for their communities as well. But we're so past that now. All you have to do is do the thing that public health guidance is telling you to do and that practically everyone else is already doing.

I agree but the majority of DCPS schools have very low vax rate if the total vax percentage in DC for kids is in the 20’s. So these families likely want all kids to be masked. The school vax rate does not correlate with community vax rates and why it’s important to know what the vax rate is in your school. Just like how the CDC base their recommendations on vax rate.

We have no idea what "these families likely want." Furthermore, these families aren't public health authorities either.

I was keen on tying the vaccination rates to masking for a while there, too, but given that 1) we don't have a strong signal that vaccination does a lot for transmission reduction for the 5-11 year olds, 2) cases really aren't that meaningful any more, 3) there are low rates of severe illness for kids anyway (with or without vax), I've begun thinking that vaccination isn't that important *in making decisions about schools*. Yes, vaccination is very important for older people in preventing them from severe illness and death. I just think it's not that important regarding kids (new variants may change that).

You live in a bubble PP. The kids don’t live by themselves, they go home to parents who likely have lots of co-morbidities and grandparents who live with them who may not be vax.

The overwhelming DCUM sentiment has long been Eff those MAGA Idiots who refuse to get vaccinated. Why is it now different, especially when it is so easy to get vaccinated and has been since last June?

[Anonymous]

LAMB just messaged that they would be lifting the outdoor mask mandate on March 21, and will be lifting the indoor mask mandate "in the coming weeks."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our charter is dropping it this coming week thank goodness.

Would you mind sharing which one? Is this outside only or also inside optional? I am guessing you don't have a health check or 10 day quarantine.

MV, no outdoor mask starting this week. No health check. Vaccinated asymptomatic kids do not have to quarantine. We have a very high vax rate, high 70%, so basically only kids not vax are ECE kids. Positive Covid cases 7 day quarantine.

They also said they are reviewing new changes with mask optional now and will let us know in a week or so about that. Hopefully indoor will be dropped too.

IMO they have done a really good job with school wide testing , protocols, and keeping classes open during the Omicron surge. They are very transparent about number of cases at the school and the data is sent out in the weekly bulletin to families. Cases at our school have been low. I think this helps with decision making hopefully in lifting indoor masks.

DC has left the masking decision to schools. If your school doesn’t know their vax rate and case rate and don’t have the data, then I’m not sure how the principal or leadership can make these decisions on a school by school basis.

I’m all for following CDC guidelines but it doesn’t sound like OSSE is mandating lifting indoor masking so it sounds like it will be up to individula schools.

They could just follow CDC guidance, which is actually the right thing to do. School principals aren't public health authorities and shouldn't be making public health decisions. Listen to experts, amirite?

Yeah. I get that during early COVID, we were all running around trying to figure out what was the right thing to do because the situation was so complicated and what we were hearing wasn't necessarily complete or reliable. I was reading studies and trying to make decisions on the basis of that, and I'm sure that school leadership felt like they had to make these kinds of decisions for their communities as well. But we're so past that now. All you have to do is do the thing that public health guidance is telling you to do and that practically everyone else is already doing.

I agree but the majority of DCPS schools have very low vax rate if the total vax percentage in DC for kids is in the 20’s. So these families likely want all kids to be masked. The school vax rate does not correlate with community vax rates and why it’s important to know what the vax rate is in your school. Just like how the CDC base their recommendations on vax rate.

We have no idea what "these families likely want." Furthermore, these families aren't public health authorities either.

I was keen on tying the vaccination rates to masking for a while there, too, but given that 1) we don't have a strong signal that vaccination does a lot for transmission reduction for the 5-11 year olds, 2) cases really aren't that meaningful any more, 3) there are low rates of severe illness for kids anyway (with or without vax), I've begun thinking that vaccination isn't that important *in making decisions about schools*. Yes, vaccination is very important for older people in preventing them from severe illness and death. I just think it's not that important regarding kids (new variants may change that).

You live in a bubble PP. The kids don’t live by themselves, they go home to parents who likely have lots of co-morbidities and grandparents who live with them who may not be vax.

The overwhelming DCUM sentiment has long been Eff those MAGA Idiots who refuse to get vaccinated. Why is it now different, especially when it is so easy to get vaccinated and has been since last June?

Exactly. Also, if the parents at those low vaccination schools want to keep masking their kids, they are free to do so. Or they could do something that's actually effective in protecting their kids and them from Covid, which is to get vaccinated. But no way should kids at other schools be forced to keep masking to protect unvaccinated people elsewhere.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I just think when we get into these convos about "what those families want" (which is an oblique reference in this case to the unvaccinated of DC, who are disproportionately AA), we shouldn't make assumptions, even by playing white savior.

Yeah. Plus there are certainly high-vaccinated schools with parent populations that want to continue masking.

Sure but that’s a very small minority. Our school is highly vaccinated and overwhelming majority don’t want indoor mask

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We shouldn’t be having conversations about what anybody wants in terms of public health measures. We need to follow the CDC recommendations and that’s it. No more forced masks, indoors or out.

Of course but that is not going to change things in DC. I don’t see the mayor or OSSE mandating lifining indoor masks in school. They just are not going to do it. This is the best you are going to get and that is it will be up to the schools.

You are wrong. The mayor will lift indoor masks in school for sure. It’s just a matter of whether it will be next week or week after.