schools closed for end of academic year

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yeah, fall is not likely. The whole country is opening too soon. People cannot follow basic mask protocol or distancing. We are gonna have a huge, overwhelming surge in cases in June that we won't be able to manage because all the kids who couldn't do group work in high school became adults who can't do group work. When they try to shut back down with the surge, people will rebel because we are a nation of teenagers and it will be longer and more drawn out than it ever needed to be, add in the flu and it is really gonna be a mess.

As much as you hope for overwhelming craziness and deaths, there is no indication that that will happen.

No one is hoping for this but I didn’t think you needed to be a rocket scientist to see the reality of the situation but apparently one does need some kind of advanced degree to understand it. No one would be happier than me to be wrong but life doesn’t run on hopes and wishes.

Actually it does seem like some are hoping for this. And as I much as I have tried I can't understand why. I think some people just thrive on being negative and miserable. I can't wait for things to be normal again. Yet it seems there are all those being like "nothing will be normal for 5 years". "The kids won't get back until 2022" etc... it's concerning.

Nobody is even saying that. Can you point out those posts which say nothing will open back up for two years?

I’m a PP who said not to expect school to open in the fall.

Schools will be the LAST thing to open. Everything else will open up first. But it will take longer for schools.

Other countries have different dynamics.

How can you possibly predict this though? We are 4 months out but you just KNOW schools won't be able to open in the fall? What are you using a magic 8 ball?

Also there are many threads on the topic of schools being closed in many different forums where people have said repeatedly that schools will be closed for over a year. Because I guess they just love being miserable?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Nobody is even saying that. Can you point out those posts which say nothing will open back up for two years?

I’m a PP who said not to expect school to open in the fall.

Schools will be the LAST thing to open. Everything else will open up first. But it will take longer for schools.

Other countries have different dynamics.

If that's true, then that will really show the priority we place on schools. Gotta have hamburgers, gotta get a haircut, gotta buy a gun. Schools? Shrug.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

I don't think everything is going to stay closed. Private businesses will open. But, there is a difference between school and other businesses. I even think daycares will be allowed to open before schools can.

HUGE liability for schools to open up in the fall before flu season. Unlikely to happen. Have you been around for snow days? MCPS is going to take the safer option, no doubt.

It's not an MCPS decision. Schools are open every year during flu season. And - can I say this without using bold and all caps? No, I can't.

WE CAN'T KEEP SCHOOLS CLOSED FOR YEARS. KIDS NEED TO BE IN SCHOOL.

No they actually don't. They can be educated, but they don't need to be in school. Cramming kids in packed classrooms is not what happens in a pandemic. No one in the world is doing this. You can all caps and bold all you want, but go read and learn about pandemics and the response from the rest of the world.

NP here. I agree with you. But what MCPS has done so far during distance learning has been terrible (at least for us, with a second grader). The teacher doesn't actually teach anything. When we gather, she asks a few questions and then just plays the video that the kids are supposed to watch later in the day. And the videos - they are SO BAD. The questions we get for the kids to fill out are terrible. (Someone posted one of the Eureka ones the other day, worded in a very confusing way.) The science content they posted this week took 5 mins to do. It is a joke, not meaningful at all. So if they are going to go that route, they should make distance learning a priority. I'm not worried about my kid. I've worked hard to find other projects for her to do, other programs with which to supplement. I'm worried about the kids whose parents don't know what to do or can't help them for whatever reason. Eventually, we are going to all go back to school, and those kids will be really far behind. At the very least, MCPS has got to get rid of the videos and allow the teachers to actually teach the content. Kids who can't make it or want reinforcement can watch the videos. And they need to add meaningful content beyond math and reading.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yeah, fall is not likely. The whole country is opening too soon. People cannot follow basic mask protocol or distancing. We are gonna have a huge, overwhelming surge in cases in June that we won't be able to manage because all the kids who couldn't do group work in high school became adults who can't do group work. When they try to shut back down with the surge, people will rebel because we are a nation of teenagers and it will be longer and more drawn out than it ever needed to be, add in the flu and it is really gonna be a mess.

As much as you hope for overwhelming craziness and deaths, there is no indication that that will happen.

No one is hoping for this but I didn’t think you needed to be a rocket scientist to see the reality of the situation but apparently one does need some kind of advanced degree to understand it. No one would be happier than me to be wrong but life doesn’t run on hopes and wishes.

Actually it does seem like some are hoping for this. And as I much as I have tried I can't understand why. I think some people just thrive on being negative and miserable. I can't wait for things to be normal again. Yet it seems there are all those being like "nothing will be normal for 5 years". "The kids won't get back until 2022" etc... it's concerning.

Nobody is even saying that. Can you point out those posts which say nothing will open back up for two years?

I’m a PP who said not to expect school to open in the fall.

Schools will be the LAST thing to open. Everything else will open up first. But it will take longer for schools.

Other countries have different dynamics.

How can you possibly predict this though? We are 4 months out but you just KNOW schools won't be able to open in the fall? What are you using a magic 8 ball?

Also there are many threads on the topic of schools being closed in many different forums where people have said repeatedly that schools will be closed for over a year. Because I guess they just love being miserable?

Do you understand the meaning of « not likely »? Being a realist doesn’t mean you love being miserable it just means you acknowledge the reality of any given situation. You don’t hope for anything good or bad you just take what’s in front of you. I don’t know if you know this but hoping for an outcome has literally NO bearing on the outcome. Don’t make ridiculous assumptions about people.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

I don't think everything is going to stay closed. Private businesses will open. But, there is a difference between school and other businesses. I even think daycares will be allowed to open before schools can.

HUGE liability for schools to open up in the fall before flu season. Unlikely to happen. Have you been around for snow days? MCPS is going to take the safer option, no doubt.

It's not an MCPS decision. Schools are open every year during flu season. And - can I say this without using bold and all caps? No, I can't.

WE CAN'T KEEP SCHOOLS CLOSED FOR YEARS. KIDS NEED TO BE IN SCHOOL.

Making decisions solely on the basis of what is safest Is counterproductive and means school can never reopen. The safest thing is to stay home. But the purpose of closing schools is to prevent the virus from spreading throughout society. As one set of studies posted on this thread suggested there is limited evidence that is effective. If schools take the position that they can’t open until there is no chance of any student or staff getting sick or seriously sick or dying then by that standard they can never reopen. At some point there needs to be some acceptance that as key institutions of society open people will still get sick. Hopefully fewer and healthcare will not get overwhelmed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yeah, fall is not likely. The whole country is opening too soon. People cannot follow basic mask protocol or distancing. We are gonna have a huge, overwhelming surge in cases in June that we won't be able to manage because all the kids who couldn't do group work in high school became adults who can't do group work. When they try to shut back down with the surge, people will rebel because we are a nation of teenagers and it will be longer and more drawn out than it ever needed to be, add in the flu and it is really gonna be a mess.

As much as you hope for overwhelming craziness and deaths, there is no indication that that will happen.

No one is hoping for this but I didn’t think you needed to be a rocket scientist to see the reality of the situation but apparently one does need some kind of advanced degree to understand it. No one would be happier than me to be wrong but life doesn’t run on hopes and wishes.

Actually it does seem like some are hoping for this. And as I much as I have tried I can't understand why. I think some people just thrive on being negative and miserable. I can't wait for things to be normal again. Yet it seems there are all those being like "nothing will be normal for 5 years". "The kids won't get back until 2022" etc... it's concerning.

The difference in thought process is that some people are scientific thinkers who rely on data and expert projections/opinions and then other people are you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This sucks! I knew kids won’t get to go back to finish off the school year but it makes me so sad!☹️
On top of that the uncertainty of having school in the fall is just too much.. I feel bad for my kids in elementary school. They can’t learn on zoom, especially Kindergarten kids

I have a kindergartener. It's not ideal but okay overall. I always felt like older kids had it worse because stakes are not as high for the K kids.

Let’s just remove that uncertainty and say we won’t be opening schools until Jan 2021 at the earliest and started really cultivating online learning.

Zoom classes are kind of lame, but one on one with zoom could be pretty good, and since teachers don’t have to do a lot of the administrative and discipline for the class, and can focus on just instruction, maybe that could work out to individual instruction time 2-4 times a week with EACH student. On top of group lessons/lectures to give broad introductions.

Online learning could be much better than what it is. But you will not see much support to improve it. Thousands of children could be taught very effectively from the same online learning module with only a small support staff for personalized learning reinforcement. Imagine the teachers union supporting making 90% of teachers obsolete?
And the kicker is a well thought out computerized model would be able to ensure individual students were truly learning and getting individualized feedback vs the cattle chute of learning the students gonthroughbin public schools.

Clearly you have never taught elementary school students.

Clearly you don't understand what I've said. Teachers are replaceable with dynamic online learning. The curriculums that are out there online are no where near what they could be.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:just announced

And not coming back fully until Maryland reaches Stage 3. That's not going to be by the fall.

Sorry Mrs. A they'll be back in the fall. Start preparing those lesson plans.

+1. Watch how magically we will reach Stage 3, just in time for school to start.

There is no other choice. This country cannot be the single developed country in the world to keep our kids out of school for almost a year. You people are completely out of touch. Don't be such ninnies and start accepting reality.

+1
All these nutjob parents in their McMansions thinking that we can just close school for a year without any huge economic repercussions. There is zero chance that will happen.

Listen really closely:
The economic effects of reopening while the pandemic is still going on will be MORE severe than waiting.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

I don't think everything is going to stay closed. Private businesses will open. But, there is a difference between school and other businesses. I even think daycares will be allowed to open before schools can.

HUGE liability for schools to open up in the fall before flu season. Unlikely to happen. Have you been around for snow days? MCPS is going to take the safer option, no doubt.

It's not an MCPS decision. Schools are open every year during flu season. And - can I say this without using bold and all caps? No, I can't.

WE CAN'T KEEP SCHOOLS CLOSED FOR YEARS. KIDS NEED TO BE IN SCHOOL.

No they actually don't. They can be educated, but they don't need to be in school. Cramming kids in packed classrooms is not what happens in a pandemic. No one in the world is doing this. You can all caps and bold all you want, but go read and learn about pandemics and the response from the rest of the world.

They do need to be in school. The rest of the world is not going to keep its schools closed for years, and the US shouldn't either.

Did you ask the rest of the world this?

[Anonymous]

How are they going to coordinate students and staff going in to pick up their stuff? What a logistical mess. Glad I'm not in charge of figuring that out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

I don't think everything is going to stay closed. Private businesses will open. But, there is a difference between school and other businesses. I even think daycares will be allowed to open before schools can.

HUGE liability for schools to open up in the fall before flu season. Unlikely to happen. Have you been around for snow days? MCPS is going to take the safer option, no doubt.

It's not an MCPS decision. Schools are open every year during flu season. And - can I say this without using bold and all caps? No, I can't.

WE CAN'T KEEP SCHOOLS CLOSED FOR YEARS. KIDS NEED TO BE IN SCHOOL.

No they actually don't. They can be educated, but they don't need to be in school. Cramming kids in packed classrooms is not what happens in a pandemic. No one in the world is doing this. You can all caps and bold all you want, but go read and learn about pandemics and the response from the rest of the world.

They do need to be in school. The rest of the world is not going to keep its schools closed for years, and the US shouldn't either.

The rest of the world didn't have a half-assessed social distancing response that they're now giving up on while the death toll is still rising daily because they're tired of being at home and want to get their nails done.
The rest of the world doesn't have the highest death rate.

Uh, we don't have the highest death rate. Those European countries you admire so much do. Hope they teach AP Statistics this fall.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How are they going to coordinate students and staff going in to pick up their stuff? What a logistical mess. Glad I'm not in charge of figuring that out.

My middle schooler had to completely empty her locker that last day so they could deep-clean. But she’s worried about not being able to return her library books.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How are they going to coordinate students and staff going in to pick up their stuff? What a logistical mess. Glad I'm not in charge of figuring that out.

This the absolute easiest thing they will have to coordinate.
20 kids per hour. Masks on. 10 kids per wing or level.
You can do 120 kids per day or 600 kids per week. Even the biggest schools could do this in 2 weeks.
Option b is having the staff open and bag their lockers and doing a drive/walk up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yeah, fall is not likely. The whole country is opening too soon. People cannot follow basic mask protocol or distancing. We are gonna have a huge, overwhelming surge in cases in June that we won't be able to manage because all the kids who couldn't do group work in high school became adults who can't do group work. When they try to shut back down with the surge, people will rebel because we are a nation of teenagers and it will be longer and more drawn out than it ever needed to be, add in the flu and it is really gonna be a mess.

As much as you hope for overwhelming craziness and deaths, there is no indication that that will happen.

No one is hoping for this but I didn’t think you needed to be a rocket scientist to see the reality of the situation but apparently one does need some kind of advanced degree to understand it. No one would be happier than me to be wrong but life doesn’t run on hopes and wishes.

Actually it does seem like some are hoping for this. And as I much as I have tried I can't understand why. I think some people just thrive on being negative and miserable. I can't wait for things to be normal again. Yet it seems there are all those being like "nothing will be normal for 5 years". "The kids won't get back until 2022" etc... it's concerning.

The difference in thought process is that some people are scientific thinkers who rely on data and expert projections/opinions and then other people are you.

NP- But please, I am in public health and you just cannot say that you are right because you are relying on expert projections. Expert projections and opinions have been contradictory through this entire thing. All of these experts have good reasons to back up conflicting opinions and to give conflicting advice because everyone was making educated guesses with no experience. The "experts" you are citing have had to backpedal and reverse course numerous times during the last four months because none of them had enough "data". You are just choosing which expert and advice that you want to listen to to validate your opinion.

Luckily, we are learning more everyday about both the disease and the impact of various control policies that have been implemented around the world. We have four months to continue observing and learning. Please don't pretend that all "scientific thinkers" have only one opinion and that you are qualified to dismiss other people as being less scientific than you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:just announced

And not coming back fully until Maryland reaches Stage 3. That's not going to be by the fall.

Sorry Mrs. A they'll be back in the fall. Start preparing those lesson plans.

+1. Watch how magically we will reach Stage 3, just in time for school to start.

There is no other choice. This country cannot be the single developed country in the world to keep our kids out of school for almost a year. You people are completely out of touch. Don't be such ninnies and start accepting reality.

+1
All these nutjob parents in their McMansions thinking that we can just close school for a year without any huge economic repercussions. There is zero chance that will happen.

Listen really closely:
The economic effects of reopening while the pandemic is still going on will be MORE severe than waiting.

Show me the data that that’s true.