Maryland Recovery Plan for Education has been posted

[Anonymous]

Masks are a red herring and not the issue. No way schools in MC that are so overcrowded already can have classrooms of 10. So clear to me we are not going back to school in the fall.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Schools here are overcrowded and this is the single biggest obstacle to safe reopening of schools.


The corridors are so packed when students switch classes in my kid’s high school that they have been designated one way (same for staircases). I saw them: it’s a massive river of bodies packed together. It’s suffocating even without a mask.

The cafeteria cannot hold all students, and students are encouraged to go out to eat.

Even with masks, even with sanitizer, this is a petri dish situation.


This is not going to work. I don’t have a solution.

Totally AGREE! PP.

The school hallways are so crowded that with the huge crowd of kids a once in the small space the air quality is horrible.. it is hot, stuffy and hunhealthy as is..

Enter masks.. the kids would be fainting left right and center.

School can never have this level of over-crowding again so that wouldn't be an issue! I;m for masks but they cannot be N95 level and less children in class well-spaced out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No specific dates in this education recovery document, but the following article says schools may not resume in-person classes until January 2021.

https://www.eyeonannapolis.net/2020/05/governor-hogans-update-on-covid-19-response-go-boating-and-golfing

The Governor's office has Tweeted that this article is incorrect. There is no date tied to the recovery plan. January 2021 isn't in the plan.

could you post that tweet?

It's from the governor's flack's account:

https://twitter.com/riccimike/status/1258420898937188352

Love it, thanks. Maybe this will dissuade the crazies. Probably not though.

Obviously not.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Schools here are overcrowded and this is the single biggest obstacle to safe reopening of schools.


The corridors are so packed when students switch classes in my kid’s high school that they have been designated one way (same for staircases). I saw them: it’s a massive river of bodies packed together. It’s suffocating even without a mask.

The cafeteria cannot hold all students, and students are encouraged to go out to eat.

Even with masks, even with sanitizer, this is a petri dish situation.


This is not going to work. I don’t have a solution.

Totally AGREE! PP.

The school hallways are so crowded that with the huge crowd of kids a once in the small space the air quality is horrible.. it is hot, stuffy and hunhealthy as is..

Enter masks.. the kids would be fainting left right and center.

School can never have this level of over-crowding again so that wouldn't be an issue! I;m for masks but they cannot be N95 level and less children in class well-spaced out.

Well, we were struggling for funding to renovate and expand schools already. Can't see that improving any time soon, with state and county budgets strained by COVID response.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Recommendations in California:
Masks:

"Wearing a mask may actually be harmful to some people with heart or lung disease because it can make the lungs work harder to breathe."

Small children should not wear masks. California's Dept. of Public Health points out, "Children should not wear these masks – they do not fit properly and can impede breathing.If the air quality is poor enough that a child requires a mask, the child should remain indoors, in a safe place, and evacuation should be considered"

People indoors should not wear masks. (The air isn't as bad indoors, and the masks can restrict breathing and increase breathing carbon dioxide making you feel worse, not better).


"Risks of N95 respirator use outside of fire zones outweigh benefits: Most people will not contact their healthcare provider before using the N95 respirator; N95 use may lead to increased heart rate, respiratory rate, work of breathing, CO2 buildup inicro-ambient air, potentially posing risk to sensitive populations "

This is for mask-wearing in fire zones. The other things may still apply, but in the current situation the air is absolutely worse (here meaning "germier") indoors. You're masking against a very different kind of danger, so it needs to be weighed differently against the risks.

I'm not saying you're wrong about mask-wearing not being right for everyone, but the two situations are not a direct comparison.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How will they have the staff to cover lunches in classrooms and enough teachers to cover smaller classes spread out using MS space?

It says that they are going to cut out all specials--PE, music, art, etc-- and special education and repurpose those teachers as classroom teachers.

Where does it say so?

This paragraph is attached at the end of each possible schedule (one day a week. two days a week, every other week, etc) They don't spell it out per se, but my understanding is that in order to get class sizes down from 25-30 per class to 10 per class, more teachers would be needed to take classes. Otherwise not sure what they mean by "rotations". It wouldn't make sense for these specials teachers to work with small groups of kids from many different classes -- would defeat the purpose of keeping kids separated from each other.

All English for Speakers of Other Languages, Special Education, and resource teachers will work with small groups of students to reduce the student teacher ratios to 10 or less in each learning environment. Fine Arts, Physical Education and Health teachers would be included in the rotations to reduce the student teacher ratios. * One day is used for teacher planning and professional learning. Students will not report to school, distance learning will continue.

The only thing that would make sense would be for each class to be split at least in half, and add extra classroom teachers from among the specialists, ESOL, testing coordinator, instructional lead and mentor teachers, and even bring in central office staff who have certification.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Middle schoolers and high schoolers going to school on line is a non-starter. If it's ok for the parents to go to work, then it's ok for the middle schoolers and high schoolers to go to school.

100% this.

[Anonymous]

How can the economy possibly recover if schools close or are at less than 50% capacity long enough that double income households have to drop a job? I know schools aren't designed as childcare, but that's what they ARE right now, insofar as that there is NO other structure and jobs are NOT build with enough flexibility for most of us to do what we're doing now with telework long time. I'm kind of in despair here.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How can the economy possibly recover if schools close or are at less than 50% capacity long enough that double income households have to drop a job? I know schools aren't designed as childcare, but that's what they ARE right now, insofar as that there is NO other structure and jobs are NOT build with enough flexibility for most of us to do what we're doing now with telework long time. I'm kind of in despair here.

Yeah, people are treating schools like pleasant-to-have extras, like movie theaters or street festivals or sporting events. Actually, getting the NFL, NHL, NBA etc. playing again may be a higher priority than getting kids back to school.

[Anonymous]

I think I would feel better about this whole back to school thing if I didn’t have to worry about the crazy people who’s child is sick the night before and yet they give them Tylenol or Advil and send them to school. Proud Mom of two asthmatics!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How can the economy possibly recover if schools close or are at less than 50% capacity long enough that double income households have to drop a job? I know schools aren't designed as childcare, but that's what they ARE right now, insofar as that there is NO other structure and jobs are NOT build with enough flexibility for most of us to do what we're doing now with telework long time. I'm kind of in despair here.

Yeah, people are treating schools like pleasant-to-have extras, like movie theaters or street festivals or sporting events. Actually, getting the NFL, NHL, NBA etc. playing again may be a higher priority than getting kids back to school.

This is exactly right. They are crucial, critical for the economy to function. There will be tremendous pressure to reopen them in the fall

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t think it’s reasonable to expect teachers and kids to wear masks all day. Everyone needs to expect to be back to school in the fall as normal. Extra cleaning and hand sanitizer.

Everyone needs to be prepared that there will be 100% online classes in the fall. Both outcomes are very possible. And yes, teachers and kids can get used to masks, but we don't have enough of them, do we.

We don't have enough N95 masks, but that's not the kind we'd need for this anyway.

We don't have enough surgical masks either.

Yes, surgical masks is what we don't have enough of. You don't see pictures of little kids in China wearing bandanas, they are all wearing surgical masks in Asia.

Because China hoarded all of the material used to make PPE before they admitted human transmission. Must be nice!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think I would feel better about this whole back to school thing if I didn’t have to worry about the crazy people who’s child is sick the night before and yet they give them Tylenol or Advil and send them to school. Proud Mom of two asthmatics!

Fair enough but kids with covid are going to be infectious before they develop a fever. Many will never even get one at all and just be little invisible vectors.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I did a video conference last week in a mask. There were 4 other locations, all with masked people. Everyone heard one another with no problems.

Teachers need to buck up and stop complaining about masks.

Did it last for 7 hours and you were the primary speaker? And even when it wasn’t your turn to speak did you constantly have to ask Bob to stop tapping his pencil, or Mary to focus on her work? Was Nancy constantly out of her seat so you had to ask her 5 times to return to her seat? Was Steve pointing out everyone else who was pulling down their masks to get some air so you had to constantly remind everyone in the conference about proper mask wearing protocol? Did Tom’s parents get a note from his doctor saying that he can’t wear a mask so all of the other participants complain that it’s not fair that they have to wear a mask but Tom doesn’t? Was Robyn obsessed with taking sips from her water bottle as a way to not have to have her mask covering her mouth, but she’s still “technically “ following the mask rule?

Did all of the participants in your video conference have impulse control, or were they 7 year olds who don’t control their impulses? Just curious..

But everyone remember that school "is NOT childcare!"[b]

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think I would feel better about this whole back to school thing if I didn’t have to worry about the crazy people who’s child is sick the night before and yet they give them Tylenol or Advil and send them to school. Proud Mom of two asthmatics!

Fair enough but kids with covid are going to be infectious before they develop a fever. Many will never even get one at all and just be little invisible vectors.

It's not clear whether or not kids are major vectors of this coronavirus. In fact, last I heard, the evidence was leaning towards not.