APS: Open Now group (APE) fundraising for new signs for 5 day a week school
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Anonymous
These are all recent statements. And guess what? Schools are now opening. APE was pushing to open back in the fall regardless of #s or safety measures. |
Anonymous
I'm still seeing people actively opposed to schools opening in Arlington and rooting for hybrid to fail, so there is a need to keep the pressure on. |
Anonymous
I agree on some level. I liked Vihstadt. But we don't need crackpots. |
Anonymous
OK, so there's older documents if you'd like those. Brown School of Public Health had a guide in July (link to the December update): https://globalepidemics.org/2020/12/18/schools-and-the-path-to-zero-strategies-for-pandemic-resilience-in-the-face-of-high-community-spread/ Harvard's Chan School had something out in June: https://schools.forhealth.org/risk-reduction-strategies-for-reopening-schools/ AAP first put something out in MAY: https://www.aappublications.org/news/2020/05/05/covid19schoolopening050520 |
Anonymous
Totally agree. If the PP is supporting Miranda for school board, I hope they realize she is actually running for the Democratic endorsement. |
Anonymous
Or....there is a need to put the pressure on ways to bring down our #s. You know, something useful. Schools are opening because of vaccines and #s coming down. And we have better safety measures in place. Not because a bunch of irrational people put up signs. |
Anonymous
These were all updated this winter. What specifically were they recommending last summer? |
Anonymous
The safety measures that we are now opening with are: masks, spacing/distancing, reduced capacity. These all existed last fall and were known then to mitigate risk. |
Anonymous
APS has also addressed (most) ventilation issues and teachers are mostly vaccinated. |
Anonymous
IIRC, basically what CDC is still recommending. If you look at the Boston link, it explains the updates and talks about why they moved away from community spread metrics. |
Anonymous
Not true they were pushing it regardless of #s or safety. They pushed in the fall to open because numbers were low. As cased began to surge in Europe they largely kept schools open and spread within schools was lower than the community. School districts in this country that stayed open during the surge demonstrated lower transmission in schools as compared to the community. The science is that schools should stay open regardless of community numbers. There are real harms to keeping schools closed, including mental health and learning loss that will have repercussions for decades. And, finally, APS could be doing a lot more now. We have kids, even young ones, going to school to be taught by a virtual teacher. That is not acceptable, especially for young and SPED kids. Sure, some teachers may need to be accommodated (though, I'm confused what health risk can't be mitigated by a vaccine...) but that accommodation cannot harm children. Accommodations should be limited to permitting virtual instruction to kids that chose virtual or some other task that can be remotely. It is not okay to provide in-person kids with teachers working from home - full stop. We need to end the farce that kids that need in-person can be taught remotely. |
Anonymous
EXACTLY. Thanks to APE for all you do!! Anyone advocating for hybrid in the fall, please stop. Just stay remote until there is a vaccine approved for the kids.. for the love of god.. |
Anonymous
When did APE think that the #s were too high over the winter and say that schools shouldn’t be opened? I must have missed that. |
Anonymous
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FACT: APS and Duran refused to announce RTS dates until big brother Northam forced it. This is embarrassing and thankfully APE raised a lot of local awareness of how much of a mess this really was/is.
I appreciate APE and everyone who has been advocating for schools to open up. It's much easier to keep them closed and not deal with the logistics of opening, which has been APS's stance for the past year. Just like "No Instruction" from March - June. They took the easy route until being forced to GSD. |
Anonymous
Liar. He was already scheduled to announce RTS plans a week later. APE is irrational and hasn’t done anything productive aside from keep some sign maker in business. |