Surreal... Zoom capacity email in Regional Quarantine Program

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Honestly, the workaround they came up with on short notice seems pretty good to me.

I deal with Zoom capacity at my workplace though (everyone's licenses have capacity up to 1,000, but we have a special shared license up to 3,000 for the 6 - 10 meetings a year we need it for - and the licensing is quite complex so it isn't just "go click a button online and add more capacity"), so I'm sympathetic to this.

This is not a "workaround they came up with on short notice". The regional quarantine instructional program has been in place since September. Once cases and quarantine numbers started to skyrocket, no one bothered to figure out whether the program's Zoom licenses would be sufficient to handle the uptick. How can you be sympathetic to elementary school kids who are in quarantine having access to only 30 minutes of reading instruction and 30 minutes of math per day? That's it. 1 hour of school. Sympathetic? It's inexcusable, embarrassing and sad.

They wouldn’t have to quarantine if they were vaccinated.

Not true - at our elementary school, our principal continued sending letters to the community instructing ALL kids to quarantine regardless of vaccine status if they were a close contact. It wasn't until parents called, complained, asked for the process to be updated for the new guidance did the practice change. Also, if you're vaccinated but have the sniffles, you need to quarantine. Also, if a vaccinated kid is deemed a close contact during an unmasked, high risk activity (i.e. lunch), s/he has to quarantine. Stop blaming parents and kids for the utter failure of MCPS to get even the most basic things right.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It is urgent to replace leadership at MCPS. This zoom fiasco is unacceptable.

[Anonymous]

Why are you defending MCPS on something so obviously poorly done?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Honestly, the workaround they came up with on short notice seems pretty good to me.

I deal with Zoom capacity at my workplace though (everyone's licenses have capacity up to 1,000, but we have a special shared license up to 3,000 for the 6 - 10 meetings a year we need it for - and the licensing is quite complex so it isn't just "go click a button online and add more capacity"), so I'm sympathetic to this.

This is not a "workaround they came up with on short notice". The regional quarantine instructional program has been in place since September. Once cases and quarantine numbers started to skyrocket, no one bothered to figure out whether the program's Zoom licenses would be sufficient to handle the uptick. How can you be sympathetic to elementary school kids who are in quarantine having access to only 30 minutes of reading instruction and 30 minutes of math per day? That's it. 1 hour of school. Sympathetic? It's inexcusable, embarrassing and sad.

It is for two days and then they will have it fixed by next week. Are you just looking for something to entertain you? This seems like a ridiculous amount of outrage. Kids inherit 11 schools that went into quarantine had to miss an entire day. Many kids are missing instruction due to staff absences. None of it is ideal but this isn’t;t something MCPS is proposing to do to your kid forever. It. is. for. two. days.

So how many days of 1 hour of instruction is OK? 2 clearly is for you. Is 4 too much? 8? 10? Where do you, as the expert in how much instruction my kid can lose due to the incompetence of adults, draw the line? Also, the fact that MCPS' incompetence has resulted in far more serious learning disruptions for others isn't an excuse to forgive other examples of incompetence. Why are you such an apologist for adults who are failing at every aspect of their job at the expense of our kids? Yeah, they suck at their jobs and have caused a lot of different people in different circumstances to be screwed out of a quality education. We should just accept that they're incompetent and stop raising issues. Eventually, they'll come around and get it all right.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Honestly, the workaround they came up with on short notice seems pretty good to me.

I deal with Zoom capacity at my workplace though (everyone's licenses have capacity up to 1,000, but we have a special shared license up to 3,000 for the 6 - 10 meetings a year we need it for - and the licensing is quite complex so it isn't just "go click a button online and add more capacity"), so I'm sympathetic to this.

This is not a "workaround they came up with on short notice". The regional quarantine instructional program has been in place since September. Once cases and quarantine numbers started to skyrocket, no one bothered to figure out whether the program's Zoom licenses would be sufficient to handle the uptick. How can you be sympathetic to elementary school kids who are in quarantine having access to only 30 minutes of reading instruction and 30 minutes of math per day? That's it. 1 hour of school. Sympathetic? It's inexcusable, embarrassing and sad.

They wouldn’t have to quarantine if they were vaccinated.

Not true - at our elementary school, our principal continued sending letters to the community instructing ALL kids to quarantine regardless of vaccine status if they were a close contact. It wasn't until parents called, complained, asked for the process to be updated for the new guidance did the practice change. Also, if you're vaccinated but have the sniffles, you need to quarantine. Also, if a vaccinated kid is deemed a close contact during an unmasked, high risk activity (i.e. lunch), s/he has to quarantine. Stop blaming parents and kids for the utter failure of MCPS to get even the most basic things right.

I’m sorry, this is incorrect. Vaccinated students absolutely do not need to quarantine even after a high risk activity exposure (lunch). Consult the mcps flowchart. You also do not need to quarantine if you are vaccinated and have “the sniffles.” You stay home if you are sick. If you had strep in the before times you would stay home, no zoom, and you’d catch up on your work when you return. This quarantine zoom is literally for kids who are exposed and remain unvaxxed.

[Anonymous]

You all are aware that central office has a lot out sick with covid, too, right? And that it is staffed with humans and not evil robots?
Major mistakes have been made, but looking for a villain in your public service employees is pretty dumb. It’s a terrible pandemic and things are going to go awry. Save your ire for major issues and consider letting the little (and this really is little - missing a couple hours of instruction for two days) stuff go.

Some things to consider:
Communication and transparency would be good
Decent wages and benefits so that support staff, subs and drivers are available would be good
Actual planning to have regular and frequent testing in place would be good
Reputable and reliable masks in abundance would be good
A community working together to solve problems rather than name calling and hysterics would be good

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Honestly, the workaround they came up with on short notice seems pretty good to me.

I deal with Zoom capacity at my workplace though (everyone's licenses have capacity up to 1,000, but we have a special shared license up to 3,000 for the 6 - 10 meetings a year we need it for - and the licensing is quite complex so it isn't just "go click a button online and add more capacity"), so I'm sympathetic to this.

This is not a "workaround they came up with on short notice". The regional quarantine instructional program has been in place since September. Once cases and quarantine numbers started to skyrocket, no one bothered to figure out whether the program's Zoom licenses would be sufficient to handle the uptick. How can you be sympathetic to elementary school kids who are in quarantine having access to only 30 minutes of reading instruction and 30 minutes of math per day? That's it. 1 hour of school. Sympathetic? It's inexcusable, embarrassing and sad.

They wouldn’t have to quarantine if they were vaccinated.

Not true - at our elementary school, our principal continued sending letters to the community instructing ALL kids to quarantine regardless of vaccine status if they were a close contact. It wasn't until parents called, complained, asked for the process to be updated for the new guidance did the practice change. Also, if you're vaccinated but have the sniffles, you need to quarantine. Also, if a vaccinated kid is deemed a close contact during an unmasked, high risk activity (i.e. lunch), s/he has to quarantine. Stop blaming parents and kids for the utter failure of MCPS to get even the most basic things right.

I’m sorry, this is incorrect. Vaccinated students absolutely do not need to quarantine even after a high risk activity exposure (lunch). Consult the mcps flowchart. You also do not need to quarantine if you are vaccinated and have “the sniffles.” You stay home if you are sick. If you had strep in the before times you would stay home, no zoom, and you’d catch up on your work when you return. This quarantine zoom is literally for kids who are exposed and remain unvaxxed.

LOL. Schools aren't following "the flow chart". It's a complete mess. Some are, some aren't. Wake up and check your privilege - have some empathy for those who are being screwed by MCPS incompetence. You have no idea how bad it is. Check the flow chart. Unreal.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You all are aware that central office has a lot out sick with covid, too, right? And that it is staffed with humans and not evil robots?
Major mistakes have been made, but looking for a villain in your public service employees is pretty dumb. It’s a terrible pandemic and things are going to go awry. Save your ire for major issues and consider letting the little (and this really is little - missing a couple hours of instruction for two days) stuff go.

Some things to consider:
Communication and transparency would be good
Decent wages and benefits so that support staff, subs and drivers are available would be good
Actual planning to have regular and frequent testing in place would be good
Reputable and reliable masks in abundance would be good
A community working together to solve problems rather than name calling and hysterics would be good

Central Office staff can't work from home when they are quarantining?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Honestly, the workaround they came up with on short notice seems pretty good to me.

I deal with Zoom capacity at my workplace though (everyone's licenses have capacity up to 1,000, but we have a special shared license up to 3,000 for the 6 - 10 meetings a year we need it for - and the licensing is quite complex so it isn't just "go click a button online and add more capacity"), so I'm sympathetic to this.

This is not a "workaround they came up with on short notice". The regional quarantine instructional program has been in place since September. Once cases and quarantine numbers started to skyrocket, no one bothered to figure out whether the program's Zoom licenses would be sufficient to handle the uptick. How can you be sympathetic to elementary school kids who are in quarantine having access to only 30 minutes of reading instruction and 30 minutes of math per day? That's it. 1 hour of school. Sympathetic? It's inexcusable, embarrassing and sad.

They wouldn’t have to quarantine if they were vaccinated.

Not true - at our elementary school, our principal continued sending letters to the community instructing ALL kids to quarantine regardless of vaccine status if they were a close contact. It wasn't until parents called, complained, asked for the process to be updated for the new guidance did the practice change. Also, if you're vaccinated but have the sniffles, you need to quarantine. Also, if a vaccinated kid is deemed a close contact during an unmasked, high risk activity (i.e. lunch), s/he has to quarantine. Stop blaming parents and kids for the utter failure of MCPS to get even the most basic things right.

I’m sorry, this is incorrect. Vaccinated students absolutely do not need to quarantine even after a high risk activity exposure (lunch). Consult the mcps flowchart. You also do not need to quarantine if you are vaccinated and have “the sniffles.” You stay home if you are sick. If you had strep in the before times you would stay home, no zoom, and you’d catch up on your work when you return. This quarantine zoom is literally for kids who are exposed and remain unvaxxed.

LOL. Schools aren't following "the flow chart". It's a complete mess. Some are, some aren't. Wake up and check your privilege - have some empathy for those who are being screwed by MCPS incompetence. You have no idea how bad it is. Check the flow chart. Unreal.

So is your child vaccinated or not?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Honestly, the workaround they came up with on short notice seems pretty good to me.

I deal with Zoom capacity at my workplace though (everyone's licenses have capacity up to 1,000, but we have a special shared license up to 3,000 for the 6 - 10 meetings a year we need it for - and the licensing is quite complex so it isn't just "go click a button online and add more capacity"), so I'm sympathetic to this.

This is not a "workaround they came up with on short notice". The regional quarantine instructional program has been in place since September. Once cases and quarantine numbers started to skyrocket, no one bothered to figure out whether the program's Zoom licenses would be sufficient to handle the uptick. How can you be sympathetic to elementary school kids who are in quarantine having access to only 30 minutes of reading instruction and 30 minutes of math per day? That's it. 1 hour of school. Sympathetic? It's inexcusable, embarrassing and sad.

They wouldn’t have to quarantine if they were vaccinated.

So kids who have COVID but are vaccinated can be in school?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You all are aware that central office has a lot out sick with covid, too, right? And that it is staffed with humans and not evil robots?
Major mistakes have been made, but looking for a villain in your public service employees is pretty dumb. It’s a terrible pandemic and things are going to go awry. Save your ire for major issues and consider letting the little (and this really is little - missing a couple hours of instruction for two days) stuff go.

Some things to consider:
Communication and transparency would be good
Decent wages and benefits so that support staff, subs and drivers are available would be good
Actual planning to have regular and frequent testing in place would be good
Reputable and reliable masks in abundance would be good
A community working together to solve problems rather than name calling and hysterics would be good

Central Office staff can't work from home when they are quarantining?

I would imagine some are actually feeling ill. Quite a few fully vaccinated people do feel ill, like they have the flu, and probably need to rest a bit. Just have some small amount of basic human empathy for other sick humans and pick your battles. So much quivering rage and fury.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Honestly, the workaround they came up with on short notice seems pretty good to me.

I deal with Zoom capacity at my workplace though (everyone's licenses have capacity up to 1,000, but we have a special shared license up to 3,000 for the 6 - 10 meetings a year we need it for - and the licensing is quite complex so it isn't just "go click a button online and add more capacity"), so I'm sympathetic to this.

This is not a "workaround they came up with on short notice". The regional quarantine instructional program has been in place since September. Once cases and quarantine numbers started to skyrocket, no one bothered to figure out whether the program's Zoom licenses would be sufficient to handle the uptick. How can you be sympathetic to elementary school kids who are in quarantine having access to only 30 minutes of reading instruction and 30 minutes of math per day? That's it. 1 hour of school. Sympathetic? It's inexcusable, embarrassing and sad.

They wouldn’t have to quarantine if they were vaccinated.

Not true - at our elementary school, our principal continued sending letters to the community instructing ALL kids to quarantine regardless of vaccine status if they were a close contact. It wasn't until parents called, complained, asked for the process to be updated for the new guidance did the practice change. Also, if you're vaccinated but have the sniffles, you need to quarantine. Also, if a vaccinated kid is deemed a close contact during an unmasked, high risk activity (i.e. lunch), s/he has to quarantine. Stop blaming parents and kids for the utter failure of MCPS to get even the most basic things right.

I’m sorry, this is incorrect. Vaccinated students absolutely do not need to quarantine even after a high risk activity exposure (lunch). Consult the mcps flowchart. You also do not need to quarantine if you are vaccinated and have “the sniffles.” You stay home if you are sick. If you had strep in the before times you would stay home, no zoom, and you’d catch up on your work when you return. This quarantine zoom is literally for kids who are exposed and remain unvaxxed.

LOL. Schools aren't following "the flow chart". It's a complete mess. Some are, some aren't. Wake up and check your privilege - have some empathy for those who are being screwed by MCPS incompetence. You have no idea how bad it is. Check the flow chart. Unreal.

So is your child vaccinated or not?

Yes. And they tested positive regardless. Luckily asymptomatic. But they can't return to school, of course. You do realize that this regional program is what kids who have COVID use to continue learning, right? It's not just for your strawman boogeyman kid who has parents that are too dumb to have their kid vaccinated. Now tell me I shouldn't be upset because, if this were 3 years ago and my kid had a cold, he would be absent without instruction at all...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If this is not an equity-related reason to switch to virtual, I don't know what its.

MY BRAIN IS EXPLODING.

Um. What?

Yes, let's switch to virtual, so half of the kids in virtual "school" don't even log on because, wait for it, they have little support at home. Your post makes zero sense.

Half? Even close to it? Citation needed.

This is at least as ridiculous as the assertion that every single school has so many absent teachers that all the kids are sitting in a cafeteria watching Encanto all day.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Honestly, the workaround they came up with on short notice seems pretty good to me.

I deal with Zoom capacity at my workplace though (everyone's licenses have capacity up to 1,000, but we have a special shared license up to 3,000 for the 6 - 10 meetings a year we need it for - and the licensing is quite complex so it isn't just "go click a button online and add more capacity"), so I'm sympathetic to this.

This is not a "workaround they came up with on short notice". The regional quarantine instructional program has been in place since September. Once cases and quarantine numbers started to skyrocket, no one bothered to figure out whether the program's Zoom licenses would be sufficient to handle the uptick. How can you be sympathetic to elementary school kids who are in quarantine having access to only 30 minutes of reading instruction and 30 minutes of math per day? That's it. 1 hour of school. Sympathetic? It's inexcusable, embarrassing and sad.

They wouldn’t have to quarantine if they were vaccinated.

So kids who have COVID but are vaccinated can be in school?

No, and technically if the student actually has Covid, they are not eligible for this mcps quarantine instruction, just as they would not be eligible for zoom instruction if they had strep or the flu or anything else. Maybe some principals are allowing kids with Covid to access this instruction but it is technically only intended for healthy non-infected students quarantining based on an exposure.

[Anonymous]

Wow. What a cluster.