I’m worried that the schools are going to spend millions for only a few weeks of hybrid schooling.

[Anonymous]

I'd be happy too if we were told it was all over, but everything I've read and followed for the last few months and looking forward is indicating we will likely be full-time DL before Halloween and well into next year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Unlikely. Much more likely everyone goes to 100% DL.

I agree. My worry is that schools are going to do tons of work to get ready for a hybrid model and then we will almost immediately have to switch to DL and we won't be fully prepared for that.

That's the far more likely scenario.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Unlikely. Much more likely everyone goes to 100% DL.

I agree. My worry is that schools are going to do tons of work to get ready for a hybrid model and then we will almost immediately have to switch to DL and we won't be fully prepared for that.

That's the far more likely scenario.

+1

DL from Nov to April seems likely. And likely to be an abrupt transition. We had less than 24 hours notice last time, though I thought it was coming for about two weeks.

[Anonymous]

So then the schools should just work out a very robust distance learning plan

[Anonymous]

I would be THRILLED if that happened, because it would mean that the virus was being eradicated and in-person learning was safe.

But it's not going to happen. There is ZERO chance of that happening.

The more likely scenario is that we gear up for a hybrid schedule and then have to return to DL on short notice when there is an outbreak at a school or when the area's cases/hospitalizations get too high. The country has already returned to case counts like those at the beginning of the pandemic, and exponential growth is a bitch. Testing won't be able to keep up. Contact tracing won't do much good if the disease is running unchecked everywhere.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So then the schools should just work out a very robust distance learning plan

I agree. I'm a teacher and a parent, and my first choice would be for us all to be back full-time in person in the fall, but I worry that what all the districts are doing now (planning primarily for a hybrid model) means that if (when) we all have to switch to DL partway through the year we won't be at all prepared. I am not a fan of DL, but I think that DL done well could be better than a hybrid for a few weeks/months and then unplanned DL for months.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would be THRILLED if that happened, because it would mean that the virus was being eradicated and in-person learning was safe.

But it's not going to happen. There is ZERO chance of that happening.

The more likely scenario is that we gear up for a hybrid schedule and then have to return to DL on short notice when there is an outbreak at a school or when the area's cases/hospitalizations get too high. The country has already returned to case counts like those at the beginning of the pandemic, and exponential growth is a bitch. Testing won't be able to keep up. Contact tracing won't do much good if the disease is running unchecked everywhere.

We should be aware of what's happening in the country, and also focus on what's happening locally. Fairfax county has returned (as in dropped) back down to where case counts were early in the pandemic as well (<100 new cases per day, lately averaging <50), and has hovered there for the past 3+ weeks. That's 0.1% of the county's population developing a new case monthly (at current rates), with about 0.01% getting hospitalized. Even 1-in-1000 of getting a case monthly merits vigilance, but not panic. Of course, Covid case numbers and case severity skew heavily towards seniors, so the raw numbers for kids (and the risks of transmission to/from/amongst kids) is only a fraction of those numbers that we're seeing for the community at-large.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:One of the things that worries me with all of the expenses that will be incurred this year, with the extra cleaning, buses. Technology, hand sanitizer, masks etc. is that after a few weeks, some new report will come along and say it’s safe for everyone to be back at school, and we will have spent millions for practically nothing.
Look at the American Pediatric report that just came out urging schools to reopen. I think it’s fair to say that if this had been released six weeks earlier, we would not be going into the fall with schools only attending in person classes twice a week. I suppose Northam feels like it’s too late to backtrack now, but does this mean he’s likely to reverse course a month into the school year? Schools are facing their lowest budgets ever and now they have to risk spending millions for something that may not be used beyond a few weeks? What is the solution to this? Or is there one?

What they spend is not something I care about at all. What a strange thing to be focused on.

You don’t care if the schools spend thousands of dollars on laptops, webcams, plexiglass, etc to only use for three weeks? You don’t see why skills would feel some reservation in making these purchases now or f it turns out they won’t have to use them?

No, I don’t. That is the absolute least of my concerns and i am bewildered that you think that is a problem.

[Anonymous]

OP, probably. But the reopeners are fussing the loudest, so squeaky wheel and all that.

[Anonymous]

I bet OP is OK with the amount we spend on Defense however.

Gotta love the ignorant.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would be THRILLED if that happened, because it would mean that the virus was being eradicated and in-person learning was safe.

But it's not going to happen. There is ZERO chance of that happening.

The more likely scenario is that we gear up for a hybrid schedule and then have to return to DL on short notice when there is an outbreak at a school or when the area's cases/hospitalizations get too high. The country has already returned to case counts like those at the beginning of the pandemic, and exponential growth is a bitch. Testing won't be able to keep up. Contact tracing won't do much good if the disease is running unchecked everywhere.

We should be aware of what's happening in the country, and also focus on what's happening locally. Fairfax county has returned (as in dropped) back down to where case counts were early in the pandemic as well (<100 new cases per day, lately averaging <50), and has hovered there for the past 3+ weeks. That's 0.1% of the county's population developing a new case monthly (at current rates), with about 0.01% getting hospitalized. Even 1-in-1000 of getting a case monthly merits vigilance, but not panic. Of course, Covid case numbers and case severity skew heavily towards seniors, so the raw numbers for kids (and the risks of transmission to/from/amongst kids) is only a fraction of those numbers that we're seeing for the community at-large.

Just 10 cases reported in Fairfax County today.

[Anonymous]

This is why MCPS is going to go totally DL except for limited Special Needs children.

[Anonymous]

There is also the highly problematic process of obtaining sufficient supplies (masks, disinfectant, gloves, etc). Schools may not be able to obtain enough of these supplies to last long enough.