Why are parents so fixated on reopening schools in-person?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Parent here.
I don't want schools open right now, for the obvious reasons you stated.
But it is beyond dumb to shut down schools while keeping bars and casinos open. It’s just near-sighted greed.
My kids are lucky to have great teachers who are really trying hard, but there is NO DOUBT that most kids, including mine, are missing out on important education. And that’s not even starting in on the profound stress and loss of income that having them home all day is putting on parents (I work from home and husband has to work out of home, so my work is suffering. Like many families, we aren’t rich enough to hire help and are just doing our best with it all).
OP, parents are angry that kids are at the bottom of the priorities list and that our society has been making choices that lead to the current situation. I wouldn’t ask a teacher to work in a school with the current metrics. But we didn't have to be here.

I don't usually wade into these endless arguments because it never changes minds, but why do you think that closing the bars/casinos etc. wouldn't impact kids? Don't you realize that the workers in those places have kids that need shelter and food (which is more important than education, which is happening, although not as effectively). I'm not arguing whether we should close or open the bars/casinos/restaurants or schools, even, but I just don't get why people think that closing people's jobs is automatically better for kids. Better for your YOUR kid, maybe, but certainly not all of them, and certainly not all the poor kids that the wealthy DCUMers want us to believe is the real source of their frustration about closed schools. I mean, are you guys so eager to open schools, and close down jobs that you are willing to pay higher taxes to make sure everyone receives enough financial support? Because right now the homelessness crisis is increasing by a huge magnitude and it's only going to get worse when evictions start happening again en masse, as the evictions stopped but the rent obligation has not.

Do you honestly not pay attention to how many women have had to quit their jobs or scale way back thisbyear in order to watch their kids? Only rich people can hire help. Kids are gone alone .org parents quit. Yes, I would payback higher taxes so barkeepers and waitresses could stay home and kids could safely go to school.

[Anonymous]

(1) I think the mental health impacts on kids are far more widespread than you might think, which is causing a lot of the frustration/anger over schools. And it's not just depression or sadness because they miss their friends. A lot of kids (mine included) who have never had any behavioral issues at all are experiencing the effects of having their schedules upended numerous times, of social isolation, of being promised or assured of certain outcomes and then having them changed last minute (leading to a lot of distrust of parents, teachers, and schools). Plus the mental health effects of DL itself -- the hours of looking at a screen, the impersonal nature of virtual classes, the lack of different kinds of sensory input that usually facilitate learning. A lot of kids are really struggling and parents are worried about them.

(2) Parents are fixated because school districts are fixated. My school district has done nothing to try and make DL better. There are glaring problems with the schedule, the technology, etc. There are some obvious things that could be done to improve it, but school systems aren't focused on that at all. They are exclusively interested in discussing the horizon issues of how and when re-opening happens.

I think you would see a lot of parents calm down if the school system could address the failings of DL, which would offer parents some immediate relief from some of their stress. I also think they would calm down quite a bit if schools/municipalities/counties offered some services that would help with kids' mental health, like outdoor after school programs that would facilitate socializing, get kids' bodies moving, and maybe even offer working parents some relief in the childcare department.

The problem is not that parents are being unreasonable. It's a total failure of leadership. If they can't reopen schools, they need to fix DL. If they can't fix DL, they need to find a way to reopen schools. Instead, they are doing neither and then blaming parents for wanting... what? What's best for their children? Yeah, parents are always going to advocate for that.

[Anonymous]

OP, are you a parent? If not, you can’t understand the impact that being out of school is having on kids of all ages. For a majority of us, it is NOT about child care. Some kids are doing fine with virtual school or homeschool, but many are getting depressed and regressing in their learning. Parents can’t fill those needs for all kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, are you a parent? If not, you can’t understand the impact that being out of school is having on kids of all ages. For a majority of us, it is NOT about child care. Some kids are doing fine with virtual school or homeschool, but many are getting depressed and regressing in their learning. Parents can’t fill those needs for all kids.

This. As a parent, I always focus on my kids' education, socialization, exercise, etc. But now I have to do basically ALL the socialization (because screen school is a poor proxy) and socialization around a full day of Zoom school, which is developmentally inappropriate for my young ES kids. Plus I have to fill in educational gaps from DL on top of the educational gaps in our districts' curriculum normally. I'm a parent, so yes, I'll do it. But it's basically the WORST of the public schools mixed with the WORST of homeschooling.

[Anonymous]

Why?

Because my kids are at a critical stage of development for academic learning, work habits, and social skills. Once this window closes, you don't get it back.

Because the burden of DL on working mothers and families is tremendous. Toxic levels of stress that were breaking me physically and mentally. I won't even start on the impact to my job and career.

Because I watched my previously thriving daughter basically shut down and refuse to learn through a virtual format. She also reverted back to separation anxiety and lost much of her independence and self confidence.

Because school is an essential service and should be treated as such. Despite exploding numbers of cases, no one suggests we should close grocery stores, doctors offices, police and EMS services, etc. We have bars and restaurants open but not schools. The inability of politicians to prioritize the needs of our children is unbelievable.

[Anonymous]

+1 on why:

Remote learning is gutting a generation of kids. Those who are economically disadvantaged are harmed the most. So middle finger to everyone pretending they’re doing what’s best for children.

When covid rates are high, schools should close.
When they’re low, they should be open with masks, plexiglass, distancing. Those measures work.

[Anonymous]

Because I believe that the severe educational loss going on will eventually kill as many or more people than covid-19 long-term, and cause more devastation.

[Anonymous]

They aren't worried about others getting sick and its all about their needs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think we have dumped so many social responsibilities on the school system—childcare, food, social skills, counseling, etc.—that we are just in a state of shock when they assert that their main job is education.

This.

That is also the reason why schools are considered good or bad is largely based on the student's SES, immigration status and ESOL abilities.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:They aren't worried about others getting sick and its all about their needs.

Have you really not read about the harm remote learning is causing?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:+1 on why:

Remote learning is gutting a generation of kids. Those who are economically disadvantaged are harmed the most. So middle finger to everyone pretending they’re doing what’s best for children.

When covid rates are high, schools should close.
When they’re low, they should be open with masks, plexiglass, distancing. Those measures work.

Disagree with this. Schools should open, with mitigation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:+1 on why:

Remote learning is gutting a generation of kids. Those who are economically disadvantaged are harmed the most. So middle finger to everyone pretending they’re doing what’s best for children.

When covid rates are high, schools should close.
When they’re low, they should be open with masks, plexiglass, distancing. Those measures work.

Disagree with this. Schools should open, with mitigation.

PP here. When covid rates are high in a community, it is more prevalent in a classroom, more teachers and admin are likely to be out sick. It just doesn’t work.

Covid rates are low right now in DMV. They have been low since the start of the school year. Schools should have opened then. Five full days a week. We knew covid rates were going to surge in late fall & winter. Everyone has been saying this since late spring! It’s mass incompetence that schools failed to open when rates were low.

[Anonymous]

I am a teacher. I do understand math and I think the youngest children and special needs children should be in school; many aren't learning remotely. If they are, that's great, DL should be an option.

It's not a "fixation". I'm not fetishizing in-person school. I'm not placing it above the health of people. I believe that we COULD open school safely for those youngest and neediest students - but we aren't willing to pay the price. I'm wishing society/government placed the reopening of schools much higher on the list of priorities. I want to see schools properly funded so they can improve ventilation, create isolation rooms for kids who are waiting to go home, prepare technology, hire additional staff to supervise groups of students, reduce class sizes, get transportation plans in place, increase sub pay so that when teachers are sick there IS a sub available, and put up party tents for subjects that might have outdoor lessons like art, PE, science, and music. They need to have both online and in-person classes be viable options, so will need more teachers.

Someone remarked that we shouldn't close bars because parents worked there and they need to pay rent and buy food. How about we subsidize those workers/establishments with cash payments to get them through the pandemic while leaving schools open? How about we put the money needed into schools so that they can open safely? Instead politicians are still babbling about cutting taxes and preventing "wasteful" spending. I don't think it's wasteful to make sure young kids get to be in school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am a teacher. I do understand math and I think the youngest children and special needs children should be in school; many aren't learning remotely. If they are, that's great, DL should be an option.

It's not a "fixation". I'm not fetishizing in-person school. I'm not placing it above the health of people. I believe that we COULD open school safely for those youngest and neediest students - but we aren't willing to pay the price. I'm wishing society/government placed the reopening of schools much higher on the list of priorities. I want to see schools properly funded so they can improve ventilation, create isolation rooms for kids who are waiting to go home, prepare technology, hire additional staff to supervise groups of students, reduce class sizes, get transportation plans in place, increase sub pay so that when teachers are sick there IS a sub available, and put up party tents for subjects that might have outdoor lessons like art, PE, science, and music. They need to have both online and in-person classes be viable options, so will need more teachers.

Someone remarked that we shouldn't close bars because parents worked there and they need to pay rent and buy food. How about we subsidize those workers/establishments with cash payments to get them through the pandemic while leaving schools open? How about we put the money needed into schools so that they can open safely? Instead politicians are still babbling about cutting taxes and preventing "wasteful" spending. I don't think it's wasteful to make sure young kids get to be in school.

I agree in theory, but our government is 100% dysfunctional and so we must reopen schools even without the additional funds.

[Anonymous]

I'm fixated because private school and Catholic school kids have been in school ALL YEAR in DC and elsewhere. There's no reason, other than politics, for public schools to be closed and private schools to be opened.

I'm also fixated because I can cite you name after name of public health experts, doctors, educators, who all say we need to reopen schools and prioritize schools. Yet contrary to the grandiose claims to "believe science," parents and politicians in DC are now completely ignoring all of this science.

And finally I'm fixated on the incredibly hypocrisy of progressives in DC pretending to care about black kids and marginalized people, all the while refusing to engage with the actual facts in front of their eyes: rich white kids in DC are being educated; poor black kids are not.