Diocese of Arlington Schools - Covid closings?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There’s a petition going around to ask st Ann to reconsider its week of virtual learning. They seem to have gone off the deep end and apparently require outdoor masking.

Just a new family trying to "shake things up a bit" at a school that has been around for over 70 years.

Bless...

From what I could tell the parents sled that instead of arbitrarily closing school because of a few positives to instead require testing to return. The principal rebuffed that request and instead shut it all down. Ridiculous. They don’t have vaccine staff (or student) mandates (so not surprised an older staff member died of COVID at another school, though still tragic to be sure) so instead put the burden of closed schools in children. The principal also said that he can’t the closing may go longer than just a week. St Ann continues to take ridiculous measures that don’t matter and hurt kids (closed schools, outdoor masking) and refuse to do any that may may staff upset (vaccine mandate, testing (costs $ that come from other parts of budget)).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There’s a petition going around to ask st Ann to reconsider its week of virtual learning. They seem to have gone off the deep end and apparently require outdoor masking.

Just a new family trying to "shake things up a bit" at a school that has been around for over 70 years.

Bless...

From what I could tell the parents sled that instead of arbitrarily closing school because of a few positives to instead require testing to return. The principal rebuffed that request and instead shut it all down. Ridiculous. They don’t have vaccine staff (or student) mandates (so not surprised an older staff member died of COVID at another school, though still tragic to be sure) so instead put the burden of closed schools in children. The principal also said that he can’t the closing may go longer than just a week. St Ann continues to take ridiculous measures that don’t matter and hurt kids (closed schools, outdoor masking) and refuse to do any that may may staff upset (vaccine mandate, testing (costs $ that come from other parts of budget)).

I love the logic here. "We have a few positives now, and if we have too many positives we may have to shut down. So to avoid having so many positives we have to shut down, we're going to shut down right now. Also I'm not interested in anything that might help me to identify positives before they come in the door."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There’s a petition going around to ask st Ann to reconsider its week of virtual learning. They seem to have gone off the deep end and apparently require outdoor masking.

Curious as to the reason for the petition?

What is wrong with virtual learning for one week considering the impact Omicron has had on the community in the last 2-3 weeks? Many families have been impacted and many others traveled and are now testing positive.

NP. We are a two parent working household, with demanding (especially in Jan). It's extremely challenging to work from home with very young children and we are obligated by our companies to either find daycare or take time off. There was no way to do this with HS kids being in school and therefore unable to babysit and help with virtual classwork. So now we have to split time off and disappoint our bosses at a time where job security is critical and definitely at risk with one of our employers.

Obviously if there was an actual exposure or our kid (or a classmate) tested positive we would have to do this - but to do it simply because our principal believes he knows better than the rest of the Arch Diocese and public/private schools in our area is beyond frustrating. Our kids have remained in school for the entire pandemic, and the protocols have worked.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There’s a petition going around to ask st Ann to reconsider its week of virtual learning. They seem to have gone off the deep end and apparently require outdoor masking.

Curious as to the reason for the petition?

What is wrong with virtual learning for one week considering the impact Omicron has had on the community in the last 2-3 weeks? Many families have been impacted and many others traveled and are now testing positive.

NP. We are a two parent working household, with demanding (especially in Jan). It's extremely challenging to work from home with very young children and we are obligated by our companies to either find daycare or take time off. There was no way to do this with HS kids being in school and therefore unable to babysit and help with virtual classwork. So now we have to split time off and disappoint our bosses at a time where job security is critical and definitely at risk with one of our employers.

Obviously if there was an actual exposure or our kid (or a classmate) tested positive we would have to do this - but to do it simply because our principal believes he knows better than the rest of the Arch Diocese and public/private schools in our area is beyond frustrating. Our kids have remained in school for the entire pandemic, and the protocols have worked.

NNP. There has also been a pretty disappointing lack of communication around this. An admin email announced the closure on 1/29 because "a number of students tested positive", but made it sound like it could go beyond a week. Principal confirmed it in another email two days later but at least said it was only a week. Nothing about strategy going forward, what the main issues are (staffing vs. in-school transmission), etc. The school is sending out longer emails on the hot lunch program than it is about this. I think that's a problem.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There’s a petition going around to ask st Ann to reconsider its week of virtual learning. They seem to have gone off the deep end and apparently require outdoor masking.

Curious as to the reason for the petition?

What is wrong with virtual learning for one week considering the impact Omicron has had on the community in the last 2-3 weeks? Many families have been impacted and many others traveled and are now testing positive.

NP. We are a two parent working household, with demanding (especially in Jan). It's extremely challenging to work from home with very young children and we are obligated by our companies to either find daycare or take time off. There was no way to do this with HS kids being in school and therefore unable to babysit and help with virtual classwork. So now we have to split time off and disappoint our bosses at a time where job security is critical and definitely at risk with one of our employers.

Obviously if there was an actual exposure or our kid (or a classmate) tested positive we would have to do this - but to do it simply because our principal believes he knows better than the rest of the Arch Diocese and public/private schools in our area is beyond frustrating. Our kids have remained in school for the entire pandemic, and the protocols have worked.

NNP. There has also been a pretty disappointing lack of communication around this. An admin email announced the closure on 1/29 because "a number of students tested positive", but made it sound like it could go beyond a week. Principal confirmed it in another email two days later but at least said it was only a week. Nothing about strategy going forward, what the main issues are (staffing vs. in-school transmission), etc. The school is sending out longer emails on the hot lunch program than it is about this. I think that's a problem.

Yes the principal keeps pushing stuff that doesn’t actually help with COVID mitigation and puts the entire burden in families and students. Outdoor masking and closed schools are dumb. Vaccine mandate and test-to-return would actually matter but won’t even be discussed. This school is off the reservation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There’s a petition going around to ask st Ann to reconsider its week of virtual learning. They seem to have gone off the deep end and apparently require outdoor masking.

Curious as to the reason for the petition?

What is wrong with virtual learning for one week considering the impact Omicron has had on the community in the last 2-3 weeks? Many families have been impacted and many others traveled and are now testing positive.

NP. We are a two parent working household, with demanding (especially in Jan). It's extremely challenging to work from home with very young children and we are obligated by our companies to either find daycare or take time off. There was no way to do this with HS kids being in school and therefore unable to babysit and help with virtual classwork. So now we have to split time off and disappoint our bosses at a time where job security is critical and definitely at risk with one of our employers.

Obviously if there was an actual exposure or our kid (or a classmate) tested positive we would have to do this - but to do it simply because our principal believes he knows better than the rest of the Arch Diocese and public/private schools in our area is beyond frustrating. Our kids have remained in school for the entire pandemic, and the protocols have worked.

I agree. Out diocesan school is also stuck in 2020. They think if they are "mostly open", but quarantining groups of exposed cases, they are great! No, adopt. test to stay and stop asking healthy kids to stay home!

NNP. There has also been a pretty disappointing lack of communication around this. An admin email announced the closure on 1/29 because "a number of students tested positive", but made it sound like it could go beyond a week. Principal confirmed it in another email two days later but at least said it was only a week. Nothing about strategy going forward, what the main issues are (staffing vs. in-school transmission), etc. The school is sending out longer emails on the hot lunch program than it is about this. I think that's a problem.

Yes the principal keeps pushing stuff that doesn’t actually help with COVID mitigation and puts the entire burden in families and students. Outdoor masking and closed schools are dumb. Vaccine mandate and test-to-return would actually matter but won’t even be discussed. This school is off the reservation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There’s a petition going around to ask st Ann to reconsider its week of virtual learning. They seem to have gone off the deep end and apparently require outdoor masking.

Curious as to the reason for the petition?

What is wrong with virtual learning for one week considering the impact Omicron has had on the community in the last 2-3 weeks? Many families have been impacted and many others traveled and are now testing positive.

NP. We are a two parent working household, with demanding (especially in Jan). It's extremely challenging to work from home with very young children and we are obligated by our companies to either find daycare or take time off. There was no way to do this with HS kids being in school and therefore unable to babysit and help with virtual classwork. So now we have to split time off and disappoint our bosses at a time where job security is critical and definitely at risk with one of our employers.

Obviously if there was an actual exposure or our kid (or a classmate) tested positive we would have to do this - but to do it simply because our principal believes he knows better than the rest of the Arch Diocese and public/private schools in our area is beyond frustrating. Our kids have remained in school for the entire pandemic, and the protocols have worked.

NNP. There has also been a pretty disappointing lack of communication around this. An admin email announced the closure on 1/29 because "a number of students tested positive", but made it sound like it could go beyond a week. Principal confirmed it in another email two days later but at least said it was only a week. Nothing about strategy going forward, what the main issues are (staffing vs. in-school transmission), etc. The school is sending out longer emails on the hot lunch program than it is about this. I think that's a problem.

Yes the principal keeps pushing stuff that doesn’t actually help with COVID mitigation and puts the entire burden in families and students. Outdoor masking and closed schools are dumb. Vaccine mandate and test-to-return would actually matter but won’t even be discussed. This school is off the reservation.

I agree. Out diocesan school is also stuck in 2020. They think if they are "mostly open", but quarantining groups of exposed cases, they are great! No, adopt. test to stay and stop asking healthy kids to stay home!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There’s a petition going around to ask st Ann to reconsider its week of virtual learning. They seem to have gone off the deep end and apparently require outdoor masking.

Curious as to the reason for the petition?

What is wrong with virtual learning for one week considering the impact Omicron has had on the community in the last 2-3 weeks? Many families have been impacted and many others traveled and are now testing positive.

NP. We are a two parent working household, with demanding (especially in Jan). It's extremely challenging to work from home with very young children and we are obligated by our companies to either find daycare or take time off. There was no way to do this with HS kids being in school and therefore unable to babysit and help with virtual classwork. So now we have to split time off and disappoint our bosses at a time where job security is critical and definitely at risk with one of our employers.

Obviously if there was an actual exposure or our kid (or a classmate) tested positive we would have to do this - but to do it simply because our principal believes he knows better than the rest of the Arch Diocese and public/private schools in our area is beyond frustrating. Our kids have remained in school for the entire pandemic, and the protocols have worked.

NNP. There has also been a pretty disappointing lack of communication around this. An admin email announced the closure on 1/29 because "a number of students tested positive", but made it sound like it could go beyond a week. Principal confirmed it in another email two days later but at least said it was only a week. Nothing about strategy going forward, what the main issues are (staffing vs. in-school transmission), etc. The school is sending out longer emails on the hot lunch program than it is about this. I think that's a problem.

Yes the principal keeps pushing stuff that doesn’t actually help with COVID mitigation and puts the entire burden in families and students. Outdoor masking and closed schools are dumb. Vaccine mandate and test-to-return would actually matter but won’t even be discussed. This school is off the reservation.

I agree. Out diocesan school is also stuck in 2020. They think if they are "mostly open", but quarantining groups of exposed cases, they are great! No, adopt. test to stay and stop asking healthy kids to stay home!

Are the exposed cases being quarantined vaccinated? I thought the guidance was that vaccinated close contacts don't have to quarantine?

[Anonymous]

In our school those in close contact are asked to quarantine. Others are made aware and given the option to quarantine.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Reading this thread knowing that an ADW grade school teacher died from COVID over Christmas break sure is something.

Horrible and sobering. I hope the parents in this thread asking for fewer mitigations take a moment to reflect — how did we go from Catholic schools leading the way to show all schools, public and private, how to get back to the classroom safely, to this, where we argue that simple measures like testing are bad because then we’ll know if our kids have COVID and thus should stay home. That’s not the Catholic Church I am part of.

You were able to "lead the way" because everyone else was locked down last year. You didn't show anyone anything special. Just that upper middle class white people will find a way to get their way in any circumstance, no matter what. A little bit of money and smaller numbers goes very far in a pandemic. Now that this new wave is upon us, you are all freaking out because the house of cards is falling. Too many teachers will be sick and you will not be able to have warm bodies in the classroom to babysit your kids. You are also part of why too many teachers (and children will get sick). We all saw your social media posts over break with large, unmasked gatherings, ski trips, Florida trips etc.

The Catholic Church you are "part of" is only as strong as its weakest, most immoral, anti community members. Good luck. I am not holding out any hope that your brethren will step up to the plate and do their part.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Reading this thread knowing that an ADW grade school teacher died from COVID over Christmas break sure is something.

Horrible and sobering. I hope the parents in this thread asking for fewer mitigations take a moment to reflect — how did we go from Catholic schools leading the way to show all schools, public and private, how to get back to the classroom safely, to this, where we argue that simple measures like testing are bad because then we’ll know if our kids have COVID and thus should stay home. That’s not the Catholic Church I am part of.

You were able to "lead the way" because everyone else was locked down last year. You didn't show anyone anything special. Just that upper middle class white people will find a way to get their way in any circumstance, no matter what. A little bit of money and smaller numbers goes very far in a pandemic. Now that this new wave is upon us, you are all freaking out because the house of cards is falling. Too many teachers will be sick and you will not be able to have warm bodies in the classroom to babysit your kids. You are also part of why too many teachers (and children will get sick). We all saw your social media posts over break with large, unmasked gatherings, ski trips, Florida trips etc.

The Catholic Church you are "part of" is only as strong as its weakest, most immoral, anti community members. Good luck. I am not holding out any hope that your brethren will step up to the plate and do their part.

You seem nice.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Reading this thread knowing that an ADW grade school teacher died from COVID over Christmas break sure is something.

Horrible and sobering. I hope the parents in this thread asking for fewer mitigations take a moment to reflect — how did we go from Catholic schools leading the way to show all schools, public and private, how to get back to the classroom safely, to this, where we argue that simple measures like testing are bad because then we’ll know if our kids have COVID and thus should stay home. That’s not the Catholic Church I am part of.

You were able to "lead the way" because everyone else was locked down last year. You didn't show anyone anything special. Just that upper middle class white people will find a way to get their way in any circumstance, no matter what. A little bit of money and smaller numbers goes very far in a pandemic. Now that this new wave is upon us, you are all freaking out because the house of cards is falling. Too many teachers will be sick and you will not be able to have warm bodies in the classroom to babysit your kids. You are also part of why too many teachers (and children will get sick). We all saw your social media posts over break with large, unmasked gatherings, ski trips, Florida trips etc.

The Catholic Church you are "part of" is only as strong as its weakest, most immoral, anti community members. Good luck. I am not holding out any hope that your brethren will step up to the plate and do their part.

You seem nice.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There’s a petition going around to ask st Ann to reconsider its week of virtual learning. They seem to have gone off the deep end and apparently require outdoor masking.

Curious as to the reason for the petition?

What is wrong with virtual learning for one week considering the impact Omicron has had on the community in the last 2-3 weeks? Many families have been impacted and many others traveled and are now testing positive.

NP. We are a two parent working household, with demanding (especially in Jan). It's extremely challenging to work from home with very young children and we are obligated by our companies to either find daycare or take time off. There was no way to do this with HS kids being in school and therefore unable to babysit and help with virtual classwork. So now we have to split time off and disappoint our bosses at a time where job security is critical and definitely at risk with one of our employers.

Obviously if there was an actual exposure or our kid (or a classmate) tested positive we would have to do this - but to do it simply because our principal believes he knows better than the rest of the Arch Diocese and public/private schools in our area is beyond frustrating. Our kids have remained in school for the entire pandemic, and the protocols have worked.

NNP. There has also been a pretty disappointing lack of communication around this. An admin email announced the closure on 1/29 because "a number of students tested positive", but made it sound like it could go beyond a week. Principal confirmed it in another email two days later but at least said it was only a week. Nothing about strategy going forward, what the main issues are (staffing vs. in-school transmission), etc. The school is sending out longer emails on the hot lunch program than it is about this. I think that's a problem.

Yes the principal keeps pushing stuff that doesn’t actually help with COVID mitigation and puts the entire burden in families and students. Outdoor masking and closed schools are dumb. Vaccine mandate and test-to-return would actually matter but won’t even be discussed. This school is off the reservation.

I agree. Out diocesan school is also stuck in 2020. They think if they are "mostly open", but quarantining groups of exposed cases, they are great! No, adopt. test to stay and stop asking healthy kids to stay home!

Are the exposed cases being quarantined vaccinated? I thought the guidance was that vaccinated close contacts don't have to quarantine?

All of this could be solved with a "test to return" (whenever we go back at this point) and "test to stay" (if vaccinated and not showing symptoms after close contact) approach. It's not rocket science.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Reading this thread knowing that an ADW grade school teacher died from COVID over Christmas break sure is something.

Horrible and sobering. I hope the parents in this thread asking for fewer mitigations take a moment to reflect — how did we go from Catholic schools leading the way to show all schools, public and private, how to get back to the classroom safely, to this, where we argue that simple measures like testing are bad because then we’ll know if our kids have COVID and thus should stay home. That’s not the Catholic Church I am part of.

You were able to "lead the way" because everyone else was locked down last year. You didn't show anyone anything special. Just that upper middle class white people will find a way to get their way in any circumstance, no matter what. A little bit of money and smaller numbers goes very far in a pandemic. Now that this new wave is upon us, you are all freaking out because the house of cards is falling. Too many teachers will be sick and you will not be able to have warm bodies in the classroom to babysit your kids. You are also part of why too many teachers (and children will get sick). We all saw your social media posts over break with large, unmasked gatherings, ski trips, Florida trips etc.

The Catholic Church you are "part of" is only as strong as its weakest, most immoral, anti community members. Good luck. I am not holding out any hope that your brethren will step up to the plate and do their part.

The bolded text is true of every community, of every size (including just a general "school community", whether public, private, parochial, etc). None of that is specific to any religion, so I'm not sure why you seem to view it as specific to the Catholic church?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There’s a petition going around to ask st Ann to reconsider its week of virtual learning. They seem to have gone off the deep end and apparently require outdoor masking.

Curious as to the reason for the petition?

What is wrong with virtual learning for one week considering the impact Omicron has had on the community in the last 2-3 weeks? Many families have been impacted and many others traveled and are now testing positive.

NP. We are a two parent working household, with demanding (especially in Jan). It's extremely challenging to work from home with very young children and we are obligated by our companies to either find daycare or take time off. There was no way to do this with HS kids being in school and therefore unable to babysit and help with virtual classwork. So now we have to split time off and disappoint our bosses at a time where job security is critical and definitely at risk with one of our employers.

Obviously if there was an actual exposure or our kid (or a classmate) tested positive we would have to do this - but to do it simply because our principal believes he knows better than the rest of the Arch Diocese and public/private schools in our area is beyond frustrating. Our kids have remained in school for the entire pandemic, and the protocols have worked.

NNP. There has also been a pretty disappointing lack of communication around this. An admin email announced the closure on 1/29 because "a number of students tested positive", but made it sound like it could go beyond a week. Principal confirmed it in another email two days later but at least said it was only a week. Nothing about strategy going forward, what the main issues are (staffing vs. in-school transmission), etc. The school is sending out longer emails on the hot lunch program than it is about this. I think that's a problem.

Yes the principal keeps pushing stuff that doesn’t actually help with COVID mitigation and puts the entire burden in families and students. Outdoor masking and closed schools are dumb. Vaccine mandate and test-to-return would actually matter but won’t even be discussed. This school is off the reservation.

I agree. Out diocesan school is also stuck in 2020. They think if they are "mostly open", but quarantining groups of exposed cases, they are great! No, adopt. test to stay and stop asking healthy kids to stay home!

Are the exposed cases being quarantined vaccinated? I thought the guidance was that vaccinated close contacts don't have to quarantine?

All of this could be solved with a "test to return" (whenever we go back at this point) and "test to stay" (if vaccinated and not showing symptoms after close contact) approach. It's not rocket science.

The unvaccinated should also be allowed to test and stay after exposure. Not everyone that is exposed contracts COVID. And, plenty of vaccinated people are getting sick.

Finally, at some point, even testing needs to end. COVID exposure is off the charts, you can't expect people to test and stay, or quarantine constantly. People need to accept that everyone is exposed every day, and only the sick, not the exposed, should be staying home.