How is MCPS determining red, yellow, green?

[Anonymous]

Closing schools does not slow the spread of covid in the community.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:When you look at the dashboard some of the schools going virtual have a similar number of cases to schools that are open.
https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/coronavirus/dashboard/index.aspx

I suspect they're using an 85% lottery to determine this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The color-coded system based on self-reported data is complete garbage. I’m an open-schooler but agree there are two scenarios to go virtual. Number 1 they are missing too many staff. In that case go virtual only as long as necessary until you get staff back. Maybe that’s 4 days maybe it’s 10. It will be school specific. Second, there may be concerning outbreaks at some schools (cough sports teams). In that case send the team home, or send the grade home, or if it crosses grades maybe on the advice of the health department close the school. It doesn’t need to be 14 days though. 5 days then test to return would be fine. These second scenarios should be rarer. The color system is a blunt instrument based on bad data. No scientist would support decisions being made as important as whether to close a school based on such garbage data.

Garbage data and the baseline should be 0 cases starting this morning not the positives over break.

I agree--it seems like some 22 year old came up with this idea without thinking through the real world impacts of closing a school down. how this impacts the kids, the parents, their well-being. this isn't a decision to take lightly and and these percentages are crap and the timeline is crap. They clearly aren't taking into account cases that are rolling off of isolation. my kid's school is sitting at 4.85%. with today's data release, i would expect to see a net change as other cases move out of isolation, but i'm not hopeful they're thinking that through, so we'll be red tomorrow and my kid will be home for some unknown amount of time (bc we know it's not going to be two weeks). and then when we blink yellow again, what if we turn red again two days later--we all go home again for another 14 days? who came up with this insanity?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The color-coded system based on self-reported data is complete garbage. I’m an open-schooler but agree there are two scenarios to go virtual. Number 1 they are missing too many staff. In that case go virtual only as long as necessary until you get staff back. Maybe that’s 4 days maybe it’s 10. It will be school specific. Second, there may be concerning outbreaks at some schools (cough sports teams). In that case send the team home, or send the grade home, or if it crosses grades maybe on the advice of the health department close the school. It doesn’t need to be 14 days though. 5 days then test to return would be fine. These second scenarios should be rarer. The color system is a blunt instrument based on bad data. No scientist would support decisions being made as important as whether to close a school based on such garbage data.

Garbage data and the baseline should be 0 cases starting this morning not the positives over break.

Yes. At the very least if they have to use this color coded system everybody starts today in green and then add cases preferably from verified sources so you are comparing apples to apples. The current system is comparing apples to elephants. There’s no way Roscoe Nix has 1 case or whatever they have and Kensington Parkwood has 29. The data is bad. You don’t make decisions based on bad data. It’s insane.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The color-coded system based on self-reported data is complete garbage. I’m an open-schooler but agree there are two scenarios to go virtual. Number 1 they are missing too many staff. In that case go virtual only as long as necessary until you get staff back. Maybe that’s 4 days maybe it’s 10. It will be school specific. Second, there may be concerning outbreaks at some schools (cough sports teams). In that case send the team home, or send the grade home, or if it crosses grades maybe on the advice of the health department close the school. It doesn’t need to be 14 days though. 5 days then test to return would be fine. These second scenarios should be rarer. The color system is a blunt instrument based on bad data. No scientist would support decisions being made as important as whether to close a school based on such garbage data.

Garbage data and the baseline should be 0 cases starting this morning not the positives over break.

I agree--it seems like some 22 year old came up with this idea without thinking through the real world impacts of closing a school down. how this impacts the kids, the parents, their well-being. this isn't a decision to take lightly and and these percentages are crap and the timeline is crap. They clearly aren't taking into account cases that are rolling off of isolation. my kid's school is sitting at 4.85%. with today's data release, i would expect to see a net change as other cases move out of isolation, but i'm not hopeful they're thinking that through, so we'll be red tomorrow and my kid will be home for some unknown amount of time (bc we know it's not going to be two weeks). and then when we blink yellow again, what if we turn red again two days later--we all go home again for another 14 days? who came up with this insanity?

Yup, and it disincentivizes testing and reporting. Also, who is keeping track of the people who were positive more than 14 days ago and making sure they come off the school's list of positive cases? I am so angry.

[Anonymous]

Has the dashboard been updated today? I find it kind of confusing (and I make dashboards a lot for work!)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Has the dashboard been updated today? I find it kind of confusing (and I make dashboards a lot for work!)

You have experience making dashboards? Maybe you should work for MCPS because it’s crystal clear that nobody with any critical thinking skills (not to mention math, statistics, or data science skills) came up with this fresh hell.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Has the dashboard been updated today? I find it kind of confusing (and I make dashboards a lot for work!)

You have experience making dashboards? Maybe you should work for MCPS because it’s crystal clear that nobody with any critical thinking skills (not to mention math, statistics, or data science skills) came up with this fresh hell.

It won't be updated again until 7pm.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Closing schools does not slow the spread of covid in the community.

This. How is that not clear to people by now?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So parents have to find childcare solutions in two-week increments? How is that possibly going to work?

Ironic isn't it? Liberals who don't care about education, children, or working families. They have put the public health bueracracy and teachers unions on a pedestal and don't give a s**t about you or your kids.

-A Democrat

+1 - a registered Democrat but unhappy with how county Democrats have kept bars and restaurants open but schools once again are closing. Education for students in Montgomery County is in the toilet. Nothing has been done to repair the damage of 18 months of virtual learning and now MCPS is putting students back online. The majority of families affected are the working poor in underserved and at risk communities.

I'm also a registered Democrat with a different take. Children cannot protect themselves, and if their parents throw them to the wolves (or into situations where they'll contract or have contracted the covid virus, as the case may be) - I believe it's the failure of Adults and the elected officials to protect them.

The only children damaged by virtual learning are the parents that withheld technology from their children. Most of the children my ES/MS kids know are all tech-saavy and had virtually no issues studying remotely. I do agree that the majority of working poor are underserved and at risk, however, it is MCPS leadership and the board themselves that refused to enable hybrid options last year and this year.

I'm sorry, but I have no sympathy for fools. I seriously believe these crazy people on the board and in the Central Office have lost all common sense and should be fired or voted out of office. I'm sick of and disgusted by them, but it is what it is.

Kids will get Covid, but the likelihood of serious illness is very very small especially for those vaccinated which means every child in elementary school through HS. Those of you who are so insistent that we close schools, tell me this - did you take your kids on a trip over the holidays? Did you bring them to a restaurant or a theme park or a sports game? Why are you willing to expose them to risks for entertainment but not for education? Why are we as a society willing to keep all other activities open and unrestricted while we move to shut schools?

I think I’m in the best position to judge if virtual learning “damaged” my first grader with ADHD. Well along with their therapist and doctors. We ALL agree it was a disaster for DC. And the numbers don’t lie about academic loss overall so you are fooling yourself if you think virtual school was fine for all kids. Lucky you if your kids were lucky and it wasn’t terrible for them.

DL was a nightmare for my child with ADHD also. The thing is they also have underlying medical condition making them high risk for severe covid complications. Stuck between a rock and a hard place. Ideal scenario would be make in person safer for all. That’s not happening. And VA not an option either for ADHD

MCPS has not even begun to address the needs of students who fell behind during 18 months of DL. Students with disabilities could not access accommodations or services and they regressed more than the average student. We received letters that there would be meetings to evaluate children for compensatory services. When are they going to happen and what is happening with their learning in the meantime?

Putting children with disabilities back online again would be a disaster. Federal complaints, state complaints, due process complaints, and lawsuits at this point are inevitable.

And noone is talking about kids with disabilities AND who are medically high risk! THe best thing would be to just make schools safer for all. I am amazed at how many of the so called equity advocates (looking at you the Together Again or whatever they call themselves these days) who flippantly say medically vulnerable kids can go to VA. The whole premise of their platform is that DL is lower quality, so why are they ok with kids who are medically vulnerable going to DL? Separate is not equal.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Closing schools does not slow the spread of covid in the community.

This. How is that not clear to people by now?

Because you can’t fix stupid.

[Anonymous]

Just when you think MCPS couldn’t get any worse, the bus thing happens and idiotic coding system. It’s seriously the most mismanaged public school system in the country.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Bars and restaurants should close BEFORE any school closes. Our county government is failing to respond even more so than MCPS. Tax dollars, jobs, and union interest over the educational needs of students.

you got what you voted for. Don’t complain.

MoCo needs tax dollars to operate.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The color-coded system based on self-reported data is complete garbage. I’m an open-schooler but agree there are two scenarios to go virtual. Number 1 they are missing too many staff. In that case go virtual only as long as necessary until you get staff back. Maybe that’s 4 days maybe it’s 10. It will be school specific. Second, there may be concerning outbreaks at some schools (cough sports teams). In that case send the team home, or send the grade home, or if it crosses grades maybe on the advice of the health department close the school. It doesn’t need to be 14 days though. 5 days then test to return would be fine. These second scenarios should be rarer. The color system is a blunt instrument based on bad data. No scientist would support decisions being made as important as whether to close a school based on such garbage data.

Garbage data and the baseline should be 0 cases starting this morning not the positives over break.

I agree--it seems like some 22 year old came up with this idea without thinking through the real world impacts of closing a school down. how this impacts the kids, the parents, their well-being. this isn't a decision to take lightly and and these percentages are crap and the timeline is crap. They clearly aren't taking into account cases that are rolling off of isolation. my kid's school is sitting at 4.85%. with today's data release, i would expect to see a net change as other cases move out of isolation, but i'm not hopeful they're thinking that through, so we'll be red tomorrow and my kid will be home for some unknown amount of time (bc we know it's not going to be two weeks). and then when we blink yellow again, what if we turn red again two days later--we all go home again for another 14 days? who came up with this insanity?

Yup, and it disincentivizes testing and reporting. Also, who is keeping track of the people who were positive more than 14 days ago and making sure they come off the school's list of positive cases? I am so angry.

Wait. I thought DCUM said students would game the system with tons of false positives!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The color-coded system based on self-reported data is complete garbage. I’m an open-schooler but agree there are two scenarios to go virtual. Number 1 they are missing too many staff. In that case go virtual only as long as necessary until you get staff back. Maybe that’s 4 days maybe it’s 10. It will be school specific. Second, there may be concerning outbreaks at some schools (cough sports teams). In that case send the team home, or send the grade home, or if it crosses grades maybe on the advice of the health department close the school. It doesn’t need to be 14 days though. 5 days then test to return would be fine. These second scenarios should be rarer. The color system is a blunt instrument based on bad data. No scientist would support decisions being made as important as whether to close a school based on such garbage data.

Garbage data and the baseline should be 0 cases starting this morning not the positives over break.

I agree--it seems like some 22 year old came up with this idea without thinking through the real world impacts of closing a school down. how this impacts the kids, the parents, their well-being. this isn't a decision to take lightly and and these percentages are crap and the timeline is crap. They clearly aren't taking into account cases that are rolling off of isolation. my kid's school is sitting at 4.85%. with today's data release, i would expect to see a net change as other cases move out of isolation, but i'm not hopeful they're thinking that through, so we'll be red tomorrow and my kid will be home for some unknown amount of time (bc we know it's not going to be two weeks). and then when we blink yellow again, what if we turn red again two days later--we all go home again for another 14 days? who came up with this insanity?

Yup, and it disincentivizes testing and reporting. Also, who is keeping track of the people who were positive more than 14 days ago and making sure they come off the school's list of positive cases? I am so angry.

Yes I was thinking this also. Are they keeping track of the moving window?

I want to audit their data.