The prospect of kids not going back to school until 2021
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Anonymous
The majority of universities are planning to reopen in the fall. |
Anonymous
Most people would prefer to work from home rather than go into a physical location. Teachers are no different from other workers. And as a teacher, I think the teachers who are saying that they would rather be at work than being home are in the extreme minority, but somehow they have become the “voice” of teachers. |
Anonymous
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Anonymous
i know kids may carry the virus back into my home. Or someone will. It is inevitable. Why? Because we are all going to get it at some point. All. Of. Us. Most will have no symptoms, some will have mild symptoms, a few severe and a fraction will die but we will all get it unless you never ever leave your house for any reason until there is a vaccine two years from now. That is the truth. Easy for all but the most obtuse to see. In the meantime, kids have to go back to school. If you are older or compromised l, shelter in place. If you have someone older or compromised in your home then families should have the option to homeschool their children through distance learning but forcing ALL kids to stay home when they are not likely to get sick is just selfish. If you are that concerned, thank you for your efforts but it might be time to find another profession because distance learning is not teaching. |
Anonymous
The kids aren’t. But DCUM thinks MCPS employees and their families should be. Colleagues are discussing having to choose between the career they love and never visiting their elderly parents again. |
Anonymous
Sorry but then they have to make a choice. We all will. I don’t teach but I already know I cannot visit my elderly father until this is over. Teaching has nothing to do with making a responsible decision that everyone in this country has to make about the elderly and compromised in our lives. You aren’t special at all in that regard. Again, distance learning is not teaching. My middle school kid hasn’t seen 5 of his 6 teachers since March when school let out. He gets assignments in the form of slides and random stranger teachers trying to explain it in a single video. This pushed down through several platforms on Monday and then I and my partner spend all week “teaching” for hours. Then he slinks off to his room depressed because he misses his friend and school. Sorry we are all making hard decisions. You are an adult, you have choices. These kids don’t. They are being screwed over and seems you are ok with it. Selfish. |
Anonymous
That’s true of everyone who is back at work. Our family included. You are not unique. |
Anonymous
As a teacher, I agree with this. At this point, many of us will have to make a choice. It’s not easy, but I will not return to public school teaching in the fall, unless I feel it is safe to do so. I’m sprucing you the resume, applying for other jobs, and working hard on my side businesses. I highly suggest that other teacher do the same if you are not OK with going back in the fall. I know that some students are struggling with anxiety during this time. I hope they can find the support that they need. I personally think that if parents have the means to do so, then they are the first ones to provide that support. Ask yourself-what messages am I sharing with my child? Am I being a good example of resilience for them? I have a middle schooler as well. She’s an only child and she misses her friends too. Overall she’s focusing on how to help others that are in a worse situation. She is learning how to sew masks and focusing on hobbies that she loves. It’s all about perspective, folks. |
Anonymous
Ok ding dong...I know you learned a lot by watching Judge Judy and Matlock...but, this covid bullshit case would never get to a jury. Just the enormous expense to prove causation...which would be flat out impossible anyway. You would spend bank for a panel of experts who would be undone when someone asks if they can definitively say a kid caught covid at school...because they couldn’t. It would be dismissed on summary judgment...IF it could get that far, but, it wouldn’t because no lawyer worth half a crap would take this stinker case on contingency. |
Anonymous
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As a teacher, I agree with this. At this point, many of us will have to make a choice. It’s not easy, but I will not return to public school teaching in the fall, unless I feel it is safe to do so. I’m sprucing you the resume, applying for other jobs, and working hard on my side businesses. I highly suggest that other teacher do the same if you are not OK with going back in the fall. I know that some students are struggling with anxiety during this time. I hope they can find the support that they need. I personally think that if parents have the means to do so, then they are the first ones to provide that support. Ask yourself-what messages am I sharing with my child? Am I being a good example of resilience for them? I have a middle schooler as well. She’s an only child and she misses her friends too. Overall she’s focusing on how to help others that are in a worse situation. She is learning how to sew masks and focusing on hobbies that she loves. It’s all about perspective, folks. +1 Excellent points. Most won't see it this way unfortunately. |
Anonymous
| Teachers ARE willing to go back into the buildings IF there are reasonable safeguards. If/when schools reopen things will not be the same because, for every parent who wants them open ASAP there is another who wants to make sure their child isn’t unnecessarily exposed. Are parents okay with their kid wearing a mask? How about no recess in ES? Eating in the classroom? Multiple bus runs through the neighborhood or pack them in, as usual. We have around 750 kids in my ES. The logistics of simply getting them into the building every day—assuming there are temp checks or other safeguards—will slow everything down. That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try, but parent expectations need to adjust. We’ve gotten so “acclimated” to our current circumstance, it seems we are losing perspective on what is being asked: reopen schools for 166,000 students, ages 3 to 19, in the face of the worst pandemic in more than 100 years. |
Anonymous
Actually, it is pretty easy to determine transmission chains. There are small genetic changes that happen, so scientists can do this. It is how they do the more sophisticated surveillance after the fact. |
Anonymous
Ok, I’m going to sue the school...find me a scientist for hire to map out a transmission chain and then testify in court and tell me what that costs. I’m going to guess all the labs that do this work are university or government owned. |
Anonymous
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You miss the point. I am a teacher and I desperately want to get back with my students. I zoom with them daily for about an hour and have optional “check in” zooms every afternoon. I am working with some awesome parents who think of school as a partnership...and with some who are completely overwhelmed just trying to put food on the table...and some who have checked out because, despite access to technology and time, they have just given up because it is “too hard.” I want to go back...but I am very concerned that protocols and adequate funding for the myriad things we will need to stay safer (not completely safe) will not be followed or available. I don’t want to be put in the same position as the VERY brave hospital workers and others who had to improvise and scramble for basic protections. In regular times, schools are known to be vectors for spreading diseases. One HUGE unanswered question is whether kids can easily pass on the virus. There is not enough info yet to determine that. If they prove to be poor carriers, we can all breathe more easily. If they do turn out to be “good” carriers, not only are they endangering their classmates and school staff, they are endangering their own families. Those who advocate spreading the virus to foster herd immunity are simply saying a certain number of people will have to die in order to “beat” this. They have a point. But, the initial estimate, which the president likes to cite, predicted 2 million dead if we did NOTHING to halt the spread. We are approaching 100,000. How many are too many? You lost me at the sarcastic quotation marks. Guess what? We're struggling because it is hard. I have technology and sometimes time. But Im stressed. Im going in covid + rooms at my job. I don't have a choice to say no like you all. My kids aren't learning at all. My 4 year old has forgotten how to write her numbers even though i work on them in evenings when we get home. She cries everyday if when the virus will go away. She's even forgotten what our local grocery store looks like. My 8 year old is buried in screens. They both cry that they're bored all day every day. My 8 year old watches that video for class and is completely confused. The distance learning is a joke. So try to be more empathetic if someone tells you its hard. |
Anonymous
| My SEC college just brought 24,000 staff back on campus last week. This includes janitorial, clerical, admin, grounds, security, medical and professors. |