We are going to look like fools DL while the rest of the country opens up

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Berkeley Count, WV -- about a 1-hour drive from MoCo -- will be reopening for 5-day in-person instruction for children that want it. DL for those who dont':

https://www.heraldmailmedia.com/news/tri_state/west_virginia/berkeley-county-schools-seeks-input-on-re-entry-plan/article_52640646-4f4d-571a-9afa-f9545f218bde.html

Most interesting is this:

"Approximately half of the district’s 3,000 employees have responded to a survey asking for their comments, and 78 percent of the respondents have indicated a willingness to return to school, he said"

So 78 percent of staff there are willing to go back to school, compared to only 25% of MCPS staff.

Ah, yes, the educational powerhouse that is WEST VIRGINIA. LOL. Ranked somewhere right around 40th of the 50 states in public schools.

Anyone who moves their kids there just to get in-person will prove beyond any doubt that they don't give a damn about education -- they just want free babysitting.

Of course, a school district that has 19,500 students, four high schools, six middle schools, six intermediate schools and 16 elementary schools is definitely the county that should be the example for MD schools.

Montgomery County has 163K students, 25 high schools, 40 middle schools and 135 elementary schools
PG County has 130K students, 23 high schools, 24 middle schools, 123 elementary school schools and 8 academy/charter schools
Anne Arundel has 80K students, 12 high schools, 19 middle schools, 79 elementary schools
Howard County has 59K students, 12 high schools, 20 middle schools, 42 elementary schools

It's a trivial jump to go from under 20K students and 32 schools to 160K students and 200 schools. I'm sure all of the problems and solutions scale perfectly to size and there will be no additional problems of scale.

[Anonymous]

I posted this in a thread in the general Schools and Education forum, but thought it was appropriate here, too.

Are you so sure we're going to look like fools? This has happened in the first few days of schools opening around the country.

Anonymous wrote:Schools that are opening are full of chaos. So many superspreader events. Schools with some students quarantined, some teachers infected and part of the school DL and some in-person. No idea what your next school day is going to look like. I'm sure this type of Trump/Devos roulette is just great for everyone.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/03/us/school-closing-coronavirus.html

More than 200 employees have been barred from work in Georgia’s largest school district. A high school in Indiana had to shift to online learning after just two days. And students in Mississippi were forced to quarantine after classmates tested positive for the coronavirus during the first week of classes.

The new academic year is off to a chaotic start as schools open in some parts of the country while infections continue to rage. Already in the South and the Midwest, students and teachers have brought the virus to school with them, triggering quarantines, delayed openings and temporary shutdowns as positive tests roll in.

It took no time at all for the virus to appear in hallways and classrooms after schools started in Indiana on Thursday. At Greenfield Central Junior High School, outside Indianapolis, a student received a positive test on the very first day of classes, and students who had been in close contact were told to quarantine for 14 days.

In Elwood, Ind., a community of about 8,000 in the central part of the state, the superintendent of the Elwood Community School Corporation sent out a note on Saturday thanking students and parents for “a great first two days of school!” But the optimistic tone quickly gave way: Several staff members had tested positive for the virus, he wrote, and one employee at the high school had potentially exposed other staff members.

Students in seventh through 12th grades are now spending this week learning online. Officials plan to return to in-classroom learning as soon as next week.

In some cases, the virus has arrived in schools even before the students.

In Gwinnett County, Ga., the largest school system in the state, teachers returned to work on Wednesday in preparation for starting classes remotely on Aug. 12. But as of Thursday, about 260 employees had been excluded from work because they tested positive or had potentially been exposed to the virus.

About 55 miles away, a district in Pickens County, Ga., faced a similar problem after staff members who gathered for training at an elementary school showed coronavirus symptoms. The district, which serves about 4,400 students, delayed the start of school for two weeks so all of that school’s employees could get tested.

At Corinth High School in northern Mississippi, students are filing into classrooms according to seating charts to limit their contacts with others. They eat breakfast and lunch at their desks. English and math classes are taught in big open spaces, like the cafeteria.

Still, at least three students have tested positive for the virus since school started last week, and about 40 are in quarantine.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I posted this in a thread in the general Schools and Education forum, but thought it was appropriate here, too.

Are you so sure we're going to look like fools? This has happened in the first few days of schools opening around the country.

Anonymous wrote:Schools that are opening are full of chaos. So many superspreader events. Schools with some students quarantined, some teachers infected and part of the school DL and some in-person. No idea what your next school day is going to look like. I'm sure this type of Trump/Devos roulette is just great for everyone.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/03/us/school-closing-coronavirus.html

More than 200 employees have been barred from work in Georgia’s largest school district. A high school in Indiana had to shift to online learning after just two days. And students in Mississippi were forced to quarantine after classmates tested positive for the coronavirus during the first week of classes.

The new academic year is off to a chaotic start as schools open in some parts of the country while infections continue to rage. Already in the South and the Midwest, students and teachers have brought the virus to school with them, triggering quarantines, delayed openings and temporary shutdowns as positive tests roll in.

It took no time at all for the virus to appear in hallways and classrooms after schools started in Indiana on Thursday. At Greenfield Central Junior High School, outside Indianapolis, a student received a positive test on the very first day of classes, and students who had been in close contact were told to quarantine for 14 days.

In Elwood, Ind., a community of about 8,000 in the central part of the state, the superintendent of the Elwood Community School Corporation sent out a note on Saturday thanking students and parents for “a great first two days of school!” But the optimistic tone quickly gave way: Several staff members had tested positive for the virus, he wrote, and one employee at the high school had potentially exposed other staff members.

Students in seventh through 12th grades are now spending this week learning online. Officials plan to return to in-classroom learning as soon as next week.

In some cases, the virus has arrived in schools even before the students.

In Gwinnett County, Ga., the largest school system in the state, teachers returned to work on Wednesday in preparation for starting classes remotely on Aug. 12. But as of Thursday, about 260 employees had been excluded from work because they tested positive or had potentially been exposed to the virus.

About 55 miles away, a district in Pickens County, Ga., faced a similar problem after staff members who gathered for training at an elementary school showed coronavirus symptoms. The district, which serves about 4,400 students, delayed the start of school for two weeks so all of that school’s employees could get tested.

At Corinth High School in northern Mississippi, students are filing into classrooms according to seating charts to limit their contacts with others. They eat breakfast and lunch at their desks. English and math classes are taught in big open spaces, like the cafeteria.

Still, at least three students have tested positive for the virus since school started last week, and about 40 are in quarantine.

Completely foreseeable.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:“I WANT MY KIDS TO BE F2F EDUCATED, DEAD OR ALIVE!”

This what these people sound like.

No, more like "I CaNt StAnD To BE Al1OnE wItH MyKId aT HoMe AnYm0re!1"

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:“I WANT MY KIDS TO BE F2F EDUCATED, DEAD OR ALIVE!”

This what these people sound like.

No, more like "I CaNt StAnD To BE Al1OnE wItH MyKId aT HoMe AnYm0re!1"

I especially love the ones who think it is detrimental to their children's mental health to spend time with them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I posted this in a thread in the general Schools and Education forum, but thought it was appropriate here, too.

Are you so sure we're going to look like fools? This has happened in the first few days of schools opening around the country.

Anonymous wrote:Schools that are opening are full of chaos. So many superspreader events. Schools with some students quarantined, some teachers infected and part of the school DL and some in-person. No idea what your next school day is going to look like. I'm sure this type of Trump/Devos roulette is just great for everyone.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/03/us/school-closing-coronavirus.html

More than 200 employees have been barred from work in Georgia’s largest school district. A high school in Indiana had to shift to online learning after just two days. And students in Mississippi were forced to quarantine after classmates tested positive for the coronavirus during the first week of classes.

The new academic year is off to a chaotic start as schools open in some parts of the country while infections continue to rage. Already in the South and the Midwest, students and teachers have brought the virus to school with them, triggering quarantines, delayed openings and temporary shutdowns as positive tests roll in.

It took no time at all for the virus to appear in hallways and classrooms after schools started in Indiana on Thursday. At Greenfield Central Junior High School, outside Indianapolis, a student received a positive test on the very first day of classes, and students who had been in close contact were told to quarantine for 14 days.

In Elwood, Ind., a community of about 8,000 in the central part of the state, the superintendent of the Elwood Community School Corporation sent out a note on Saturday thanking students and parents for “a great first two days of school!” But the optimistic tone quickly gave way: Several staff members had tested positive for the virus, he wrote, and one employee at the high school had potentially exposed other staff members.

Students in seventh through 12th grades are now spending this week learning online. Officials plan to return to in-classroom learning as soon as next week.

In some cases, the virus has arrived in schools even before the students.

In Gwinnett County, Ga., the largest school system in the state, teachers returned to work on Wednesday in preparation for starting classes remotely on Aug. 12. But as of Thursday, about 260 employees had been excluded from work because they tested positive or had potentially been exposed to the virus.

About 55 miles away, a district in Pickens County, Ga., faced a similar problem after staff members who gathered for training at an elementary school showed coronavirus symptoms. The district, which serves about 4,400 students, delayed the start of school for two weeks so all of that school’s employees could get tested.

At Corinth High School in northern Mississippi, students are filing into classrooms according to seating charts to limit their contacts with others. They eat breakfast and lunch at their desks. English and math classes are taught in big open spaces, like the cafeteria.

Still, at least three students have tested positive for the virus since school started last week, and about 40 are in quarantine.

Completely foreseeable.

In a week or two it will be 400 cases.

[Anonymous]

You can add Chicago to the growing list of districts starting virtually, along with Alexandria, VA and many of the local private schools.

Such a mess.

[Anonymous]

“We are going to look like fools DL while the rest of the country opens up.”

Would people rather be Smart & Dead or Foolish & Alive?

The funny thing is that typically Smart People stay alive for not doing Foolish things. Sending our kids back into crowded schools is very Foolish.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:“I WANT MY KIDS TO BE F2F EDUCATED, DEAD OR ALIVE!”

This what these people sound like.

No, more like "I CaNt StAnD To BE Al1OnE wItH MyKId aT HoMe AnYm0re!1"

I especially love the ones who think it is detrimental to their children's mental health to spend time with them.

If you were a ‘Karen‘ then you would want to send your DC to school, even in a worldwide pandemic, to protect them from you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:People in this area are generally better educated (I won't say more intelligent although I believe that to be true) than the rest of the country, so I'm confident we will end up looking better than the parts of the country that re-opened. We're making the smarter choice to continue with DL.

We aren't the east coast, intellectual elite for nothing.

This has to be parody, right?

[Anonymous]

At Corinth High School in northern Mississippi, students are filing into classrooms according to seating charts to limit their contacts with others. They eat breakfast and lunch at their desks. English and math classes are taught in big open spaces, like the cafeteria.

Still, at least three students have tested positive for the virus since school started last week, and about 40 are in quarantine.

And the update from Corinth is that 6 students and 1 staff member were tested positive. 116 students are now at home in 14 day quarantine. Due to how the school year was structured, those 116 students will have no schooling for those 14 days. The school system allowed families to choose in-person, or distance learning, but they can only change from one to the other before the start of any 9 week quarter. So kids that were full in-person cannot switch to distance learning mid-quarter. So, they are essentially out of school for 2 of the 9 weeks.

https://www.cnn.com/2020/08/05/us/mississippi-school-district-coronavirus-trnd/index.html

With 116 out of 2700 students (4%) after the first week of school, the question is how long and how many students will be affected before they realize just how bad this idea really was?

[Anonymous]

We already look like fools!

[Anonymous]

I think what I find so frustrating is the leadership vacuum. Look at the state of NY- they provided specific guidance and then individual districts had to submit their plans to the state for approval. My teacher friends in upstate NY are cautiously optimistic about returning to the classroom. Meanwhile in MD all the districts were left to their own devices until MoCo issues a directive on the private schools that Hogan didn’t like. Just a lot of political infighting vs. an honest conversation about what is best for kids.

[Anonymous]

We're going to look like fools! How embarrassing!! OMG OMG OMG!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think what I find so frustrating is the leadership vacuum. Look at the state of NY- they provided specific guidance and then individual districts had to submit their plans to the state for approval. My teacher friends in upstate NY are cautiously optimistic about returning to the classroom. Meanwhile in MD all the districts were left to their own devices until MoCo issues a directive on the private schools that Hogan didn’t like. Just a lot of political infighting vs. an honest conversation about what is best for kids.

NY is in a much better situation than MD. They have less than 25% the number of cases per capita.