Why doesn't MCPS seem to have a covid plan for the fall?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m a safety conscious person, but I’m with others. MCPS has stated, repeatedly, Open 5 days a week, in person, with Masks, and lunch provided for all students(though this doesn’t stop you from packing your own). If you want lunch seating/location plans reach out to your school. Anything beyond that is not going to help with your planning.

Sure there will be metrics for quarantine of class or school. But even if you had those right now, how would that help you as a parent plan? There’s no way to maintain 3ft in all spaces at all times and have full in person school. Hybrid is not a primary plan for fall no matter how much some wish it. Obviously it can be a contingency because it was utilized last year, just like full DL can be a contingency.

Obviously all CDC recommendations are not going to be implemented. How do we know? Because they won’t allow 5day in person school for all which is the basic premise.

I know it's frustrating but MCPS couldn't have predicted that there'd be a new surge of an even more contagious variant that affects children at a higher rate when they made those statements.

Oh, the hell they couldn't have. India was on fire with this already at that time.

[Anonymous]

Dr. McKnight is going to do all she can to make sure our students open fully and safely. She's shown herself worthy of the Boards confidence in her. I think our kids are in capable hands.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:a report by two Duke University scientists who reviewed data from March through June 2021 in 100 school districts and 14 charter schools in North Carolina found that wearing masks effectively prevented the transmission of the virus in schools and on buses even without physical distancing.

that was before the Delta variant became dominant

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Dr. McKnight is going to do all she can to make sure our students open fully and safely. She's shown herself worthy of the Boards confidence in her. I think our kids are in capable hands.

No, she's not doing everything she can if she doesn't even have mandatory testing and quarantining.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m a safety conscious person, but I’m with others. MCPS has stated, repeatedly, Open 5 days a week, in person, with Masks, and lunch provided for all students(though this doesn’t stop you from packing your own). If you want lunch seating/location plans reach out to your school. Anything beyond that is not going to help with your planning.

Sure there will be metrics for quarantine of class or school. But even if you had those right now, how would that help you as a parent plan? There’s no way to maintain 3ft in all spaces at all times and have full in person school. Hybrid is not a primary plan for fall no matter how much some wish it. Obviously it can be a contingency because it was utilized last year, just like full DL can be a contingency.

Obviously all CDC recommendations are not going to be implemented. How do we know? Because they won’t allow 5day in person school for all which is the basic premise.

I know it's frustrating but MCPS couldn't have predicted that there'd be a new surge of an even more contagious variant that affects children at a higher rate when they made those statements.

Oh, the hell they couldn't have. India was on fire with this already at that time.

If they weren't looking abroad, they can look at certain states now. They have to airlift people out for hospital beds.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:a report by two Duke University scientists who reviewed data from March through June 2021 in 100 school districts and 14 charter schools in North Carolina found that wearing masks effectively prevented the transmission of the virus in schools and on buses even without physical distancing.

that was before the Delta variant became dominant

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Dr. McKnight is going to do all she can to make sure our students open fully and safely. She's shown herself worthy of the Boards confidence in her. I think our kids are in capable hands.

+100

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m a safety conscious person, but I’m with others. MCPS has stated, repeatedly, Open 5 days a week, in person, with Masks, and lunch provided for all students(though this doesn’t stop you from packing your own). If you want lunch seating/location plans reach out to your school. Anything beyond that is not going to help with your planning.

Sure there will be metrics for quarantine of class or school. But even if you had those right now, how would that help you as a parent plan? There’s no way to maintain 3ft in all spaces at all times and have full in person school. Hybrid is not a primary plan for fall no matter how much some wish it. Obviously it can be a contingency because it was utilized last year, just like full DL can be a contingency.

Obviously all CDC recommendations are not going to be implemented. How do we know? Because they won’t allow 5day in person school for all which is the basic premise.

I know it's frustrating but MCPS couldn't have predicted that there'd be a new surge of an even more contagious variant that affects children at a higher rate when they made those statements.

Oh, the hell they couldn't have. India was on fire with this already at that time.

If they weren't looking abroad, they can look at certain states now. They have to airlift people out for hospital beds.

Those states have leaders forbidding mask mandates and low vaccination rates. Completely different here.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

If they weren't looking abroad, they can look at certain states now. They have to airlift people out for hospital beds.

Are you referring to states that have very low vaccination rates and governors/legislatures that have forbidden mask requirements?

[Anonymous]

Why are people saying there won’t be pooled testing? Did MCPS make a public announcement about that? I haven’t seen anything about it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Dr. McKnight is going to do all she can to make sure our students open fully and safely. She's shown herself worthy of the Boards confidence in her. I think our kids are in capable hands.

No, she's not doing everything she can if she doesn't even have mandatory testing and quarantining.

Mandatory testing is unlikely to ever happen in MCPS. They couldn’t even get enough buy-in to do effective pooled testing last spring. People shrieked bloody murder at the idea of self-testing, and they’ll never have the qualified staff or the time to do regular testing of every single kid in every school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Dr. McKnight is going to do all she can to make sure our students open fully and safely. She's shown herself worthy of the Boards confidence in her. I think our kids are in capable hands.

No, she's not doing everything she can if she doesn't even have mandatory testing and quarantining.

Mandatory testing is unlikely to ever happen in MCPS. They couldn’t even get enough buy-in to do effective pooled testing last spring. People shrieked bloody murder at the idea of self-testing, and they’ll never have the qualified staff or the time to do regular testing of every single kid in every school.

I don't know whether pooled testing is or is not effective, but just a note about last year. Both of my kids' schools made it very difficult to opt into testing. There was no Google Form, so you had to either print, sign, scan, and email back or have access to "digital signature" software. It was prohibitive. If they did opt-out or even a Google Form, I think you'd have much better uptake.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Dr. McKnight is going to do all she can to make sure our students open fully and safely. She's shown herself worthy of the Boards confidence in her. I think our kids are in capable hands.

No, she's not doing everything she can if she doesn't even have mandatory testing and quarantining.

Mandatory testing is unlikely to ever happen in MCPS. They couldn’t even get enough buy-in to do effective pooled testing last spring. People shrieked bloody murder at the idea of self-testing, and they’ll never have the qualified staff or the time to do regular testing of every single kid in every school.

Yes, I remember many, many posts on DCUM insisting that they would absolutely not allow their elementary-school kid to get tested.

Almost as many posts as there now are on DCUM complaining that MCPS is not doing testing in elementary school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Dr. McKnight is going to do all she can to make sure our students open fully and safely. She's shown herself worthy of the Boards confidence in her. I think our kids are in capable hands.

LOL

That sounds like something straight from the MCPS BS department. Oh, sorry, I meant PR department. Complete with a grammatical error and all.

Monifa McKnight has not provided parents with much of anything to inspire confidence.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why are people saying there won’t be pooled testing? Did MCPS make a public announcement about that? I haven’t seen anything about it.

Yes. It was a slide in a video they sent out around July 21. It said no health attestations, no in school Covid testing, and no restrictions for out of state travel. Again, we know things can always change, but this was sent out. It was buried in the video but it was distributed.