The prospect of kids not going back to school until 2021

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't have a strong opinion on the protections, but I want schools to reopen. We see in the news that people gather in large crowds anyway, I don't want schools to be the victim of social isolation while other parts of the society open up. If anything, schools should have the priority of opening. (Frankly, I don't see an end to this until we reach some level of herd immunity anyway. In the meantime, I believe the most vulnerable should limit exposure to outside society, but schools should definitely open in my opinion.)

Right? Restaurants have to re-open for eating in, because people work in the restaurant industry. Salons have to re-open because, because people work in the beauty industry/people want haircuts. Meat-packing plants have to keep running, because people want to be able to buy cheap meat at the grocery store. But schools? Shrug.

The comparison breaks down because parents are legally obligated to send their kids to school. They are not legally obligated to get their nails done or buy meat.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Distance learning in Frederick county is a joke. Tons of busy work pushed out on Google Classroom Monday morning with no live sessions and work due on Fridays. That's it. My kids haven't seen their teacher or classmates since March. While these live debrief sessions in MCPS are "meh" as others have pointed out, at least the kids get to see their teachers and classmates.

Fairfax county doesn’t even grade any assignment from what I can tell on the VA schools forum here.

I think MCPS has done a respectable job prioritizing and executing a plan. Perfect? No. Is every teacher taking full advantage? No. Is every parent happy? No. But overall MCPS is doing a better job than anyone else locally that I can determine.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

I agree with everything you said except distance learning. DL for my elementary school student is meh but at least there is online instruction. DL for middle schoolers is terrible. Beyond awful. They are self teaching busy work. Unacceptable

Are you sure that your middle-schooler is doing everything your middle-schooler is supposed to? I am asking because it turned out that my middle-schooler wasn't.

[Anonymous]

If they don’t go back in the fall in some capacity, lay off dead wood in central office etc and cut my taxes!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If they don’t go back in the fall in some capacity, lay off dead wood in central office etc and cut my taxes!

That's not how taxes work. Taxes aren't user fees.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

I agree with everything you said except distance learning. DL for my elementary school student is meh but at least there is online instruction. DL for middle schoolers is terrible. Beyond awful. They are self teaching busy work. Unacceptable

Are you sure that your middle-schooler is doing everything your middle-schooler is supposed to? I am asking because it turned out that my middle-schooler wasn't.

Like you I found gaps in what he was supposed to be doing last week. That just confirmed that they are expecting way too much maturity from 11 to 13 year olds to teach themselves. Maybe high schoolers can hacks it but middle schoolers are pretty much little kids and MCPS is expecting them to handle all of this busy work like adults. Middle School is meant to be a transition time between elementary and high school. Instead, MCPS pushed these kids out of the next and screamed “Fly” with no daily direction. It is irresponsible and too much to expect from tweens and early teens.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

I agree with everything you said except distance learning. DL for my elementary school student is meh but at least there is online instruction. DL for middle schoolers is terrible. Beyond awful. They are self teaching busy work. Unacceptable

Are you sure that your middle-schooler is doing everything your middle-schooler is supposed to? I am asking because it turned out that my middle-schooler wasn't.

Like you I found gaps in what he was supposed to be doing last week. That just confirmed that they are expecting way too much maturity from 11 to 13 year olds to teach themselves. Maybe high schoolers can hacks it but middle schoolers are pretty much little kids and MCPS is expecting them to handle all of this busy work like adults. Middle School is meant to be a transition time between elementary and high school. Instead, MCPS pushed these kids out of the next and screamed “Fly” with no daily direction. It is irresponsible and too much to expect from tweens and early teens.

I don't think it makes sense to complain that MCPS is expecting middle-schoolers to do too little and also that MCPS is expecting middle-schoolers to do too much.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't have a strong opinion on the protections, but I want schools to reopen. We see in the news that people gather in large crowds anyway, I don't want schools to be the victim of social isolation while other parts of the society open up. If anything, schools should have the priority of opening. (Frankly, I don't see an end to this until we reach some level of herd immunity anyway. In the meantime, I believe the most vulnerable should limit exposure to outside society, but schools should definitely open in my opinion.)

Right? Restaurants have to re-open for eating in, because people work in the restaurant industry. Salons have to re-open because, because people work in the beauty industry/people want haircuts. Meat-packing plants have to keep running, because people want to be able to buy cheap meat at the grocery store. But schools? Shrug.

The comparison breaks down because parents are legally obligated to send their kids to school. They are not legally obligated to get their nails done or buy meat.

DP, but the point is that if these services, which lack any legal obligation to be used, can be reopened, then we need to reopen schools. Yeah: parents are legally obligated to send their kids to school. Schools need to open so that we can do that. Distance learning isn't cutting it, especially not when so many parents have to work concurrently.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Parents who want schools to reopen, do you want any special protections (masks, temp checks, no recess in elementary, widely spaced desks, no lunchroom) or do you prefer reopening that will accelerate the rate of herd immunity?

Speaking for myself, I want schools to open in the fall with reasonable protections that don't prevent schools from opening in the fall. Kids need school. I don't understand how this can even be up for debate.

Also there would be no good reason to not have recess in elementary school. Outside is better.

+1

Agree 100%.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Parents who want schools to reopen, do you want any special protections (masks, temp checks, no recess in elementary, widely spaced desks, no lunchroom) or do you prefer reopening that will accelerate the rate of herd immunity?

Speaking for myself, I want schools to open in the fall with reasonable protections that don't prevent schools from opening in the fall. Kids need school. I don't understand how this can even be up for debate.

Also there would be no good reason to not have recess in elementary school. Outside is better.

+1

Agree 100%.

Yep. They should be outside as much as possible - in tents if needed, and it should be mandatory for classroom windows to be open, even if the AC is running.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Parents who want schools to reopen, do you want any special protections (masks, temp checks, no recess in elementary, widely spaced desks, no lunchroom) or do you prefer reopening that will accelerate the rate of herd immunity?

Speaking for myself, I want schools to open in the fall with reasonable protections that don't prevent schools from opening in the fall. Kids need school. I don't understand how this can even be up for debate.

Also there would be no good reason to not have recess in elementary school. Outside is better.

+1

Agree 100%.

Yep. They should be outside as much as possible - in tents if needed, and it should be mandatory for classroom windows to be open, even if the AC is running.

Um. The AC shouldn't be running if the windows are open.

Also, due to the unfortunate fashion in school buildings in the 1970s, there are schools with classrooms that don't have windows, as well as schools with classrooms whose windows don't open. Horrible.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't have a strong opinion on the protections, but I want schools to reopen. We see in the news that people gather in large crowds anyway, I don't want schools to be the victim of social isolation while other parts of the society open up. If anything, schools should have the priority of opening. (Frankly, I don't see an end to this until we reach some level of herd immunity anyway. In the meantime, I believe the most vulnerable should limit exposure to outside society, but schools should definitely open in my opinion.)

Right? Restaurants have to re-open for eating in, because people work in the restaurant industry. Salons have to re-open because, because people work in the beauty industry/people want haircuts. Meat-packing plants have to keep running, because people want to be able to buy cheap meat at the grocery store. But schools? Shrug.

The comparison breaks down because parents are legally obligated to send their kids to school. They are not legally obligated to get their nails done or buy meat.

DP, but the point is that if these services, which lack any legal obligation to be used, can be reopened, then we need to reopen schools. Yeah: parents are legally obligated to send their kids to school. Schools need to open so that we can do that. Distance learning isn't cutting it, especially not when so many parents have to work concurrently.

I don’t follow the logic. The businesses you mention can open because people have the choice to go or not. Opening schools is like telling the whole population they are legally required to go get a haircut, regardless of whether they have health conditions or elderly family at home.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't have a strong opinion on the protections, but I want schools to reopen. We see in the news that people gather in large crowds anyway, I don't want schools to be the victim of social isolation while other parts of the society open up. If anything, schools should have the priority of opening. (Frankly, I don't see an end to this until we reach some level of herd immunity anyway. In the meantime, I believe the most vulnerable should limit exposure to outside society, but schools should definitely open in my opinion.)

Right? Restaurants have to re-open for eating in, because people work in the restaurant industry. Salons have to re-open because, because people work in the beauty industry/people want haircuts. Meat-packing plants have to keep running, because people want to be able to buy cheap meat at the grocery store. But schools? Shrug.

The comparison breaks down because parents are legally obligated to send their kids to school. They are not legally obligated to get their nails done or buy meat.

DP, but the point is that if these services, which lack any legal obligation to be used, can be reopened, then we need to reopen schools. Yeah: parents are legally obligated to send their kids to school. Schools need to open so that we can do that. Distance learning isn't cutting it, especially not when so many parents have to work concurrently.

I don’t follow the logic. The businesses you mention can open because people have the choice to go or not. Opening schools is like telling the whole population they are legally required to go get a haircut, regardless of whether they have health conditions or elderly family at home.

The way to solve this is to set up a parallel school option for people who have health conditions or elderly family at home.

[Anonymous]

Again with the "kids won't go back until there is a vaccine" argument.

Let me say it louder for the people in the back:

We have been dealing with finding vaccines for various things since vaccines became a thing. You do realize that finding a vaccine is in no way guaranteed or really even likely in the short term? Why organizations/local and state governments are putting that in as an actual benchmark for things returning to normal is absolutely insane. Stop banking on a vaccine that:
1. May never happen
2. May not happen for 5-10 years at best
3. May happen but only be marginally effective.
4. Will work just like a typical flu vaccine and people will still get it just like they do with the flu vaccine.
It's a new virus-that's why it's going crazy right now. We can't keep schools closed for years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't have a strong opinion on the protections, but I want schools to reopen. We see in the news that people gather in large crowds anyway, I don't want schools to be the victim of social isolation while other parts of the society open up. If anything, schools should have the priority of opening. (Frankly, I don't see an end to this until we reach some level of herd immunity anyway. In the meantime, I believe the most vulnerable should limit exposure to outside society, but schools should definitely open in my opinion.)

Right? Restaurants have to re-open for eating in, because people work in the restaurant industry. Salons have to re-open because, because people work in the beauty industry/people want haircuts. Meat-packing plants have to keep running, because people want to be able to buy cheap meat at the grocery store. But schools? Shrug.

The comparison breaks down because parents are legally obligated to send their kids to school. They are not legally obligated to get their nails done or buy meat.

DP, but the point is that if these services, which lack any legal obligation to be used, can be reopened, then we need to reopen schools. Yeah: parents are legally obligated to send their kids to school. Schools need to open so that we can do that. Distance learning isn't cutting it, especially not when so many parents have to work concurrently.

I don’t follow the logic. The businesses you mention can open because people have the choice to go or not. Opening schools is like telling the whole population they are legally required to go get a haircut, regardless of whether they have health conditions or elderly family at home.

The way to solve this is to set up a parallel school option for people who have health conditions or elderly family at home.

Agreed. Why not set up a camera in the back of the classroom and continue providing Zoom sessions for kids whose parents have opted not to send them back to school? This is how business meetings work with geographically diverse staff attendance.