MCPS Officially announces schools opening as planned

[Anonymous]

Of the half that have not opted in, I'd say the vast majority would do it if pushed. We never opted in (honestly, I knew there was an opt-in thing but never really saw how to do it at a convenient time and never bothered...until this weekend).

And of those that hate the idea of at-school testing, I'd venture to say that the vast majority are also REALLY wanting to be in person so would agree if required.

[Anonymous]

I like the idea of three weeks of hybrid with morning and afternoon cohorts. Kids could be given big at-home chunks of work to do in the other part of the day.

Same advantages of the other type of hybrid except that you wouldn't really have to do to the virtual part-- you could send home a lot of homework, but actually do the live teaching to a 50% full classroom. (But unlike the online/in-person hybrid it doesn't help the students who are home either out of fear or out of illness)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here's what they should do for this week, and perhaps most of January til cases head down.

1. On Monday-Tuesday, test every kid who is at school (none of this sending tests home). If there are tests available, repeat this every Monday-Tuesday til cases head down.

2. Have kids on an alternating schedule A-M; N-Z. Last year when they did this, they allowed special needs kids to come every day and I've no idea how this affects numbers but in principle I'd be fine with it. Could make the same accommodation for at-risk kids (based on MAP scores or something) though I suspect this wouldn't work, but in principle, a good idea. The goal would be that each classroom would be at about 60% capacity. The other half of the class would be online the other day (the way they did last year).
3. There would be some threshold (maybe school-level threshold) for going back to 100%... probably feasible by late January.
What this achieves:
-Kids are back in school 5 out of 10 days every two weeks, so the mental health and other issues cited last year would be less prominent.
-Teachers could continue to give real tests (not open-note/at home tests), though they'd need to make two versions of any tests since kids would be taking on different days. They could more easily pull out kids who need extra attention or have questions when those kids are in person.
-Social distancing (which frankly didn't exist in fall semester despite what MCPS said) would be feasible. Teachers could arrange the classroom to stay farther away from kids while teaching.
-Any infected kid would expose fewer others.
-Kids who are out of school either in quarantine or with less symptomatic covid or because of parents' fear would have a real educational option-- they'd just log in virtually every day. (Something would need to be worked out for those in-person tests, but that's doable.)

Viola.

They can’t test without consent, and only half of students have opted in.

Only because that is what they decided. They can decide differently, given a different set of circumstances. Those who opt out do virtual school.

Except they don’t have enough teachers willing to teach virtual school to teach half the kids in MCPS.

And hybrid is off the table too — contractually prohibited.

Hybrid and virtual are not options. MCPS has been clear we stay open until the state shuts us down. If you choose in person, stop complaining already. You got in person and we'll just have to get through this the next few months the best we can. We can thank those not cautious for the holiday spread.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:NP. I’m just happy the kids will be going back- and I’m a MCPS teacher and parent of MCPS kids. They need to be in school. Yes physical distancing isn’t happening, yes mask compliance is low, yes to all the problems. But Covid is something we have to figure out how to live with at this point- bring the focus to vaccination and testing- and take virtual/hybrid school off the table entirely.

I'm also a MCPS teacher and parent of MCPS kids. Totally agree!! As do most of my peers.

Another thank you!!

Another mcps teacher and parent in total agreement!!

To my fellow teachers, how do you feel about mcea pushing to pause extra curriculars? I get things like indoor basketball but there is a vaccine requirement but other clubs should be allowed to continue in person as long as the school is open. What do you think?

MCEA pushed against vaccinations mandates for staff but they want to end extracurriculars like sports where students were required to show proof of vaccinations??? Despicable.

How about pushing for mandatory vaccinations and test to stay for everyone so school and extracurriculars can continue?

The majority of staff are vaccinated but its a silly debate with this new variant. The old rules no longer apply.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here's what they should do for this week, and perhaps most of January til cases head down.

1. On Monday-Tuesday, test every kid who is at school (none of this sending tests home). If there are tests available, repeat this every Monday-Tuesday til cases head down.

2. Have kids on an alternating schedule A-M; N-Z. Last year when they did this, they allowed special needs kids to come every day and I've no idea how this affects numbers but in principle I'd be fine with it. Could make the same accommodation for at-risk kids (based on MAP scores or something) though I suspect this wouldn't work, but in principle, a good idea. The goal would be that each classroom would be at about 60% capacity. The other half of the class would be online the other day (the way they did last year).
3. There would be some threshold (maybe school-level threshold) for going back to 100%... probably feasible by late January.
What this achieves:
-Kids are back in school 5 out of 10 days every two weeks, so the mental health and other issues cited last year would be less prominent.
-Teachers could continue to give real tests (not open-note/at home tests), though they'd need to make two versions of any tests since kids would be taking on different days. They could more easily pull out kids who need extra attention or have questions when those kids are in person.
-Social distancing (which frankly didn't exist in fall semester despite what MCPS said) would be feasible. Teachers could arrange the classroom to stay farther away from kids while teaching.
-Any infected kid would expose fewer others.
-Kids who are out of school either in quarantine or with less symptomatic covid or because of parents' fear would have a real educational option-- they'd just log in virtually every day. (Something would need to be worked out for those in-person tests, but that's doable.)

Viola.

They can’t test without consent, and only half of students have opted in.

Only because that is what they decided. They can decide differently, given a different set of circumstances. Those who opt out do virtual school.

Setting aside the legal and ethical issues of demanding a medical test to obtain a right granted by state/federal law, MCPS has neither the tests nor the staff to do what you described.

They still get their education (which is their right)--they get it virtually. And they don't deprive my kid his access to education by infecting him with a deadly virus.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Of the half that have not opted in, I'd say the vast majority would do it if pushed. We never opted in (honestly, I knew there was an opt-in thing but never really saw how to do it at a convenient time and never bothered...until this weekend).

And of those that hate the idea of at-school testing, I'd venture to say that the vast majority are also REALLY wanting to be in person so would agree if required.

Probably true. Although I think there are also parents that would quickly file a lawsuit, and could probably get a temporary injunction. Would a lawsuit prevail? Perhaps, perhaps not. But it would take long enough that the policy would be moot.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here's what they should do for this week, and perhaps most of January til cases head down.

1. On Monday-Tuesday, test every kid who is at school (none of this sending tests home). If there are tests available, repeat this every Monday-Tuesday til cases head down.

2. Have kids on an alternating schedule A-M; N-Z. Last year when they did this, they allowed special needs kids to come every day and I've no idea how this affects numbers but in principle I'd be fine with it. Could make the same accommodation for at-risk kids (based on MAP scores or something) though I suspect this wouldn't work, but in principle, a good idea. The goal would be that each classroom would be at about 60% capacity. The other half of the class would be online the other day (the way they did last year).
3. There would be some threshold (maybe school-level threshold) for going back to 100%... probably feasible by late January.
What this achieves:
-Kids are back in school 5 out of 10 days every two weeks, so the mental health and other issues cited last year would be less prominent.
-Teachers could continue to give real tests (not open-note/at home tests), though they'd need to make two versions of any tests since kids would be taking on different days. They could more easily pull out kids who need extra attention or have questions when those kids are in person.
-Social distancing (which frankly didn't exist in fall semester despite what MCPS said) would be feasible. Teachers could arrange the classroom to stay farther away from kids while teaching.
-Any infected kid would expose fewer others.
-Kids who are out of school either in quarantine or with less symptomatic covid or because of parents' fear would have a real educational option-- they'd just log in virtually every day. (Something would need to be worked out for those in-person tests, but that's doable.)

Viola.

They can’t test without consent, and only half of students have opted in.

Only because that is what they decided. They can decide differently, given a different set of circumstances. Those who opt out do virtual school.

Setting aside the legal and ethical issues of demanding a medical test to obtain a right granted by state/federal law, MCPS has neither the tests nor the staff to do what you described.

They still get their education (which is their right)--they get it virtually. And they don't deprive my kid his access to education by infecting him with a deadly virus.

Perhaps, although I'm skeptical a court would agree that involuntary virtual school is FAPE.

But again, the more immediate problem would be that there simply aren't tests or staff to test everyone.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I like the idea of three weeks of hybrid with morning and afternoon cohorts. Kids could be given big at-home chunks of work to do in the other part of the day.

Same advantages of the other type of hybrid except that you wouldn't really have to do to the virtual part-- you could send home a lot of homework, but actually do the live teaching to a 50% full classroom. (But unlike the online/in-person hybrid it doesn't help the students who are home either out of fear or out of illness)

I don't know whether you have noticed, but the social distancing that helped prevent infection in previous go-rounds of this is no longer relevant because COVID is airborne (always has been) and this version of it is as transmissible as measles. Half day cohorts would succeed in infecting everyone the same way full-day ones would.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here's what they should do for this week, and perhaps most of January til cases head down.

1. On Monday-Tuesday, test every kid who is at school (none of this sending tests home). If there are tests available, repeat this every Monday-Tuesday til cases head down.

2. Have kids on an alternating schedule A-M; N-Z. Last year when they did this, they allowed special needs kids to come every day and I've no idea how this affects numbers but in principle I'd be fine with it. Could make the same accommodation for at-risk kids (based on MAP scores or something) though I suspect this wouldn't work, but in principle, a good idea. The goal would be that each classroom would be at about 60% capacity. The other half of the class would be online the other day (the way they did last year).
3. There would be some threshold (maybe school-level threshold) for going back to 100%... probably feasible by late January.
What this achieves:
-Kids are back in school 5 out of 10 days every two weeks, so the mental health and other issues cited last year would be less prominent.
-Teachers could continue to give real tests (not open-note/at home tests), though they'd need to make two versions of any tests since kids would be taking on different days. They could more easily pull out kids who need extra attention or have questions when those kids are in person.
-Social distancing (which frankly didn't exist in fall semester despite what MCPS said) would be feasible. Teachers could arrange the classroom to stay farther away from kids while teaching.
-Any infected kid would expose fewer others.
-Kids who are out of school either in quarantine or with less symptomatic covid or because of parents' fear would have a real educational option-- they'd just log in virtually every day. (Something would need to be worked out for those in-person tests, but that's doable.)

Viola.

They can’t test without consent, and only half of students have opted in.

Only because that is what they decided. They can decide differently, given a different set of circumstances. Those who opt out do virtual school.

Except they don’t have enough teachers willing to teach virtual school to teach half the kids in MCPS.

And hybrid is off the table too — contractually prohibited.

Hybrid and virtual are not options. MCPS has been clear we stay open until the state shuts us down. If you choose in person, stop complaining already. You got in person and we'll just have to get through this the next few months the best we can. We can thank those not cautious for the holiday spread.

That's not even true anymore. MCPS has a plan now to shut down schools when cases rise above 5% of the school population over 14 days.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:NP. I’m just happy the kids will be going back- and I’m a MCPS teacher and parent of MCPS kids. They need to be in school. Yes physical distancing isn’t happening, yes mask compliance is low, yes to all the problems. But Covid is something we have to figure out how to live with at this point- bring the focus to vaccination and testing- and take virtual/hybrid school off the table entirely.

I'm also a MCPS teacher and parent of MCPS kids. Totally agree!! As do most of my peers.

Another thank you!!

Another mcps teacher and parent in total agreement!!

To my fellow teachers, how do you feel about mcea pushing to pause extra curriculars? I get things like indoor basketball but there is a vaccine requirement but other clubs should be allowed to continue in person as long as the school is open. What do you think?

MCEA pushed against vaccinations mandates for staff but they want to end extracurriculars like sports where students were required to show proof of vaccinations??? Despicable.

How about pushing for mandatory vaccinations and test to stay for everyone so school and extracurriculars can continue?

I for one support MCEA's efforts to protect its members. This makes perfect sense. I don't know why you expect teachers to be at risk.

Protecting its members would be pushing for vaccine mandates.

Agee! Vaccine mandates for XC would protect the teachers as well as allow the kids to have the outlet that these activities provide. Canceling them just punishes the kids.

Stop using children as your meat shield. If the adults are all vaccinated the teachers are safe. Why do children have to have a mandate but educators do not?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I like the idea of three weeks of hybrid with morning and afternoon cohorts. Kids could be given big at-home chunks of work to do in the other part of the day.

Same advantages of the other type of hybrid except that you wouldn't really have to do to the virtual part-- you could send home a lot of homework, but actually do the live teaching to a 50% full classroom. (But unlike the online/in-person hybrid it doesn't help the students who are home either out of fear or out of illness)

Kids would be going all over the place the mornings/afternoons they're not in school. Do DCUMers really all have a stay-at-home parent?

And since three weeks is too short to get into any real child care programs, it means a lot of kids would be going into pretty bad environments for COVID and education. And then promptly bringing whatever they catch in those environments back into school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:NP. I’m just happy the kids will be going back- and I’m a MCPS teacher and parent of MCPS kids. They need to be in school. Yes physical distancing isn’t happening, yes mask compliance is low, yes to all the problems. But Covid is something we have to figure out how to live with at this point- bring the focus to vaccination and testing- and take virtual/hybrid school off the table entirely.

How would you like hospitals to "learn to live with it?" I am sure they would love to hear your suggestions. Too bad you had such a terrible education.

Hospitals did live with. Unlike teachers, they took their essential jobs seriously and didn’t throw tantrums about returning to work.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:NP. I’m just happy the kids will be going back- and I’m a MCPS teacher and parent of MCPS kids. They need to be in school. Yes physical distancing isn’t happening, yes mask compliance is low, yes to all the problems. But Covid is something we have to figure out how to live with at this point- bring the focus to vaccination and testing- and take virtual/hybrid school off the table entirely.

How would you like hospitals to "learn to live with it?" I am sure they would love to hear your suggestions. Too bad you had such a terrible education.

Hospitals did live with. Unlike teachers, they took their essential jobs seriously and didn’t throw tantrums about returning to work.

Don't you remember when hospitals went virtual, sending all their COVID patients home with intubation kits and links to videos on youtube?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:NP. I’m just happy the kids will be going back- and I’m a MCPS teacher and parent of MCPS kids. They need to be in school. Yes physical distancing isn’t happening, yes mask compliance is low, yes to all the problems. But Covid is something we have to figure out how to live with at this point- bring the focus to vaccination and testing- and take virtual/hybrid school off the table entirely.

How would you like hospitals to "learn to live with it?" I am sure they would love to hear your suggestions. Too bad you had such a terrible education.

Hospitals did live with. Unlike teachers, they took their essential jobs seriously and didn’t throw tantrums about returning to work.

So let’s just heap on them some more, because they’ll just take it?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:NP. I’m just happy the kids will be going back- and I’m a MCPS teacher and parent of MCPS kids. They need to be in school. Yes physical distancing isn’t happening, yes mask compliance is low, yes to all the problems. But Covid is something we have to figure out how to live with at this point- bring the focus to vaccination and testing- and take virtual/hybrid school off the table entirely.

How would you like hospitals to "learn to live with it?" I am sure they would love to hear your suggestions. Too bad you had such a terrible education.

Hospitals did live with. Unlike teachers, they took their essential jobs seriously and didn’t throw tantrums about returning to work.

So let’s just heap on them some more, because they’ll just take it?

They're not dealing with heaps of kids. Nor are they going to be. The elderly and anti-vaxxers need to be modifying they're behavior to help with hospitalizations. Closing schools isn't going to help while boomers are out living their lives mostly normally.