Schools as babysitters - please take a moment to think about who you are bashing.

[Anonymous]

Its interesting OP, people like you ranting when you can clearly afford child care and are the issue.

We are at a low income school. Families have figured it out. Low income either get a child care voucher, family/friends or they use the equity hub which is for low income families who pay $50 a month or free if they cannot afford that.

I think its interesting how little people know about the resources out there and instead scapegoat the low income and special needs families as the reason to go back.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Nearly all of my students in an all lower income school have a parent or relative at home with them. A few of them who don’t go to neighbors.

I’m sure this is true. Adults are at home in rich households and poor households. As always, it’s the middle class getting squeezed. And criticized on this board.

Most who claim middle class are not middle class. Many people overspent to buy their homes for larger homes in what they consider good school districts. Many afforded child care before K, so they should be able to afford it now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Nearly all of my students in an all lower income school have a parent or relative at home with them. A few of them who don’t go to neighbors.

I teach low income ESOL kids. Their families take Covid VERY seriously. They’ve all known families with it and families who have had very bad cases and outcomes. The kids are being kept at home with some family member.

Same here. We surveyed all of my ESOL families and only one out of appr. 35 wants their kid to go back to school. The virus has gone through their neighborhood and where the school is located has one of the highest number of cases in the district. One of my students last spring had a grandmother die of it. The entire family had it. Mom says she must have gotten it at work and it killed her mother. Can you imagine that guilt?

I think that POC who live in multigenerational households are keeping their kids at home. They have older or other family members living there, so where is someone to care for younger children. The childcare dilemma is hardest on college educated single parents and/or household with lower paying jobs like teachers, police officers, administrative workers, government employees, etc. who rely on two incomes and cannot afford extra childcare expense. It is a real problem, as evidenced by the fact that one reason teachers don't want to go back into classrooms is concern about having childcare for their own children. Schools are childcare unless teachers need it.

How did they afford it when the kids were 0-5 and summers?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Nearly all of my students in an all lower income school have a parent or relative at home with them. A few of them who don’t go to neighbors.

I teach low income ESOL kids. Their families take Covid VERY seriously. They’ve all known families with it and families who have had very bad cases and outcomes. The kids are being kept at home with some family member.

Same here. We surveyed all of my ESOL families and only one out of appr. 35 wants their kid to go back to school. The virus has gone through their neighborhood and where the school is located has one of the highest number of cases in the district. One of my students last spring had a grandmother die of it. The entire family had it. Mom says she must have gotten it at work and it killed her mother. Can you imagine that guilt?

We've had several parent deaths at our school. No one thinks about that aspect.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Nearly all of my students in an all lower income school have a parent or relative at home with them. A few of them who don’t go to neighbors.

I’m sure this is true. Adults are at home in rich households and poor households. As always, it’s the middle class getting squeezed. And criticized on this board.

I live in an area where there is absolutely true. While I support trying to reopen schools, at least for students who need it most if it can be done as safely as possible, it does seem that the wealthiest are screaming the loudest. I live in an area with many government workers, police officers, teachers, administrative workers, etc. They don't have a cushion to pay for extra childcare. Not only that, but many non-wealthy professionals have very difficult professional work lives that are not family friendly. I have no doubt but that I would have left the workforce if this happened when my kids were young. There is only so much one or two people can do in a day.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Nearly all of my students in an all lower income school have a parent or relative at home with them. A few of them who don’t go to neighbors.

I teach low income ESOL kids. Their families take Covid VERY seriously. They’ve all known families with it and families who have had very bad cases and outcomes. The kids are being kept at home with some family member.

Same here. We surveyed all of my ESOL families and only one out of appr. 35 wants their kid to go back to school. The virus has gone through their neighborhood and where the school is located has one of the highest number of cases in the district. One of my students last spring had a grandmother die of it. The entire family had it. Mom says she must have gotten it at work and it killed her mother. Can you imagine that guilt?

I think that POC who live in multigenerational households are keeping their kids at home. They have older or other family members living there, so where is someone to care for younger children. The childcare dilemma is hardest on college educated single parents and/or household with lower paying jobs like teachers, police officers, administrative workers, government employees, etc. who rely on two incomes and cannot afford extra childcare expense. It is a real problem, as evidenced by the fact that one reason teachers don't want to go back into classrooms is concern about having childcare for their own children. Schools are childcare unless teachers need it.

How did they afford it when the kids were 0-5 and summers?

Many of them stayed home.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Nearly all of my students in an all lower income school have a parent or relative at home with them. A few of them who don’t go to neighbors.

I teach low income ESOL kids. Their families take Covid VERY seriously. They’ve all known families with it and families who have had very bad cases and outcomes. The kids are being kept at home with some family member.

Same here. We surveyed all of my ESOL families and only one out of appr. 35 wants their kid to go back to school. The virus has gone through their neighborhood and where the school is located has one of the highest number of cases in the district. One of my students last spring had a grandmother die of it. The entire family had it. Mom says she must have gotten it at work and it killed her mother. Can you imagine that guilt?

I think that POC who live in multigenerational households are keeping their kids at home. They have older or other family members living there, so where is someone to care for younger children. The childcare dilemma is hardest on college educated single parents and/or household with lower paying jobs like teachers, police officers, administrative workers, government employees, etc. who rely on two incomes and cannot afford extra childcare expense. It is a real problem, as evidenced by the fact that one reason teachers don't want to go back into classrooms is concern about having childcare for their own children. Schools are childcare unless teachers need it.

How did they afford it when the kids were 0-5 and summers?

Many of them stayed home.

Many of them have mothers who stayed home and re-entered the work force earning less than they would have had they stayed in. They don't want to leave again and don't have a cushion to pay much extra for child care.

[Anonymous]

Here’s the thing. I don’t think *your* need for childcare outweighs *my* health and safety. Especially because I virtually guarantee I make less money than you and also have children of my own.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Here’s the thing. I don’t think *your* need for childcare outweighs *my* health and safety. Especially because I virtually guarantee I make less money than you and also have children of my own.

You cannot guarantee this. The average teacher in my school district outearns me, and my husband also works for local government and makes about what a teacher with his same level of education and expertise would make. It is very likely that many teachers have a higher HHI than my family does.

Also, no one is saying they need childcare at the expense of someone's safety. They are saying "let's take all reasonable measures to mitigate risk in schools, as we have in most other workplaces including doctor's offices, grocery stores, etc." Why would I want to send my child to an unsafe school environment where they might bring Covid home to our family? Of course I don't want that. But that doesn't mean I think we should keep schools closed indefinitely, especially when so many other schools have opened without incident. There is obviously a reasonably safe way to do it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Its interesting OP, people like you ranting when you can clearly afford child care and are the issue.

We are at a low income school. Families have figured it out. Low income either get a child care voucher, family/friends or they use the equity hub which is for low income families who pay $50 a month or free if they cannot afford that.

I think its interesting how little people know about the resources out there and instead scapegoat the low income and special needs families as the reason to go back.

Resources are only for people that qualify for them. The child care centers around me that offer options for distance learning range in price from $1200 to $1600 a month. This is more than the cost of many private schools. My family organized a pod with some of our neighbors and it costs $840 a month for each family. This is a bargain but the tutor isn’t happy and there are a whole bunch of issues with it. I think it’s likely she won’t continue past January and we will be forced to figure something out something else.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Nearly all of my students in an all lower income school have a parent or relative at home with them. A few of them who don’t go to neighbors.

I teach low income ESOL kids. Their families take Covid VERY seriously. They’ve all known families with it and families who have had very bad cases and outcomes. The kids are being kept at home with some family member.

Same here. We surveyed all of my ESOL families and only one out of appr. 35 wants their kid to go back to school. The virus has gone through their neighborhood and where the school is located has one of the highest number of cases in the district. One of my students last spring had a grandmother die of it. The entire family had it. Mom says she must have gotten it at work and it killed her mother. Can you imagine that guilt?

I think that POC who live in multigenerational households are keeping their kids at home. They have older or other family members living there, so where is someone to care for younger children. The childcare dilemma is hardest on college educated single parents and/or household with lower paying jobs like teachers, police officers, administrative workers, government employees, etc. who rely on two incomes and cannot afford extra childcare expense. It is a real problem, as evidenced by the fact that one reason teachers don't want to go back into classrooms is concern about having childcare for their own children. Schools are childcare unless teachers need it.

How did they afford it when the kids were 0-5 and summers?

Many of them stayed home.

And, who took care of them? How is it any different?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Its interesting OP, people like you ranting when you can clearly afford child care and are the issue.

We are at a low income school. Families have figured it out. Low income either get a child care voucher, family/friends or they use the equity hub which is for low income families who pay $50 a month or free if they cannot afford that.

I think its interesting how little people know about the resources out there and instead scapegoat the low income and special needs families as the reason to go back.

Resources are only for people that qualify for them. The child care centers around me that offer options for distance learning range in price from $1200 to $1600 a month. This is more than the cost of many private schools. My family organized a pod with some of our neighbors and it costs $840 a month for each family. This is a bargain but the tutor isn’t happy and there are a whole bunch of issues with it. I think it’s likely she won’t continue past January and we will be forced to figure something out something else.

Correct but people here are demanding in person school because of the low income families. Private is always an option for those that need child care but several are hybrid or DL and many are having Covid incidents.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here’s the thing. I don’t think *your* need for childcare outweighs *my* health and safety. Especially because I virtually guarantee I make less money than you and also have children of my own.

You cannot guarantee this. The average teacher in my school district outearns me, and my husband also works for local government and makes about what a teacher with his same level of education and expertise would make. It is very likely that many teachers have a higher HHI than my family does.

Also, no one is saying they need childcare at the expense of someone's safety. They are saying "let's take all reasonable measures to mitigate risk in schools, as we have in most other workplaces including doctor's offices, grocery stores, etc." Why would I want to send my child to an unsafe school environment where they might bring Covid home to our family? Of course I don't want that. But that doesn't mean I think we should keep schools closed indefinitely, especially when so many other schools have opened without incident. There is obviously a reasonably safe way to do it.

Teachers aren't screaming about child care. Select parents are. No one is saying keep schools closed indefinitely. But, they are closed indefinitely because numbers are going up and will probably go up with the holidays coming.

[Anonymous]

I agree OP.

Our social institutions have created the expectation of schools being a source of childcare Monday through Friday. To eliminate that and criticize those who perceive it as "childcare" is unfair. You cannot set expectations and then yank them out from underneath of people who are relying on them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Nearly all of my students in an all lower income school have a parent or relative at home with them. A few of them who don’t go to neighbors.

I teach low income ESOL kids. Their families take Covid VERY seriously. They’ve all known families with it and families who have had very bad cases and outcomes. The kids are being kept at home with some family member.

Same here. We surveyed all of my ESOL families and only one out of appr. 35 wants their kid to go back to school. The virus has gone through their neighborhood and where the school is located has one of the highest number of cases in the district. One of my students last spring had a grandmother die of it. The entire family had it. Mom says she must have gotten it at work and it killed her mother. Can you imagine that guilt?

I think that POC who live in multigenerational households are keeping their kids at home. They have older or other family members living there, so where is someone to care for younger children. The childcare dilemma is hardest on college educated single parents and/or household with lower paying jobs like teachers, police officers, administrative workers, government employees, etc. who rely on two incomes and cannot afford extra childcare expense. It is a real problem, as evidenced by the fact that one reason teachers don't want to go back into classrooms is concern about having childcare for their own children. Schools are childcare unless teachers need it.

How did they afford it when the kids were 0-5 and summers?

Many of them stayed home.

Many of them have mothers who stayed home and re-entered the work force earning less than they would have had they stayed in. They don't want to leave again and don't have a cushion to pay much extra for child care.

I left. I didn't earn enough post taxes, union dues and other costs to even cover child care as a government worker and couldn't continue because of all the evening hours. Sadly, it wasn't worth me going back at all with before/after school care as I'd still need a babysitter some evenings if my husband couldn't make it home. That's life and its a choice we have to make when we have kids. If you can adjust for the 0-5 years on one income, you can continue to do it. Parenting is a lifestyle choice. Its your responsibility to make it work.