How come other states can make it work

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:1. A bit of the fact that VA laid this all on individual SBs to make the decisions; I think in NY for instance the state had state-wide metrics that dictated whether you should open or close that varied according to certain factors. That was helpful in shifting the decision more up to the state level vs. SB members really unqualified to decide.

2. We have huge school systems. The other NE dem states that have re-opened tend to have very small/local school districts in most cases. There is just frankly no confidence - and rightly so - that FCPS can and more importantly WILL take the steps that health officials say are needed to actually open safely. Dr. Gloria during meetings would keep saying "yes, you can open relatively safely, you just need to ....[do 5 different things that everyone knows are not going to reliably happen in real life]"

I think #2 is the biggest reason our teachers have fought this so hard (many not all) - because they see in real life how what is said on paper does not ever match what happens in practice and how the schools have been stripped of any real enforcement authority to make the thing on paper happen.

Yeah, she totally lost me when she said it would all be fine if everybody socially distanced and wore their masks inside the home as well. Who are we kidding?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can you name one of these mythical states where things opened up and community spread didn’t get out of control? It would be easier to sort out why this this is happening with a specific example, but no one ever gives one.

I am from NY and have friends in NY, NJ and CT and all have kids in school.

I am from Long Island and kids have been going back 5 days per week.

You don't even have to look further than VA, most of VA schools have been opened in some fashion. No excuse for FCPS size, NYC is the biggest public school system in the nation and they were able to reopen before the surge.
https://www.doe.virginia.gov/support/health_medical/office/reopen-status.shtml

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In Dallas they are fully open and they're at 20%+ positivity. We're not in to actively killing people to prove how 'Murican we are.

Right. All of my friends in other states where schools buildings opened either have bad infection numbers in school or had to shut back down. I don’t call that “working”. Yikes!

Any school is better then no school. If they were open and had to intermittently switch to Google Slide School, that’s still a vast improvement to an entire year of Google Slides.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:^
adding on - and my handful of neighbors that are Cat B or SUPER early ESOL teachers and so went back in the fall tell plenty of stories from their own experience about how the "on paper" plans re: PPE and protocols are working out in the real world at their schools. And that's with a drop in the bucket of kids back.

The general Ed classes don’t need special PPE. Although I agree that the special ed teachers who need it should have as much as they need.

[Anonymous]

I know families in PA, MA, Vermont, Alabama, AZ (as bad as Arizona has been!), VA, FL, and Minnesota who have had kids in school either five days a week, two full weeks on and two full weeks at home alternating, every other day alternating, etc etc since Fall. I know just one other family outside of our area whose kids have been out of school since March like us—they have a Hser in LA.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

And FCPS can’t. Is it the teachers?

It is just so upsetting that we are last to open and it isn’t just hybrid, it will be concurrent.

Why don't you just move to one of those states?

Same reason they don’t go private
Or homeschool

They can do any of these things. They don’t want solutions or other options. They want to stew in misery and victim hood like they’re the only people who have been affected by any of this.

What?! No. People have jobs here. Jobs that prevent them from moving and jobs that prevent them from homeschooling but jobs that don’t pay enough for private school. That is the very real situation the significant majority of people are in.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can you name one of these mythical states where things opened up and community spread didn’t get out of control? It would be easier to sort out why this this is happening with a specific example, but no one ever gives one.

I am from NY and have friends in NY, NJ and CT and all have kids in school.

I am from Long Island and kids have been going back 5 days per week.

Same, and these are BLUE areas with super strong unions- they make VA teachers unions look like a book club. There are lots of factors but mostly I think its the size of the systems here, and the fact that not enough resources existed to run 2 systems- if they had the money to increase staff significantly, we likely would have had the hybrid model and the at home model running for this year- but it just was not feasible without being able to staff and resource those 2 models.

[Anonymous]

I agree that it’s politics, sadly. Urban centers or democratic suburban school districts are closed because of politics. I am 100% democrat myself, so I’m not knocking Democrats. But it’s clear the anxiety is THROUGH THE ROOF. I have never seen so much unchecked anxiety. It is parallel to the anxiety & immense distrust the far-right has had about mainstream media. The distrust & fear of returning to school is impossible to stop. It’s an enormous boulder running down a hill.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:^
adding on - and my handful of neighbors that are Cat B or SUPER early ESOL teachers and so went back in the fall tell plenty of stories from their own experience about how the "on paper" plans re: PPE and protocols are working out in the real world at their schools. And that's with a drop in the bucket of kids back.

The general Ed classes don’t need special PPE. Although I agree that the special ed teachers who need it should have as much as they need.

Yes i know that. But the point is that FCPS said that the Cat B teachers would get PPE as they need it to keep them safe. and that's a tiny % of teachers and kids - yet it's NOT reliably happening well. So if they can't get even that kind of stuff right, what gives people confidence they're going to get the other mitigation steps right as it scales up. (I'm not a teacher BTW.)

[Anonymous]

Suburban Nashville schools are open. Don't know about city schools.
Niece teaches there and her kids go there (suburban). No problems. One of her students' mothers had it and she they had to take a few days off for testing in her class. (not sure exactly how it worked). Back in school after a couple of days.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I agree that it’s politics, sadly. Urban centers or democratic suburban school districts are closed because of politics. I am 100% democrat myself, so I’m not knocking Democrats. But it’s clear the anxiety is THROUGH THE ROOF. I have never seen so much unchecked anxiety. It is parallel to the anxiety & immense distrust the far-right has had about mainstream media. The distrust & fear of returning to school is impossible to stop. It’s an enormous boulder running down a hill.

I think overall high anxiety types, coupled with our huge lawyer population is contributing. Everyone is so afraid of liability lawsuits.

[Anonymous]

It is not just our area, 50% of the kids are in all distance learning, per reports on NPR. Everyone I know who has had kids in school either full time or through hybrid has had to quarantine at least once, many multiple times, because of positive cases in the classroom or enough positive cases in the school that entire school reverted to DL. I know families were the child has brought COVID home and the parents have been infected while the kid was asymptomatic.

My friends in private school in this area have all reverted to DL for periods of time, it hasn't been reported in the news but it is happening.

My friends who live in Georgia regularly report on their school districts having to go to DL because enough Teachers are sick or have been exposed that they can't keep the schools open.

I am sure that there are places where the kids are back in school for 5 days and have not reverted to DL but those are the minority of cases.

[Anonymous]

Detroit going back.

Interesting news over the weekend about Las Vegas - going back despite high positivity rates due to increase in teen suicides. There are many factors to weigh in this decision - public health, economic, mental health, and education.

The fact that 90% of FCPS staff is signed up for vaccines is terrific! I am grateful that teachers got to go the front of the line because it shows priorities shifting on finally moving toward kids being back in the building.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Fairfax is a terrible school system and has been for years, and all of you who buried your heads in the sand about it are finally having your eyes opened. If you think this is bad, imagine how little your kids have been learning when compared to kids in other states. The system has failed you and the only solution is to move, but I doubt any of you will have the courage or care for your kids to do so.

Thanks, PP, because it's so easy to find another job in another state? Life doesn't work like that for some of us. We have government-related jobs and we CAN'T move to other states. This can't be the answer.

[Anonymous]

There are school districts in VA who are back in school 4-5 days per week—PWCS is the only one in NoVA smart enough to not let their littlest learners suffer.