If you were firmly in the schools should stay closed camp ...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My house hasn’t caught on fire, but I don’t regret having working smoke detectors. I’ve never been in a serious car accident, but I don’t regret decades of wearing a seatbelt. I’ve never had an unintended pregnancy, but I don’t regret having used birth control. I took precautions to avoid covid. Maybe I wouldn’t have contracted it even if I wasn’t cautious, but that doesn’t make me regret the precautions. I make the best choices I can based on the information I have.

Occasionally buying batteries for a smoke detector or buckling a seatbelt when you’re driving isn’t quite on par with asking a 5 year old to spend a year of learning sitting in front of an iPad and having no socialization with peers.

That wasn’t the choice most people were making.
Doing virtual school didn’t have to mean no socialization.
My 8 year old did virtual school and played outside on hikes and with kids in the neighborhood with masks. We did less in the winter but still did some. I don’t regret the choice - of course now i can see how much better things are but as parents we are also fully vaccinated now so it is different. We made the right choice at the time. We also sent my 5 year old to an in person kindergarten. And she played outside.

Everyone I know chose middle grounds, some a bit different than others. Last year was terrible in many ways but we made choices because we were rational and had to. And many many people did get covid last winter. Had one family been less cautious it wouldn’t have been much different for that family. The reality is though that if every or a large number of families had been less cautious it would have been worse. I am glad the majority of people in my community worked together to be reasonably safe. I am so happy to enjoy the time now with friends given that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My house hasn’t caught on fire, but I don’t regret having working smoke detectors. I’ve never been in a serious car accident, but I don’t regret decades of wearing a seatbelt. I’ve never had an unintended pregnancy, but I don’t regret having used birth control. I took precautions to avoid covid. Maybe I wouldn’t have contracted it even if I wasn’t cautious, but that doesn’t make me regret the precautions. I make the best choices I can based on the information I have.

Occasionally buying batteries for a smoke detector or buckling a seatbelt when you’re driving isn’t quite on par with asking a 5 year old to spend a year of learning sitting in front of an iPad and having no socialization with peers.

That wasn’t the choice most people were making.
Doing virtual school didn’t have to mean no socialization.
My 8 year old did virtual school and played outside on hikes and with kids in the neighborhood with masks. We did less in the winter but still did some. I don’t regret the choice - of course now i can see how much better things are but as parents we are also fully vaccinated now so it is different. We made the right choice at the time. We also sent my 5 year old to an in person kindergarten. And she played outside.

Everyone I know chose middle grounds, some a bit different than others. Last year was terrible in many ways but we made choices because we were rational and had to. And many many people did get covid last winter. Had one family been less cautious it wouldn’t have been much different for that family. The reality is though that if every or a large number of families had been less cautious it would have been worse. I am glad the majority of people in my community worked together to be reasonably safe. I am so happy to enjoy the time now with friends given that.

I mean - you had the option to send your 5 year old to in person K. that makes you very lucky compared to many of us! and also on the less cautious side. hopefully you can see that your family had many many more advantages than those of us stuck with only online learning and without all the social opportunities your kids had.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My house hasn’t caught on fire, but I don’t regret having working smoke detectors. I’ve never been in a serious car accident, but I don’t regret decades of wearing a seatbelt. I’ve never had an unintended pregnancy, but I don’t regret having used birth control. I took precautions to avoid covid. Maybe I wouldn’t have contracted it even if I wasn’t cautious, but that doesn’t make me regret the precautions. I make the best choices I can based on the information I have.

Occasionally buying batteries for a smoke detector or buckling a seatbelt when you’re driving isn’t quite on par with asking a 5 year old to spend a year of learning sitting in front of an iPad and having no socialization with peers.

Yes. Exactly and this attitude is exactly why schools stayed closed. What is the harm in buying batteries for your smoke detector or wearing a seatbelt? I only see upside. Closing schools has been disastrous for many, many children and some will never recover.

I’m the poster you’re replying to. OP asked if those of us who agreed schools should be closed had any regrets. I don’t. That doesn’t mean that I don’t realize, with hindsight, that we could have safety opened last fall. Over the summer, I was on the fence about sending my kids to in-person school in the fall, but then the choice was taken away from me because MCPS went 100% virtual. By October, I wished we’d opened since it appeared to be safe for the schools that did open. Then in November, cases started rising sharply and I was thankful we were virtual over the holidays. In December, I filled out a parent survey indicating that I was interested in in-person instruction for my kids in the spring because there was no downside (you could change to virtual at any time). Due to my kids’ ages, they just happened to be in the very last group MCPS brought back. One kid chose to remain virtual to avoid a long bus ride to a magnet. That kid has been fine with virtual learning. My other kid has some special needs and really struggled with distance learning. That kid attends our home school, so has gone back in-person. It was easier to send dc back at the end of April because I was only a week away from my second shot.

I don’t regret how things worked out. It’s been a roller coaster ride and it sucked at times, but I’m high risk and I never got covid. My kids never got covid. Instead of regretting all the days they could have received in-person instruction and didn’t, I’m choosing to be thankful that we didn’t experience covid and any long term effects.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My house hasn’t caught on fire, but I don’t regret having working smoke detectors. I’ve never been in a serious car accident, but I don’t regret decades of wearing a seatbelt. I’ve never had an unintended pregnancy, but I don’t regret having used birth control. I took precautions to avoid covid. Maybe I wouldn’t have contracted it even if I wasn’t cautious, but that doesn’t make me regret the precautions. I make the best choices I can based on the information I have.

Occasionally buying batteries for a smoke detector or buckling a seatbelt when you’re driving isn’t quite on par with asking a 5 year old to spend a year of learning sitting in front of an iPad and having no socialization with peers.

Yes. Exactly and this attitude is exactly why schools stayed closed. What is the harm in buying batteries for your smoke detector or wearing a seatbelt? I only see upside. Closing schools has been disastrous for many, many children and some will never recover.

I’m the poster you’re replying to. OP asked if those of us who agreed schools should be closed had any regrets. I don’t. That doesn’t mean that I don’t realize, with hindsight, that we could have safety opened last fall. Over the summer, I was on the fence about sending my kids to in-person school in the fall, but then the choice was taken away from me because MCPS went 100% virtual. By October, I wished we’d opened since it appeared to be safe for the schools that did open. Then in November, cases started rising sharply and I was thankful we were virtual over the holidays. In December, I filled out a parent survey indicating that I was interested in in-person instruction for my kids in the spring because there was no downside (you could change to virtual at any time). Due to my kids’ ages, they just happened to be in the very last group MCPS brought back. One kid chose to remain virtual to avoid a long bus ride to a magnet. That kid has been fine with virtual learning. My other kid has some special needs and really struggled with distance learning. That kid attends our home school, so has gone back in-person. It was easier to send dc back at the end of April because I was only a week away from my second shot.

I don’t regret how things worked out. It’s been a roller coaster ride and it sucked at times, but I’m high risk and I never got covid. My kids never got covid. Instead of regretting all the days they could have received in-person instruction and didn’t, I’m choosing to be thankful that we didn’t experience covid and any long term effects.

P.S. When I replied the first time, I missed that this was in the VA schools forum. I’m in MD, but I suppose our situation wasn’t that different.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My house hasn’t caught on fire, but I don’t regret having working smoke detectors. I’ve never been in a serious car accident, but I don’t regret decades of wearing a seatbelt. I’ve never had an unintended pregnancy, but I don’t regret having used birth control. I took precautions to avoid covid. Maybe I wouldn’t have contracted it even if I wasn’t cautious, but that doesn’t make me regret the precautions. I make the best choices I can based on the information I have.

Occasionally buying batteries for a smoke detector or buckling a seatbelt when you’re driving isn’t quite on par with asking a 5 year old to spend a year of learning sitting in front of an iPad and having no socialization with peers.

That wasn’t the choice most people were making.
Doing virtual school didn’t have to mean no socialization.
My 8 year old did virtual school and played outside on hikes and with kids in the neighborhood with masks. We did less in the winter but still did some. I don’t regret the choice - of course now i can see how much better things are but as parents we are also fully vaccinated now so it is different. We made the right choice at the time. We also sent my 5 year old to an in person kindergarten. And she played outside.

Everyone I know chose middle grounds, some a bit different than others. Last year was terrible in many ways but we made choices because we were rational and had to. And many many people did get covid last winter. Had one family been less cautious it wouldn’t have been much different for that family. The reality is though that if every or a large number of families had been less cautious it would have been worse. I am glad the majority of people in my community worked together to be reasonably safe. I am so happy to enjoy the time now with friends given that.

I mean - you had the option to send your 5 year old to in person K. that makes you very lucky compared to many of us! and also on the less cautious side. hopefully you can see that your family had many many more advantages than those of us stuck with only online learning and without all the social opportunities your kids had.

DP. Many of us made lemonade from lemons. Sounds like you didn't. What you see as lack of opportunities the rest of us saw as challenges to overcome. This past year was tough, don't get me wrong, but it was also one of the most relaxing years our kids have had. It was scary because of Covid and we had to totally revamp our lifestyle to adjust to online learning but our kids thrived because of the choices we, their parents, made so that they could thrive. For most of the people complaining, I saw that we had the same lack of options and the same lack of opportunities but we got our acts together and made it work. It was hard but we did it. I am tired of listening to all the moaners and complainers bellyaching about this and that. The only way to change your output is to change your input. You make your opportunities.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My house hasn’t caught on fire, but I don’t regret having working smoke detectors. I’ve never been in a serious car accident, but I don’t regret decades of wearing a seatbelt. I’ve never had an unintended pregnancy, but I don’t regret having used birth control. I took precautions to avoid covid. Maybe I wouldn’t have contracted it even if I wasn’t cautious, but that doesn’t make me regret the precautions. I make the best choices I can based on the information I have.

Occasionally buying batteries for a smoke detector or buckling a seatbelt when you’re driving isn’t quite on par with asking a 5 year old to spend a year of learning sitting in front of an iPad and having no socialization with peers.

Yes. Exactly and this attitude is exactly why schools stayed closed. What is the harm in buying batteries for your smoke detector or wearing a seatbelt? I only see upside. Closing schools has been disastrous for many, many children and some will never recover.

I’m the poster you’re replying to. OP asked if those of us who agreed schools should be closed had any regrets. I don’t. That doesn’t mean that I don’t realize, with hindsight, that we could have safety opened last fall. Over the summer, I was on the fence about sending my kids to in-person school in the fall, but then the choice was taken away from me because MCPS went 100% virtual. By October, I wished we’d opened since it appeared to be safe for the schools that did open. Then in November, cases started rising sharply and I was thankful we were virtual over the holidays. In December, I filled out a parent survey indicating that I was interested in in-person instruction for my kids in the spring because there was no downside (you could change to virtual at any time). Due to my kids’ ages, they just happened to be in the very last group MCPS brought back. One kid chose to remain virtual to avoid a long bus ride to a magnet. That kid has been fine with virtual learning. My other kid has some special needs and really struggled with distance learning. That kid attends our home school, so has gone back in-person. It was easier to send dc back at the end of April because I was only a week away from my second shot.

I don’t regret how things worked out. It’s been a roller coaster ride and it sucked at times, but I’m high risk and I never got covid. My kids never got covid. Instead of regretting all the days they could have received in-person instruction and didn’t, I’m choosing to be thankful that we didn’t experience covid and any long term effects.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My house hasn’t caught on fire, but I don’t regret having working smoke detectors. I’ve never been in a serious car accident, but I don’t regret decades of wearing a seatbelt. I’ve never had an unintended pregnancy, but I don’t regret having used birth control. I took precautions to avoid covid. Maybe I wouldn’t have contracted it even if I wasn’t cautious, but that doesn’t make me regret the precautions. I make the best choices I can based on the information I have.

Occasionally buying batteries for a smoke detector or buckling a seatbelt when you’re driving isn’t quite on par with asking a 5 year old to spend a year of learning sitting in front of an iPad and having no socialization with peers.

That wasn’t the choice most people were making.
Doing virtual school didn’t have to mean no socialization.
My 8 year old did virtual school and played outside on hikes and with kids in the neighborhood with masks. We did less in the winter but still did some. I don’t regret the choice - of course now i can see how much better things are but as parents we are also fully vaccinated now so it is different. We made the right choice at the time. We also sent my 5 year old to an in person kindergarten. And she played outside.

Everyone I know chose middle grounds, some a bit different than others. Last year was terrible in many ways but we made choices because we were rational and had to. And many many people did get covid last winter. Had one family been less cautious it wouldn’t have been much different for that family. The reality is though that if every or a large number of families had been less cautious it would have been worse. I am glad the majority of people in my community worked together to be reasonably safe. I am so happy to enjoy the time now with friends given that.

I mean - you had the option to send your 5 year old to in person K. that makes you very lucky compared to many of us! and also on the less cautious side. hopefully you can see that your family had many many more advantages than those of us stuck with only online learning and without all the social opportunities your kids had.

Where are you that your K kid never had the opportunity to go in person?

[Anonymous]

If schools had stayed closed for a bit longer, we would have prevented thousands of deaths. Not children’s deaths, but mortality in the community stemming from viral spread at school.

So I regret that schools opened, but I realize that Homo Sapiens has apparently not evolved much in the delayed gratification and impulse control parts of their brain.

Now with vaccinations progressing apace and new cases plummeting, it’s a different story. I look forward to fully open schools in the fall!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
If schools had stayed closed for a bit longer, we would have prevented thousands of deaths. Not children’s deaths, but mortality in the community stemming from viral spread at school.

So I regret that schools opened, but I realize that Homo Sapiens has apparently not evolved much in the delayed gratification and impulse control parts of their brain.

Now with vaccinations progressing apace and new cases plummeting, it’s a different story. I look forward to fully open schools in the fall!

Just because you assert this does not make it true. Use google. You will see dozens of headlines going back as far as the fall saying there is no evidence open schools was accelerating community spread. Many other countries figured this out pretty early.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
If schools had stayed closed for a bit longer, we would have prevented thousands of deaths. Not children’s deaths, but mortality in the community stemming from viral spread at school.

So I regret that schools opened, but I realize that Homo Sapiens has apparently not evolved much in the delayed gratification and impulse control parts of their brain.

Now with vaccinations progressing apace and new cases plummeting, it’s a different story. I look forward to fully open schools in the fall!

Only if we closed the bars & restaurants and mandated/enforced masks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My house hasn’t caught on fire, but I don’t regret having working smoke detectors. I’ve never been in a serious car accident, but I don’t regret decades of wearing a seatbelt. I’ve never had an unintended pregnancy, but I don’t regret having used birth control. I took precautions to avoid covid. Maybe I wouldn’t have contracted it even if I wasn’t cautious, but that doesn’t make me regret the precautions. I make the best choices I can based on the information I have.

Occasionally buying batteries for a smoke detector or buckling a seatbelt when you’re driving isn’t quite on par with asking a 5 year old to spend a year of learning sitting in front of an iPad and having no socialization with peers.

That wasn’t the choice most people were making.
Doing virtual school didn’t have to mean no socialization.
My 8 year old did virtual school and played outside on hikes and with kids in the neighborhood with masks. We did less in the winter but still did some. I don’t regret the choice - of course now i can see how much better things are but as parents we are also fully vaccinated now so it is different. We made the right choice at the time. We also sent my 5 year old to an in person kindergarten. And she played outside.

Everyone I know chose middle grounds, some a bit different than others. Last year was terrible in many ways but we made choices because we were rational and had to. And many many people did get covid last winter. Had one family been less cautious it wouldn’t have been much different for that family. The reality is though that if every or a large number of families had been less cautious it would have been worse. I am glad the majority of people in my community worked together to be reasonably safe. I am so happy to enjoy the time now with friends given that.

I mean - you had the option to send your 5 year old to in person K. that makes you very lucky compared to many of us! and also on the less cautious side. hopefully you can see that your family had many many more advantages than those of us stuck with only online learning and without all the social opportunities your kids had.

Where are you that your K kid never had the opportunity to go in person?

Not PP but there are still some school systems that are 100% virtual.
https://info.burbio.com/school-tracker-update-may-10/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My house hasn’t caught on fire, but I don’t regret having working smoke detectors. I’ve never been in a serious car accident, but I don’t regret decades of wearing a seatbelt. I’ve never had an unintended pregnancy, but I don’t regret having used birth control. I took precautions to avoid covid. Maybe I wouldn’t have contracted it even if I wasn’t cautious, but that doesn’t make me regret the precautions. I make the best choices I can based on the information I have.

Occasionally buying batteries for a smoke detector or buckling a seatbelt when you’re driving isn’t quite on par with asking a 5 year old to spend a year of learning sitting in front of an iPad and having no socialization with peers.

That wasn’t the choice most people were making.
Doing virtual school didn’t have to mean no socialization.
My 8 year old did virtual school and played outside on hikes and with kids in the neighborhood with masks. We did less in the winter but still did some. I don’t regret the choice - of course now i can see how much better things are but as parents we are also fully vaccinated now so it is different. We made the right choice at the time. We also sent my 5 year old to an in person kindergarten. And she played outside.

Everyone I know chose middle grounds, some a bit different than others. Last year was terrible in many ways but we made choices because we were rational and had to. And many many people did get covid last winter. Had one family been less cautious it wouldn’t have been much different for that family. The reality is though that if every or a large number of families had been less cautious it would have been worse. I am glad the majority of people in my community worked together to be reasonably safe. I am so happy to enjoy the time now with friends given that.

I mean - you had the option to send your 5 year old to in person K. that makes you very lucky compared to many of us! and also on the less cautious side. hopefully you can see that your family had many many more advantages than those of us stuck with only online learning and without all the social opportunities your kids had.

Where are you that your K kid never had the opportunity to go in person?

Not PP but there are still some school systems that are 100% virtual.
https://info.burbio.com/school-tracker-update-may-10/

This is about the Virginia not-FCPS suburbs though

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Do you look back now and think that your fear was unwarranted? Do you feel you made the choice based on politics and not wanting to be viewed as supporting Trump?

Personally I regret being too cautious for way too long. I look at friends who traveled, whose kids went back in person to private school, played sports and so on and nothing happened. Not a single one so much as for a sniffle or a cold. I think I just wasted time sitting at home for nothing. And the last couple of months I really regret that my child isn’t in school at least four days a week

I call BS on this. You don't sound like you were ever in the "stay closed" camp. You sound like an Open Schools Now person who is trying to stir the pot with your push for 4 days a week.

When you say "nothing happened," that does not ring true with our experience. I too know people who traveled, whose kids did sports and went to in-person school (we all do). It's not true at all that "nothing happened." Some of them got Covid. Many of them have been in quarantine, sometimes more than once, so were in and out of school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No. If they’d offered surveillance or rapid testing in schools, I would have felt differently as both a parent and a staff member. They didn’t, and most of us who were in person with students before the vaccine was available have a pretty good idea why. I know people don’t want to hear this, but my personal experience is that schools have not been honest about reporting or contact tracing.

what schools weren’t doing any testing at all? and contact tracing is generally the responsibility of the health department. I was able to read the research and see that frequent asymptomatic testing wasn’t necessary for safety, and also be reassured by the lack of spread in open schools. We knew that as early as October if not earlier. people are really trying to rewrite history and wish we would forget that privates, parochials, and **all of NYC** successfully and safely reopened well prior to vaccines.

FCPS has offered zero testing. They sent some small cohorts back in person in October and a lot of them had to revert back to virtual less than two weeks later. There was also a lot of red tape in getting tested through the FCHD at the time. They will not contact trace at schools unless a parent provides notification of a case. If you don't report, there's no tracing. I don't buy it that frequent asymptomatic testing wasn't necessary before the vaccine was widely available. I do think FCPS/APS/LCPS didn't want to do it. NYC, many private schools, professional sports teams, and colleges all did surveillance testing.

Anyway, the OP asked if we regret our choice to stay virtual. My answer is no.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do you look back now and think that your fear was unwarranted? Do you feel you made the choice based on politics and not wanting to be viewed as supporting Trump?

Personally I regret being too cautious for way too long. I look at friends who traveled, whose kids went back in person to private school, played sports and so on and nothing happened. Not a single one so much as for a sniffle or a cold. I think I just wasted time sitting at home for nothing. And the last couple of months I really regret that my child isn’t in school at least four days a week

I call BS on this. You don't sound like you were ever in the "stay closed" camp. You sound like an Open Schools Now person who is trying to stir the pot with your push for 4 days a week.

When you say "nothing happened," that does not ring true with our experience. I too know people who traveled, whose kids did sports and went to in-person school (we all do). It's not true at all that "nothing happened." Some of them got Covid. Many of them have been in quarantine, sometimes more than once, so were in and out of school.

+1. The wording in the OP is suspect.