MCPS will now send kids home for ten days based on symptoms only

[Anonymous]

These rules are stricter than NYC, the largest school system in the US, which only requires a quarrantine for a positive case. Someone should ask MCPS whether they considered what other districts are doing and why they think what NYC is doing is not good enough.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The question is why is MCPS releasing this changed policy on the Friday of the first week of school just before a holiday weekend? Why wasn’t this the guidance last week? Do they just want to reinforce that they are a clown show and are indecisive about these arbitrary COVID policies? We pulled from private with more sensible policies. Had I known this is have reconsidered. It’s designed to ensure school is disrupted when a masked kid gets a fever on the playground.

There must be a ton of cases we don't know about for this radical shift after 1 week.

Thanks to this board and conversations between parents from different schools, we know for a fact that no "Covid dashboard" of any local school jurisdiction is remotely accurate. There are multiple cases that are left out.

This means the systems are overwhelmed and so correctly, MCPS changes course to make the system a little safer. Now if it only had the help of parents...

Except MCPS isn't acting in good faith. They said they were going to follow CDC guidance on exposures and quarantines, when it is quite clear that was never their intention. And there are a variety of alternatives they could take that would substantially reduce the negative effects on kids, such as test-to-stay. That they didn't do those alternatives strongly suggests they simply want to shut classrooms down.

If you have an alternative plan you think is better, CONTACT THE BOE AND INTERIM SUPERINTENDANT and tell them! That's what I did with outdoor lunches in mid-August, and by late August, they had a directive sent to Principals to facilitate outdoor lunches. If you write convincingly, they will listen.

That's really funny that you think you're single handedly responsible for outdoor lunch. 🤣

Did I say that? I didn't. I asked others to write too, and I'm sure they did. I'm sure some in Central Office or the BOE were thinking about it. But every little push helps. Don't make yourself look so stupid in your haste to laugh at someone else.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:These rules are stricter than NYC, the largest school system in the US, which only requires a quarrantine for a positive case. Someone should ask MCPS whether they considered what other districts are doing and why they think what NYC is doing is not good enough.

Is that rhetorical? Because NYC still has the highest total Covid death numbers in the nation, due to their devastating spike in early 2020. They don't have any lessons to give to anybody.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Also finding it really sort of predictably gross that people are assuming non-native English speakers won't be given directions they can understand and appropriate resources if and when this happens with their child.

I know MCPS can suck in terms of its communication, but at our school at least, there is a tremendous amount of energy put into walking folks through things like this. Not to mention that, for example, Latino vaccination rates are the highest of all groups in MoCo. Lots of immigrants are MORE concerned about public health and more compliant than the typical DCUM demographic.

But I often find rich white folks use inaccurate caricatures of poor people and/or people of color to hide their own personal objections behind.

I'm finding it predictably gross that you came here to bash RICH WHITE FOLKS again and again and again. We all know who didn't get the effing memo on covid but we don't sit on this board bashing them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The question is why is MCPS releasing this changed policy on the Friday of the first week of school just before a holiday weekend? Why wasn’t this the guidance last week? Do they just want to reinforce that they are a clown show and are indecisive about these arbitrary COVID policies? We pulled from private with more sensible policies. Had I known this is have reconsidered. It’s designed to ensure school is disrupted when a masked kid gets a fever on the playground.

There must be a ton of cases we don't know about for this radical shift after 1 week.

Thanks to this board and conversations between parents from different schools, we know for a fact that no "Covid dashboard" of any local school jurisdiction is remotely accurate. There are multiple cases that are left out.

This means the systems are overwhelmed and so correctly, MCPS changes course to make the system a little safer. Now if it only had the help of parents...

Except MCPS isn't acting in good faith. They said they were going to follow CDC guidance on exposures and quarantines, when it is quite clear that was never their intention. And there are a variety of alternatives they could take that would substantially reduce the negative effects on kids, such as test-to-stay. That they didn't do those alternatives strongly suggests they simply want to shut classrooms down.

If you have an alternative plan you think is better, CONTACT THE BOE AND INTERIM SUPERINTENDANT and tell them! That's what I did with outdoor lunches in mid-August, and by late August, they had a directive sent to Principals to facilitate outdoor lunches. If you write convincingly, they will listen.

That's really funny that you think you're single handedly responsible for outdoor lunch. 🤣

Did I say that? I didn't. I asked others to write too, and I'm sure they did. I'm sure some in Central Office or the BOE were thinking about it. But every little push helps. Don't make yourself look so stupid in your haste to laugh at someone else.

Troops of PTAs and parents wrote to the BOE and to principals dear. No one needed you to get a light bulb over your head.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

I probably would get a test. I'm just not going to tell MCPS if it is positive, since I know how awful it would be for the other students to get sent home for 10+ days.

You wouldn't, anyway. The contact tracers would do that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So I’m hopeful parents at my school understand what to do here:

(1) kid gets sick not on school hours
(2) KEEP kid home and tell school anything except kid has a covid symptom
(3) get thee to PM pediatrics before 1 pm and procure same day test
(4) get test results (statistically speaking they are going to be negative)
(5) send kid back to school when not sick anymore.
(6) if kid will be out for a few days tell school kid sick but not covid and provide negative test
(7) rest of class is safe

Go forth.

Why wouldn't you tell the school if your child is positive for Covid? Do you understand you are putting lives at risk here? Vaccinated grandparents and other adults whose immunity is waning can DIE because you neglected to trigger a quarantine.

Do you even understand why quarantined are put in place???

When deaths inevitably rise in MoCo, I AM PUTTING THE BLAME ON YOU.

Compromised people got a 3rd shot. He'll I have relatives in the covid wild west of Florida who got a 3rd shot weeks ago.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:These rules are stricter than NYC, the largest school system in the US, which only requires a quarrantine for a positive case. Someone should ask MCPS whether they considered what other districts are doing and why they think what NYC is doing is not good enough.

Is that rhetorical? Because NYC still has the highest total Covid death numbers in the nation, due to their devastating spike in early 2020. They don't have any lessons to give to anybody.

No. It’s called prioritizing education and making decisions instead of being a bunch of knee jerk cowards.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

I probably would get a test. I'm just not going to tell MCPS if it is positive, since I know how awful it would be for the other students to get sent home for 10+ days.

You wouldn't, anyway. The contact tracers would do that.

Who's contact tracing home tests?
By the way we had a positive test once. It took contract tracers 3 days to get in touch. Luckily I picked up the phone but I believe 40% of people dont.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So I’m hopeful parents at my school understand what to do here:

(1) kid gets sick not on school hours
(2) KEEP kid home and tell school anything except kid has a covid symptom
(3) get thee to PM pediatrics before 1 pm and procure same day test
(4) get test results (statistically speaking they are going to be negative)
(5) send kid back to school when not sick anymore.
(6) if kid will be out for a few days tell school kid sick but not covid and provide negative test
(7) rest of class is safe

Go forth.

Why wouldn't you tell the school if your child is positive for Covid? Do you understand you are putting lives at risk here? Vaccinated grandparents and other adults whose immunity is waning can DIE because you neglected to trigger a quarantine.

Do you even understand why quarantined are put in place???

When deaths inevitably rise in MoCo, I AM PUTTING THE BLAME ON YOU.

Compromised people got a 3rd shot. He'll I have relatives in the covid wild west of Florida who got a 3rd shot weeks ago.

I’m the PP with the list. I would absolutely tell them if positive. But in the meantime waiting for the result which will almost certainly be negative - no.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

I probably would get a test. I'm just not going to tell MCPS if it is positive, since I know how awful it would be for the other students to get sent home for 10+ days.

You wouldn't, anyway. The contact tracers would do that.

Who's contact tracing home tests?
By the way we had a positive test once. It took contract tracers 3 days to get in touch. Luckily I picked up the phone but I believe 40% of people dont.

Where are you getting home tests from?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:These rules are stricter than NYC, the largest school system in the US, which only requires a quarrantine for a positive case. Someone should ask MCPS whether they considered what other districts are doing and why they think what NYC is doing is not good enough.

Is that rhetorical? Because NYC still has the highest total Covid death numbers in the nation, due to their devastating spike in early 2020. They don't have any lessons to give to anybody.

No. It’s called prioritizing education and making decisions instead of being a bunch of knee jerk cowards.

They ARE prioritizing education. Anyone who wants to return just gets a test. Easy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:These rules are stricter than NYC, the largest school system in the US, which only requires a quarrantine for a positive case. Someone should ask MCPS whether they considered what other districts are doing and why they think what NYC is doing is not good enough.

Is that rhetorical? Because NYC still has the highest total Covid death numbers in the nation, due to their devastating spike in early 2020. They don't have any lessons to give to anybody.

No. It’s called prioritizing education and making decisions instead of being a bunch of knee jerk cowards.

I'll gladly be called a knee-jerk coward if it means having the courage to keep the population safe. I think the cowards are the people who don't want to do anything... like you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:These rules are stricter than NYC, the largest school system in the US, which only requires a quarrantine for a positive case. Someone should ask MCPS whether they considered what other districts are doing and why they think what NYC is doing is not good enough.

Is that rhetorical? Because NYC still has the highest total Covid death numbers in the nation, due to their devastating spike in early 2020. They don't have any lessons to give to anybody.

No. It’s called prioritizing education and making decisions instead of being a bunch of knee jerk cowards.

I'll gladly be called a knee-jerk coward if it means having the courage to keep the population safe. I think the cowards are the people who don't want to do anything... like you.

Exactly! Take your perception of freedom and shove it where the sub dont shine. Go live in a libertarian kibbutz and reproduce only with your ilk to create a sovereign nation of entitled a-holes which does not care for the greater good, has a di$& Measuring Contest as a way to elect their Dear Leader .... blah blah blah...

Okay now thats out of the way and we have all yelled at each other....

What is a solution to this? Write to MCPS about obligatory testing? Massive signature campaign?

[Anonymous]

About 5% of the population really are sociopaths or psychopaths. Another percent or 2 might be true idiots. Then you have a portion who don't click on links from the school or chat about school with friends. Then the % who get it but understand that it's a flawed system so aren't going to follow it.
Once again: Public health emergency mitigation methods can't rely on the kindness of strangers like stella from a streetcar named desire. They need to use the federal money and do the testing in school that they should have been doing all along.