Should we prepare for virtual schooling starting in January?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This thread has been taken over by Open Schools people, I see.


I'm all for that.

Except that Omicron spreads so fast that there won't be enough teachers to teach your kids, just like there won't be enough healthcare workers in hospitals to tend to all the sick and injured.

Now if you wish to keep school buildings open as daycares, with a skeletal staff dedicated to just keeping kids occupied and fed while parents work, that's also OK with me. Parents need to work!

But the learning needs to happen also, and it won't happen when your child's teacher is out. There are no subs. Teachers were so badly treated last year that they left, just like healthcare workers did. Public school subs have always had terrible working conditions, so they're off doing other work.

Which means that shortly it will either be no learning, or virtual learning. For what I hope will be a short period of time, since Omicron is 5 times as transmissible as Delta and it will blast through the population.

My kids need to study for their AP exams in May. They cannot miss one iota of academic content. Whatever schools decide, all I want is that teachers are available to teach the entire curriculum. I don't want them sick and out. I want them healthy and teaching. So if that means virtual, then virtual it is. Maybe you can ask MCPS to have some buildings open for childcare if your kids are younger.

And my kids need special education supports and services that cannot be meaningfully offered virtually. Schools need to stay open. Teachers need to get vaccinated and boosted so that they can keep working.

You all are making this much more complicated than it needs to be.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This thread has been taken over by Open Schools people, I see.


I'm all for that.

Except that Omicron spreads so fast that there won't be enough teachers to teach your kids, just like there won't be enough healthcare workers in hospitals to tend to all the sick and injured.

Now if you wish to keep school buildings open as daycares, with a skeletal staff dedicated to just keeping kids occupied and fed while parents work, that's also OK with me. Parents need to work!

But the learning needs to happen also, and it won't happen when your child's teacher is out. There are no subs. Teachers were so badly treated last year that they left, just like healthcare workers did. Public school subs have always had terrible working conditions, so they're off doing other work.

Which means that shortly it will either be no learning, or virtual learning. For what I hope will be a short period of time, since Omicron is 5 times as transmissible as Delta and it will blast through the population.

My kids need to study for their AP exams in May. They cannot miss one iota of academic content. Whatever schools decide, all I want is that teachers are available to teach the entire curriculum. I don't want them sick and out. I want them healthy and teaching. So if that means virtual, then virtual it is. Maybe you can ask MCPS to have some buildings open for childcare if your kids are younger.

And my kids need special education supports and services that cannot be meaningfully offered virtually. Schools need to stay open. Teachers need to get vaccinated and boosted so that they can keep working.

You all are making this much more complicated than it needs to be.

LOL like being vaccinated matters to omnicron. The vaccines were developed for the first covid, not omnicron.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This thread has been taken over by Open Schools people, I see.


I'm all for that.

Except that Omicron spreads so fast that there won't be enough teachers to teach your kids, just like there won't be enough healthcare workers in hospitals to tend to all the sick and injured.

Now if you wish to keep school buildings open as daycares, with a skeletal staff dedicated to just keeping kids occupied and fed while parents work, that's also OK with me. Parents need to work!

But the learning needs to happen also, and it won't happen when your child's teacher is out. There are no subs. Teachers were so badly treated last year that they left, just like healthcare workers did. Public school subs have always had terrible working conditions, so they're off doing other work.

Which means that shortly it will either be no learning, or virtual learning. For what I hope will be a short period of time, since Omicron is 5 times as transmissible as Delta and it will blast through the population.

My kids need to study for their AP exams in May. They cannot miss one iota of academic content. Whatever schools decide, all I want is that teachers are available to teach the entire curriculum. I don't want them sick and out. I want them healthy and teaching. So if that means virtual, then virtual it is. Maybe you can ask MCPS to have some buildings open for childcare if your kids are younger.

And my kids need special education supports and services that cannot be meaningfully offered virtually. Schools need to stay open. Teachers need to get vaccinated and boosted so that they can keep working.

You all are making this much more complicated than it needs to be.

Teachers are vaccinated. Its not that simple. We have several teachers who are out with covid and they ARE vaccinated.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This thread has been taken over by Open Schools people, I see.


I'm all for that.

Except that Omicron spreads so fast that there won't be enough teachers to teach your kids, just like there won't be enough healthcare workers in hospitals to tend to all the sick and injured.

Now if you wish to keep school buildings open as daycares, with a skeletal staff dedicated to just keeping kids occupied and fed while parents work, that's also OK with me. Parents need to work!

But the learning needs to happen also, and it won't happen when your child's teacher is out. There are no subs. Teachers were so badly treated last year that they left, just like healthcare workers did. Public school subs have always had terrible working conditions, so they're off doing other work.

Which means that shortly it will either be no learning, or virtual learning. For what I hope will be a short period of time, since Omicron is 5 times as transmissible as Delta and it will blast through the population.

My kids need to study for their AP exams in May. They cannot miss one iota of academic content. Whatever schools decide, all I want is that teachers are available to teach the entire curriculum. I don't want them sick and out. I want them healthy and teaching. So if that means virtual, then virtual it is. Maybe you can ask MCPS to have some buildings open for childcare if your kids are younger.

And my kids need special education supports and services that cannot be meaningfully offered virtually. Schools need to stay open. Teachers need to get vaccinated and boosted so that they can keep working.

You all are making this much more complicated than it needs to be.

LOL like being vaccinated matters to omnicron. The vaccines were developed for the first covid, not omnicron.

No worries, they have an invisible bubble of protection around them. Its only an issue for the rest of us.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This thread has been taken over by Open Schools people, I see.


I'm all for that.

Except that Omicron spreads so fast that there won't be enough teachers to teach your kids, just like there won't be enough healthcare workers in hospitals to tend to all the sick and injured.

Now if you wish to keep school buildings open as daycares, with a skeletal staff dedicated to just keeping kids occupied and fed while parents work, that's also OK with me. Parents need to work!

But the learning needs to happen also, and it won't happen when your child's teacher is out. There are no subs. Teachers were so badly treated last year that they left, just like healthcare workers did. Public school subs have always had terrible working conditions, so they're off doing other work.

Which means that shortly it will either be no learning, or virtual learning. For what I hope will be a short period of time, since Omicron is 5 times as transmissible as Delta and it will blast through the population.

My kids need to study for their AP exams in May. They cannot miss one iota of academic content. Whatever schools decide, all I want is that teachers are available to teach the entire curriculum. I don't want them sick and out. I want them healthy and teaching. So if that means virtual, then virtual it is. Maybe you can ask MCPS to have some buildings open for childcare if your kids are younger.

And my kids need special education supports and services that cannot be meaningfully offered virtually. Schools need to stay open. Teachers need to get vaccinated and boosted so that they can keep working.

You all are making this much more complicated than it needs to be.

LOL like being vaccinated matters to omnicron. The vaccines were developed for the first covid, not omnicron.

as I'm sure you have read - the pfizer and moderna vaccines (with booster) provide enough immunity to prevent severe illness and hospitalization. of course there are breakthrough cases - even more with omicron. But vaccinations do matter.

[Anonymous]

15 teachers out today at my high school. About 1/4 of the students as well. Staff are scrambling to fill in. I am sure other schools have even more trouble.

I am sure this is not all due to Covid, but that's a big drop.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Teachers are vaccinated. Its not that simple. We have several teachers who are out with covid and they ARE vaccinated.

Every year, there were teachers out with influenza....

If a school can't operate because too many teachers are out, that's one thing. We're all familiar with that, with the teachers being out for various reasons. But closing all of the schools in MCPS to prevent the spread of SARS-CoV-2? No way.

[Anonymous]

I wish we had somewhat better contract tracing to determine if teachers are getting sick at school. Masking does seem effective at controlling spread so those sick teachers may be catching it at home from their kids or elsewhere in the community. If that’s the case, closing schools won’t help much with the teacher absence problem.

[Anonymous]

Nope! I don’t count on people self quarantining or getting vaccinated if they haven’t during school closings. We’ll face the spread sooner or later. Schools can’t be closed forever.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I wish we had somewhat better contract tracing to determine if teachers are getting sick at school. Masking does seem effective at controlling spread so those sick teachers may be catching it at home from their kids or elsewhere in the community. If that’s the case, closing schools won’t help much with the teacher absence problem.

The only problem with the contact tracing is that the contact tracers lost access to the positive case data from the state between December 4 and December 19.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Covid is spreading like crazy right now. Going virtual for a few weeks may be essential after holiday travel. Vaccines are not working very well against omicron. Schools are already stretched too thin. No substitute in their right mind will work at schools this winter. This sucks but we need to soldier on.

I was skeptical at first, but PG might have the right idea.
Keep schools empty until 2 weeks post-holiday travel and get-togethers.

Assuming they actually go back after MLK, that is.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Covid is spreading like crazy right now. Going virtual for a few weeks may be essential after holiday travel. Vaccines are not working very well against omicron. Schools are already stretched too thin. No substitute in their right mind will work at schools this winter. This sucks but we need to soldier on.

I was skeptical at first, but PG might have the right idea.
Keep schools empty until 2 weeks post-holiday travel and get-togethers.

Assuming they actually go back after MLK, that is.

Sure, make teachers put together virtual plans over the holiday. Then trust that the schools will actually re-open instead of saying, "how about two more weeks and we re-assess?...how about Spring?...at this point, why don't we just start talking about Fall 2022?"

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Covid is spreading like crazy right now. Going virtual for a few weeks may be essential after holiday travel. Vaccines are not working very well against omicron. Schools are already stretched too thin. No substitute in their right mind will work at schools this winter. This sucks but we need to soldier on.

I was skeptical at first, but PG might have the right idea.
Keep schools empty until 2 weeks post-holiday travel and get-togethers.

Assuming they actually go back after MLK, that is.

Sure, make teachers put together virtual plans over the holiday. Then trust that the schools will actually re-open instead of saying, "how about two more weeks and we re-assess?...how about Spring?...at this point, why don't we just start talking about Fall 2022?"

Stop ! This could easily happen but it would be disastrous for kids especially current 2nd graders who haven’t had a full year of schooling at all since they were in Kindergarten. This makes me so sad for our kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Covid is spreading like crazy right now. Going virtual for a few weeks may be essential after holiday travel. Vaccines are not working very well against omicron. Schools are already stretched too thin. No substitute in their right mind will work at schools this winter. This sucks but we need to soldier on.

I was skeptical at first, but PG might have the right idea.
Keep schools empty until 2 weeks post-holiday travel and get-togethers.

Assuming they actually go back after MLK, that is.

Sure, make teachers put together virtual plans over the holiday. Then trust that the schools will actually re-open instead of saying, "how about two more weeks and we re-assess?...how about Spring?...at this point, why don't we just start talking about Fall 2022?"

PP you're replying to. I agree, it sucks, but if they reopen in January and sh!t hits the fan in the buildings, we will really be screwed.

I've always been in favor of schools being open, and my kid went back in March when given the option. Maybe if schools can be proactive instead of reactive, we won't end up where we were from March 2020-March 2021.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Covid is spreading like crazy right now. Going virtual for a few weeks may be essential after holiday travel. Vaccines are not working very well against omicron. Schools are already stretched too thin. No substitute in their right mind will work at schools this winter. This sucks but we need to soldier on.

I was skeptical at first, but PG might have the right idea.
Keep schools empty until 2 weeks post-holiday travel and get-togethers.

Assuming they actually go back after MLK, that is.

Here's how you keep schools open: don't close them.