1st grade is a bad as we suspected

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is what parents of kids this age said ALL LAST YEAR WHEN THEY WERE NOT IN SCHOOL.

Yes, I am yelling because I find this so unbelievably infuriating. And now it's wow...can you believe it. Yes. This is the most predictable outcome ever. No one gave a crap about these kids.

I am genuinely sympathetic to teachers who are now dealing with this shit show. And also, the deafening silence last year (at least in my school district) from any teachers about what this would surely do to kids this age was sad. No one speaking at the School Board meetings. No letters to the Editor. No posts on social media. No petitions. No leaked emails to the principal about how this was going to really be a problem for this particular age group. No "teacher association" (aka union) statements. Dead. Silence.

I know. Especially for the K-1st graders. I cannot believe that we didn't move heaven & earth to at least get the Ks back in school 1/2 time to learn to read and write. What a colossal failure.

Daily reminder that covid is no more dangerous to young children than ordinary flu. We robbed the future of children for the sake of 70 and 80 year olds.

P.S. Covid vaccinations are more dangerous to kids than covid, more likely to be hospitalized from myocarditis complications than covid

No, that was bad math. They corrected the study.

Covid isn't dangerous for children and neither is the vaccine.

+1. The Pfizer data for 5-11 year olds showed no hospitalization, death, or severe disease in vaxxed group or control group. Interestingly the only group with zero Sara Cov 2 infections was the children who already had natural immunity. So, safety data and immune response good. But kids lives are no safer with vaccine.

OP’s original point implies equal concern for transmission of COVID from unvaxxed and often unmasked kids. Remains valid point / even vaccinated teachers/ support staff/ bus drivers with compromised immune systems at risk although much lower risk of serious I’ll was when vaccinated.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is what parents of kids this age said ALL LAST YEAR WHEN THEY WERE NOT IN SCHOOL.

Yes, I am yelling because I find this so unbelievably infuriating. And now it's wow...can you believe it. Yes. This is the most predictable outcome ever. No one gave a crap about these kids.

I am genuinely sympathetic to teachers who are now dealing with this shit show. And also, the deafening silence last year (at least in my school district) from any teachers about what this would surely do to kids this age was sad. No one speaking at the School Board meetings. No letters to the Editor. No posts on social media. No petitions. No leaked emails to the principal about how this was going to really be a problem for this particular age group. No "teacher association" (aka union) statements. Dead. Silence.

I know. Especially for the K-1st graders. I cannot believe that we didn't move heaven & earth to at least get the Ks back in school 1/2 time to learn to read and write. What a colossal failure.

Daily reminder that covid is no more dangerous to young children than ordinary flu. We robbed the future of children for the sake of 70 and 80 year olds.

P.S. Covid vaccinations are more dangerous to kids than covid, more likely to be hospitalized from myocarditis complications than covid

No, that was bad math. They corrected the study.

Covid isn't dangerous for children and neither is the vaccine.

+1. The Pfizer data for 5-11 year olds showed no hospitalization, death, or severe disease in vaxxed group or control group. Interestingly the only group with zero Sara Cov 2 infections was the children who already had natural immunity. So, safety data and immune response good. But kids lives are no safer with vaccine.

OP’s original point implies equal concern for transmission of COVID from unvaxxed and often unmasked kids. Remains valid point / even vaccinated teachers/ support staff/ bus drivers with compromised immune systems at risk although much lower risk of serious I’ll was when vaccinated.

So vaccinate kids to protect at risk adults, especially unvaccinated?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is what parents of kids this age said ALL LAST YEAR WHEN THEY WERE NOT IN SCHOOL.

Yes, I am yelling because I find this so unbelievably infuriating. And now it's wow...can you believe it. Yes. This is the most predictable outcome ever. No one gave a crap about these kids.

I am genuinely sympathetic to teachers who are now dealing with this shit show. And also, the deafening silence last year (at least in my school district) from any teachers about what this would surely do to kids this age was sad. No one speaking at the School Board meetings. No letters to the Editor. No posts on social media. No petitions. No leaked emails to the principal about how this was going to really be a problem for this particular age group. No "teacher association" (aka union) statements. Dead. Silence.

I know. Especially for the K-1st graders. I cannot believe that we didn't move heaven & earth to at least get the Ks back in school 1/2 time to learn to read and write. What a colossal failure.

Daily reminder that covid is no more dangerous to young children than ordinary flu. We robbed the future of children for the sake of 70 and 80 year olds.

P.S. Covid vaccinations are more dangerous to kids than covid, more likely to be hospitalized from myocarditis complications than covid

No, that was bad math. They corrected the study.

Covid isn't dangerous for children and neither is the vaccine.

+1. The Pfizer data for 5-11 year olds showed no hospitalization, death, or severe disease in vaxxed group or control group. Interestingly the only group with zero Sara Cov 2 infections was the children who already had natural immunity. So, safety data and immune response good. But kids lives are no safer with vaccine.

OP’s original point implies equal concern for transmission of COVID from unvaxxed and often unmasked kids. Remains valid point / even vaccinated teachers/ support staff/ bus drivers with compromised immune systems at risk although much lower risk of serious I’ll was when vaccinated.

So vaccinate kids to protect at risk adults, especially unvaccinated?

And that is even a stretch as 1) kids already spread it less than adults and 2) vaccinated can still spread it anyway (yes, I know it is less before someone starts stomping their feet). The point is do the risks truly outweigh this very slim margin of benefit?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sorry pressed submit too soon kids learn things at different ages and in some European countries kids wouldn't start formal education until 6/7 anyway. So I'm not super stressed out with my child is arbitrarily behind in some skills and ahead in others when I know that she is still working hard and improving I think the bigger impact on the pandemic has been just the social emotional regulation. I think that students are still really struggling in that domain and I think the impact of the pandemic is going to be felt for years to come

People on DCUM love to say that kids in Europe don’t start formal education until 6 or 7 but this is really misleading. Even in the countries like Finland where this may be true, the kids are starting school having been taught to read by their parents at home. So it’s not like the US where a lot of kids are watching TV or playing video games all day while their parents are drunk or high. And, more importantly, those kids in Europe are actually being raised by their parents and not the government. They can sit quietly, follow directions, and they know not to throw a tantrum in school.

The impact of a year of school closures will certainly be felt for years to come though, you’re right about that.

WTAF?! You think there are no bad parents in Europe? And that in the US there are only crazy helicopter parents or neglectful druggies...nothing in between? You sound nuts.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sorry pressed submit too soon kids learn things at different ages and in some European countries kids wouldn't start formal education until 6/7 anyway. So I'm not super stressed out with my child is arbitrarily behind in some skills and ahead in others when I know that she is still working hard and improving I think the bigger impact on the pandemic has been just the social emotional regulation. I think that students are still really struggling in that domain and I think the impact of the pandemic is going to be felt for years to come

People on DCUM love to say that kids in Europe don’t start formal education until 6 or 7 but this is really misleading. Even in the countries like Finland where this may be true, the kids are starting school having been taught to read by their parents at home. So it’s not like the US where a lot of kids are watching TV or playing video games all day while their parents are drunk or high. And, more importantly, those kids in Europe are actually being raised by their parents and not the government. They can sit quietly, follow directions, and they know not to throw a tantrum in school.

The impact of a year of school closures will certainly be felt for years to come though, you’re right about that.

WTAF?! You think there are no bad parents in Europe? And that in the US there are only crazy helicopter parents or neglectful druggies...nothing in between? You sound nuts.

I am from Germany, and it is not true that the parents generally teach the kids to read at home before first grade. Some may certainly do that, but it is not common practice, nor is it expected when the kids enter school. Also, since they care is subsidized and very cheap, a lot of kids are actually attending daycare starting around each one.

Oh, and regarding the impact of the Covid school closures - I was talking to some school social workers in Germany last fall, who said that they were seeing a lot of behavioral and social-emotional problems in the kids, which they attributed to their social isolation while schools were closed. And that was after a closure of only a few months before summer 2020! So there shouldn’t be any surprise that it is much, much worse here. Kids have really gotten screwed in this area.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sorry pressed submit too soon kids learn things at different ages and in some European countries kids wouldn't start formal education until 6/7 anyway. So I'm not super stressed out with my child is arbitrarily behind in some skills and ahead in others when I know that she is still working hard and improving I think the bigger impact on the pandemic has been just the social emotional regulation. I think that students are still really struggling in that domain and I think the impact of the pandemic is going to be felt for years to come

People on DCUM love to say that kids in Europe don’t start formal education until 6 or 7 but this is really misleading. Even in the countries like Finland where this may be true, the kids are starting school having been taught to read by their parents at home. So it’s not like the US where a lot of kids are watching TV or playing video games all day while their parents are drunk or high. And, more importantly, those kids in Europe are actually being raised by their parents and not the government. They can sit quietly, follow directions, and they know not to throw a tantrum in school.

The impact of a year of school closures will certainly be felt for years to come though, you’re right about that.

WTAF?! You think there are no bad parents in Europe? And that in the US there are only crazy helicopter parents or neglectful druggies...nothing in between? You sound nuts.

I am from Germany, and it is not true that the parents generally teach the kids to read at home before first grade. Some may certainly do that, but it is not common practice, nor is it expected when the kids enter school. Also, since they care is subsidized and very cheap, a lot of kids are actually attending daycare starting around each one.

Oh, and regarding the impact of the Covid school closures - I was talking to some school social workers in Germany last fall, who said that they were seeing a lot of behavioral and social-emotional problems in the kids, which they attributed to their social isolation while schools were closed. And that was after a closure of only a few months before summer 2020! So there shouldn’t be any surprise that it is much, much worse here. Kids have really gotten screwed in this area.

*daycare not they care
*age one not each one

Sorry, need to proofread speech to text better!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is what parents of kids this age said ALL LAST YEAR WHEN THEY WERE NOT IN SCHOOL.

Yes, I am yelling because I find this so unbelievably infuriating. And now it's wow...can you believe it. Yes. This is the most predictable outcome ever. No one gave a crap about these kids.

I am genuinely sympathetic to teachers who are now dealing with this shit show. And also, the deafening silence last year (at least in my school district) from any teachers about what this would surely do to kids this age was sad. No one speaking at the School Board meetings. No letters to the Editor. No posts on social media. No petitions. No leaked emails to the principal about how this was going to really be a problem for this particular age group. No "teacher association" (aka union) statements. Dead. Silence.

I know. Especially for the K-1st graders. I cannot believe that we didn't move heaven & earth to at least get the Ks back in school 1/2 time to learn to read and write. What a colossal failure.

Daily reminder that covid is no more dangerous to young children than ordinary flu. We robbed the future of children for the sake of 70 and 80 year olds.

P.S. Covid vaccinations are more dangerous to kids than covid, more likely to be hospitalized from myocarditis complications than covid

No, that was bad math. They corrected the study.

Covid isn't dangerous for children and neither is the vaccine.

+1. The Pfizer data for 5-11 year olds showed no hospitalization, death, or severe disease in vaxxed group or control group. Interestingly the only group with zero Sara Cov 2 infections was the children who already had natural immunity. So, safety data and immune response good. But kids lives are no safer with vaccine.

OP’s original point implies equal concern for transmission of COVID from unvaxxed and often unmasked kids. Remains valid point / even vaccinated teachers/ support staff/ bus drivers with compromised immune systems at risk although much lower risk of serious I’ll was when vaccinated.

So vaccinate kids to protect at risk adults, especially unvaccinated?

Yes absolutely - everyone needs to do their part to get over this pandemic … we have lost many teachers and bus drivers already … there is very little risk for getting vaccines … adults much more likely this. Kids to become seriously ill. Kids have wider circle of social contacts than just school - grandparents, extended families, coaches, troop leaders, church members etc etc

[Anonymous]

I had my first grader's parent teacher conference last year. She said academically the class was pretty close to where they should be (we're in an UMC area so not terribly surprising), but that the biggest issue she is seeing is that kids don't know how to make friends after 18 months in near-isolation and that they're having to spend time teaching kids those social skills.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:But what’s done is done and being mad won’t help anything. Everyone - schools, teachers, and parents - all need to be working to get the behind kids caught up and/or have them repeat a grade if necessary. The situation will not right itself on its own.

The #1 thing that needs to be done is to grit our teeth and say no to ICU admissions of 75+ year olds with 2.6 preexisting medical conditions instead of shutting down schools again. And it will come down to that, look at cases in highly vaccinated UK and Israel. We did not vaccinate our way out of the pandemic. We cannot let a couple floors in the hospital shut down society again. And it is not just education, it is also mental health, obesity and people's livelihoods on the line.

I was saying this in April 2020. This is the only answer.

- signed, an actual expert in rationing healthcare.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm so glad we bit the bullet at the start if the 2020 school year and enrolled our kids in an independent school that was open 5 days a week without a single interruption. The sky did not fall and nobody died and for the majority of the school year the entire school was unvaccinated.

We have none of these learning or behavioral problems you all are describing. Love our bubble. Love my kids being in school with families who are not neurotic freaks.

??? Many of us would have loved to have done this but could not/cannot afford it. Thanks for being an a$$hole though.

Meh. Many people sacrifice to get their kids into independent schools. Also, they don't all cost $50K/year.

Well we aren’t all comfortable with Catholic or evangelical Christian either, and those are the ones that are cheaper. How’s the view up there on your high horse?

Nobody said religious school. Many parochial schools were hybrid, half as bad as the publics.

Yes, and for those of us who can’t really even afford the tuition at such a school, “sacrificing” only to have the school go hybrid or pushing us into constant quarantine is not an option.

The idea that all parents had the option to send their child to in-person school last year if they had only been willing to sacrifice more is absurd. It was the same conversation around childcare. “Just get a nanny” as though that’s accessible to all families.

We screwed over families and specifically, children, last year. Full stop. And over and over again, we’ve seen that open schools does not lead to uncontrolled viral spread, or dead kids (or dead teachers). People keep saying it does but over and over, all around the world, we have seen it does not.

But closed schools result in learning loss, increased inequity, behavioral issues, mental health issues, family dysfunction. The OP isn’t the only one making these observations.

Actually we’ve seen over and over all over the world that open schools without significant mitigation measures like masking, contract tracing, vaccination, distancing, airflow changes, etc does lead to spread, quarantine, and death. The reason we’re not seeing that here is because of the high rate of teachers vaccination, mask requirements in schools, and an over abundance of well off people who are able to access good healthcare normally including testing for Covid to help limit spread.

That’s not to say that schools shouldn’t be open, but we shouldn’t minimize what’s its costing in term of dollars, people, stress, and virus management hours to keep this under control.

actually no we have not seen that. most kids get covid at home, not school.

That makes no sense. They are much more likely to get COVID at school. It is a droplet viral infection spread when people are in close contact with each other. Schools and school buses are one of biggest common vectors.

Our school was open all of last year. Not a single transmission of COVID occurred at school. All the kids who got it got it at home or somewhere else.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm so glad we bit the bullet at the start if the 2020 school year and enrolled our kids in an independent school that was open 5 days a week without a single interruption. The sky did not fall and nobody died and for the majority of the school year the entire school was unvaccinated.

We have none of these learning or behavioral problems you all are describing. Love our bubble. Love my kids being in school with families who are not neurotic freaks.

??? Many of us would have loved to have done this but could not/cannot afford it. Thanks for being an a$$hole though.

Meh. Many people sacrifice to get their kids into independent schools. Also, they don't all cost $50K/year.

Well we aren’t all comfortable with Catholic or evangelical Christian either, and those are the ones that are cheaper. How’s the view up there on your high horse?

Nobody said religious school. Many parochial schools were hybrid, half as bad as the publics.

Yes, and for those of us who can’t really even afford the tuition at such a school, “sacrificing” only to have the school go hybrid or pushing us into constant quarantine is not an option.

The idea that all parents had the option to send their child to in-person school last year if they had only been willing to sacrifice more is absurd. It was the same conversation around childcare. “Just get a nanny” as though that’s accessible to all families.

We screwed over families and specifically, children, last year. Full stop. And over and over again, we’ve seen that open schools does not lead to uncontrolled viral spread, or dead kids (or dead teachers). People keep saying it does but over and over, all around the world, we have seen it does not.

But closed schools result in learning loss, increased inequity, behavioral issues, mental health issues, family dysfunction. The OP isn’t the only one making these observations.

Actually we’ve seen over and over all over the world that open schools without significant mitigation measures like masking, contract tracing, vaccination, distancing, airflow changes, etc does lead to spread, quarantine, and death. The reason we’re not seeing that here is because of the high rate of teachers vaccination, mask requirements in schools, and an over abundance of well off people who are able to access good healthcare normally including testing for Covid to help limit spread.

That’s not to say that schools shouldn’t be open, but we shouldn’t minimize what’s its costing in term of dollars, people, stress, and virus management hours to keep this under control.

actually no we have not seen that. most kids get covid at home, not school.

That makes no sense. They are much more likely to get COVID at school. It is a droplet viral infection spread when people are in close contact with each other. Schools and school buses are one of biggest common vectors.

Our school was open all of last year. Not a single transmission of COVID occurred at school. All the kids who got it got it at home or somewhere else.

Yes. All the contact tracing data gathered around the world in the past 18+ months indicates that schools are NOT major sites of transmission, and aren’t drivers of community spread. I don’t know why anyone is still trying to deny this, it’s not really controversial anymore. Rates found in schools tend to mirror caseloads in the surrounding community, but have often found to be lower, especially when mitigation measures were in place.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:But what’s done is done and being mad won’t help anything. Everyone - schools, teachers, and parents - all need to be working to get the behind kids caught up and/or have them repeat a grade if necessary. The situation will not right itself on its own.

The #1 thing that needs to be done is to grit our teeth and say no to ICU admissions of 75+ year olds with 2.6 preexisting medical conditions instead of shutting down schools again. And it will come down to that, look at cases in highly vaccinated UK and Israel. We did not vaccinate our way out of the pandemic. We cannot let a couple floors in the hospital shut down society again. And it is not just education, it is also mental health, obesity and people's livelihoods on the line.

I was saying this in April 2020. This is the only answer.

- signed, an actual expert in rationing healthcare.

While I agree with all of the above I don't see how they corrects the educational problem we already have. Rationing care is not going to teach a first grader her letter sounds.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:2nd grade is only marginally better than first. The other grades seem less affected and surprisingly K seems more or less normal.

Why would that be surprising. Preschools were open all last year. Something elementary schools couldn't sort out.

Those kids are coming into K like normal.

My K’s daycare with full preschool never closed. Not even in March or April of 2020. Other than wearing masks, and a two week closure due to a case in her class she had a normal experience. Why wouldn’t she be prepared for K? My second grader on the other hand? I will NEVER forgive FCPS for not getting the young kids back in school last fall. They are shameful.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The first graders are going to be fine. Yes, last year sucked but catching up K and 1st grade work isn’t going to be a big problem. I’m thankful I didn’t have an older child that was missing more advanced classes.

-parent of a 1st grader

The older kids are fine. Their teachers actually taught their full curriculum last year. And they already know how to function in a school environment.

Lmao! No one taught or learned the “full curriculum” last year, and no one learned anything for the last 1/3rd of 2020. No grade is fine.

My 8th grader is 100% fine, not behind, not struggling.

My 6th grade DD is 100% fine academically as well. It's been a rough transition for the whole school behaviorally, per the principal.

Yeah. Its sad when the discipline of the children is left up to the parents for 18 months, and this is the result. Previous generations of parents at least had behavioral expectations for their kids, and would have been upset at the child if they misbehaved at school, rather than blame the school.

Look, I had a full-time nanny and kids who did in-person school all of last year, but I'm also not obtuse or rude enough to now acknowledge that many people struggled with having their kids home last year and many people cut corners in various areas just to survive. Blasting parents for not doing a better job disciplining their children last year is disgusting, and you should be ashamed of yourself.

The lack of parental discipline in this country, both pre and post Covid, is what parents should be ashamed of. It’s appalling.

I agree that the lack of discipline is shameful, but Covid was a different story. Parents were tasked with educating and disciplining their children while also performing full time jobs. It was quite literally an impossible task.

Exactly. At the lack of sounding cliche ... this is truly unprecedented times. Quite literally, parents have never been asked to do what they were asked to do last school year. Trust me that my mom and I argued about this because she acted like it was no big deal what was happening but lord knows she never had to do anything like this raising my sister and me.

My mom, too. She thought it was like when she was a SAHM, and I reminded her that (1) we were always IN school, like physically there, and (2) she was deliberately NOT trying to work a full-time, non-parenting job *while simultaneously* caring for us, let alone serving as a paraeducator. That people are still not giving parents grace on this front, are still lacking empathy, is so disheartening.

Just how long are we and our kids supposed to "give grace"? Especially when "giving grace" is code for the well-behaved, on-task kids who want to learn putting up with the never-ending disruption of the kids who have apparently gone off the rails since last year.

This is why classroom tracking needs to be brought back. Put all the duds and problem kids in one class and let the rest move forward and succeed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:2nd grade is only marginally better than first. The other grades seem less affected and surprisingly K seems more or less normal.

Why would that be surprising. Preschools were open all last year. Something elementary schools couldn't sort out.

Those kids are coming into K like normal.

My K’s daycare with full preschool never closed. Not even in March or April of 2020. Other than wearing masks, and a two week closure due to a case in her class she had a normal experience. Why wouldn’t she be prepared for K? My second grader on the other hand? I will NEVER forgive FCPS for not getting the young kids back in school last fall. They are shameful.

+1 million.