Should we prepare for virtual schooling starting in January?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I honestly don't know how its feasible to go virtual after the holiday - can they pivot that quickly? I have no idea how PG is doing it. Does MCPS even have contingency plans? I think it would be a disaster.

Not just that. Parents would have to pivot as well. Where is their leave and childcare coming from at the very last minute?

Not anyones problem. County has child care vouchers for low income and high income parents either hire help or should have saved their leave. Your kids, your problem.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I honestly don't know how its feasible to go virtual after the holiday - can they pivot that quickly? I have no idea how PG is doing it. Does MCPS even have contingency plans? I think it would be a disaster.

Not just that. Parents would have to pivot as well. Where is their leave and childcare coming from at the very last minute?

DP, but it’s not coming. Many kids will be home alone, or watched by an older sibling, or have parents who are working at home but not attending to them because they’re, you know, WORKING.

If it’s really this bad, they need to shut ALL of society down. Seriously. Why are the bars and restaurants still open right now?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

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

And, how do you address the staffing issues when vaccinated staff are testing positive.

There should have been an emergency pay raise for substitute teachers. The school board failed

Our school has developed a plan to have schools combine classes and meet instead gym or media center , it would combine 2 or more classes (so 60, 90. 120 kids together) college lecture style. The work would be done independently on a chromebook by the student but technically meets the "in person" learning requirement.

I want everyone who reads this to understand that this model will become a future standard of learning in our schools. We are allowing it now when other solutions serve students better, it will not go away.

And if they had done that you'd have been screaming bloody murder about the cost.

This makes zero sense when staff vaccinated are out sick to combine classes when it’s highly contagious. How is 120 students in a room lecture style or on zoom a good idea?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

I am not an advocate of long term closures, but I do think delaying the start until there’s whole school testing makes sense, but a significant portion of teachers who are out due to covid are asymptomatic, or mildly sick, or staying home with a child who has covid. Many of them would be able to teach from home and would much rather do that than burn leave. So yes, regardless of where the teachers get it closing school does help with the shortage problem.

They don’t get a lot of leave.

[Anonymous]

I am an MCPS teacher. I think a better solution would be to allow families to choose in-person or virtual learning for the first couple of weeks after break, or until the Covid surge dissipates. I teach high school, and is honestly not difficult to create a Zoom classroom for students who are at home. It requires me to be in front of the Zoom for any direct instruction while still allowing me to circulate the room, providing ample support to my in-person students. No, it's not ideal to be teaching to both live and virtual students. But given the current situation, I respect those parents who want to keep their children at home, and I think it is vital that we continue in-person learning five days per week for those who want to remain in-person. And I am happy to be slightly inconvenienced to provide that option. This option would also likely cut down on crowds a bit in schools, making everyone feel a bit better about the Covid surge.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I honestly don't know how its feasible to go virtual after the holiday - can they pivot that quickly? I have no idea how PG is doing it. Does MCPS even have contingency plans? I think it would be a disaster.

Not just that. Parents would have to pivot as well. Where is their leave and childcare coming from at the very last minute?

Not anyones problem. County has child care vouchers for low income and high income parents either hire help or should have saved their leave. Your kids, your problem.

This is why you're just a drive-by message board whiner and not part of the logistical solution.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My DDs’ ES sent a note out over the weekend asking parents to voluntarily keep kids home from school this week due to Covid spikes at the school. I hate to say it because my kids did suffer with virtual school but I think we’ll see it come back in January. At least until the current wave subsides.

Which MCPS elementary school is telling parents not to send their kids to school???

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I honestly don't know how its feasible to go virtual after the holiday - can they pivot that quickly? I have no idea how PG is doing it. Does MCPS even have contingency plans? I think it would be a disaster.

No virtual, no closing schools!! Schools were closed last year awaiting for the development of vaccines. Now the vaccine is out and proven effective enough. What would be the hope to close schools again? 100% vaccination rate, or Covid disappears? We all know that’s not gonna happen.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I honestly don't know how its feasible to go virtual after the holiday - can they pivot that quickly? I have no idea how PG is doing it. Does MCPS even have contingency plans? I think it would be a disaster.

Not just that. Parents would have to pivot as well. Where is their leave and childcare coming from at the very last minute?

Not anyones problem. County has child care vouchers for low income and high income parents either hire help or should have saved their leave. Your kids, your problem.

Do you want a next generation of doctors and nurses to take care of you in your old and decrepit age? Then you have an interest in people having kids. And unless you want to heavily subsidize kids, then you need to accept that parents are going to have to work to make money for food, clothing and shelter.

School closures does next to nothing to mitigate the pandemic. It just screws over working parents that have already had to bear the brunt of pandemic restrictions for the last 2 years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

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

And, how do you address the staffing issues when vaccinated staff are testing positive.

I don't care, but we MUST stay open no matter the cost! It's really inconvenient to miss pilates because I don't have child care.

DCUM is full of clown comments repeated a zillion times, but this one is probably one of the clowniest.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I honestly don't know how its feasible to go virtual after the holiday - can they pivot that quickly? I have no idea how PG is doing it. Does MCPS even have contingency plans? I think it would be a disaster.

Not just that. Parents would have to pivot as well. Where is their leave and childcare coming from at the very last minute?

Not anyones problem. County has child care vouchers for low income and high income parents either hire help or should have saved their leave. Your kids, your problem.

Sure, because having children is just like any other eccentric, expensive personal hobby, like scuba diving or dressage!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am an MCPS teacher. I think a better solution would be to allow families to choose in-person or virtual learning for the first couple of weeks after break, or until the Covid surge dissipates. I teach high school, and is honestly not difficult to create a Zoom classroom for students who are at home. It requires me to be in front of the Zoom for any direct instruction while still allowing me to circulate the room, providing ample support to my in-person students. No, it's not ideal to be teaching to both live and virtual students. But given the current situation, I respect those parents who want to keep their children at home, and I think it is vital that we continue in-person learning five days per week for those who want to remain in-person. And I am happy to be slightly inconvenienced to provide that option. This option would also likely cut down on crowds a bit in schools, making everyone feel a bit better about the Covid surge.

I agree with this entirely. Unfortunately, your union demanded a contract provision that specifically prohibits concurrent instruction.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am an MCPS teacher. I think a better solution would be to allow families to choose in-person or virtual learning for the first couple of weeks after break, or until the Covid surge dissipates. I teach high school, and is honestly not difficult to create a Zoom classroom for students who are at home. It requires me to be in front of the Zoom for any direct instruction while still allowing me to circulate the room, providing ample support to my in-person students. No, it's not ideal to be teaching to both live and virtual students. But given the current situation, I respect those parents who want to keep their children at home, and I think it is vital that we continue in-person learning five days per week for those who want to remain in-person. And I am happy to be slightly inconvenienced to provide that option. This option would also likely cut down on crowds a bit in schools, making everyone feel a bit better about the Covid surge.

Sounds like a reasonable idea (and so, unlikely MCPS would consider it).

I think this could work in MS also.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I honestly don't know how its feasible to go virtual after the holiday - can they pivot that quickly? I have no idea how PG is doing it. Does MCPS even have contingency plans? I think it would be a disaster.

Not just that. Parents would have to pivot as well. Where is their leave and childcare coming from at the very last minute?

Not anyones problem. County has child care vouchers for low income and high income parents either hire help or should have saved their leave. Your kids, your problem.

“ScHoOl iS nOt cHilDcArE.”

We know that, Marge, but let’s not pretend that the US hasn’t basically built upon the school schedule for the past 50+ years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

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

And, how do you address the staffing issues when vaccinated staff are testing positive.

I don't care, but we MUST stay open no matter the cost! It's really inconvenient to miss pilates because I don't have child care.

DCUM is full of clown comments repeated a zillion times, but this one is probably one of the clowniest.

One poster can be immediately identified by the use of the word "inconvenient". And yes, they are one of the most irrelevant, clowniest posters on this board.