Data today 7pm

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:“My (neurotypical, gifted, straight A) kid is basically having PTSD in front of our eyes right now with virtual and its a challenge to comfort them.”

PP, could you talk a little bit more about this? Does your dc miss the socializing? Worry about instruction or grades? Have flashbacks to a year of distance learning? Worry that they won’t get to go back in person? Freak out about covid? Something else?

She doesn't worry about grades - she's able to keep up, and I work from home; if she needs help I'm available. But she doesn't need much help. Also, our teachers have been prepared and present.
She does not freak out about covid. Parent is a physician and DD knows a fair amount. She is careful (wears an kn95, only hangs out with friends outside) but not obsessively so.
It is the socialization that is impacting her (impacting us all, really). She doesn't even want to logon most mornings - she just finds it mind-numbingly boring. I coax her with pep-talks and snacks. It's hard to see someone's love of learning just be slowly destroyed. And if it's this bad for us (educated with the ability to help her academically and emotionally), you have to wonder how hard it is for many others.
And yes, she's worried that there will be no end in sight with this. That her whole adolescence will be marked by periods of quarantine and VL.

DP -- I don't mean to be snarky, but describing this as PTSD seems inaccurate.

Sorry, you are right. I was being hyperbolic. Let's just say she is very unhappy with VL and I have concerns about her mental health.

[Anonymous]

My kid's school has absences in the 25-50% range per class. I KNOW that is not the case at every school-- although at some schools, many more teachers are out than at hers. Even schools that feel normal-ish now, who never go over 20% absences, will be at least somewhat behind as teachers catch up kids who were out with COVID or exposed, quarantined and in a different class, etc. That's at a minimum.

As of this moment, kids have been in school for ~3.6 days since break. Surely conditions will only improve, right?

Like I said, none of this matters, because maybe (really!) you'll never have to deal with any of this! Good for you, you've earned it, by making the right choices!

You are engaged in some extreme projection here. I'm sorry your child's school is so badly impacted, but the discussion you are responding to is about how every school is different and how treated them as such is the correct policy decision.

A PP described in-person schooling using hyperbolic and flat-out untrue language that basically described prison. In response, some of us chimed in to explain that our kids were actually having a pretty normal year, other than masks. Then you came in with this rhetoric about how we are just heartless assholes, just for saying our kids actually like being back in class and doing things like cross country or in-person student government.

Why is it so triggering to you that some kids are having a pretty normal educational experience this year?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

My kid's school has absences in the 25-50% range per class. I KNOW that is not the case at every school-- although at some schools, many more teachers are out than at hers. Even schools that feel normal-ish now, who never go over 20% absences, will be at least somewhat behind as teachers catch up kids who were out with COVID or exposed, quarantined and in a different class, etc. That's at a minimum.

As of this moment, kids have been in school for ~3.6 days since break. Surely conditions will only improve, right?

Like I said, none of this matters, because maybe (really!) you'll never have to deal with any of this! Good for you, you've earned it, by making the right choices!

You are engaged in some extreme projection here. I'm sorry your child's school is so badly impacted, but the discussion you are responding to is about how every school is different and how treated them as such is the correct policy decision.

A PP described in-person schooling using hyperbolic and flat-out untrue language that basically described prison. In response, some of us chimed in to explain that our kids were actually having a pretty normal year, other than masks. Then you came in with this rhetoric about how we are just heartless assholes, just for saying our kids actually like being back in class and doing things like cross country or in-person student government.

Why is it so triggering to you that some kids are having a pretty normal educational experience this year?

I am trying to figure this out. My kids did fine distance learning, but are much happier and more engaged in person. Essentially, from their perspective it does feel back to normal. I have noticed that there are some people who are projecting their anxiety onto their kids (I am not talking about folks on this board) and its resulting in anxious kids who do not want to be in person. This essentially creates an echo chamber and parents only see an anxious child and not their unwitting role in creating the situation. I typically see this in parents with older kids - late middle and high school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

My kid's school has absences in the 25-50% range per class. I KNOW that is not the case at every school-- although at some schools, many more teachers are out than at hers. Even schools that feel normal-ish now, who never go over 20% absences, will be at least somewhat behind as teachers catch up kids who were out with COVID or exposed, quarantined and in a different class, etc. That's at a minimum.

As of this moment, kids have been in school for ~3.6 days since break. Surely conditions will only improve, right?

Like I said, none of this matters, because maybe (really!) you'll never have to deal with any of this! Good for you, you've earned it, by making the right choices!

You are engaged in some extreme projection here. I'm sorry your child's school is so badly impacted, but the discussion you are responding to is about how every school is different and how treated them as such is the correct policy decision.

A PP described in-person schooling using hyperbolic and flat-out untrue language that basically described prison. In response, some of us chimed in to explain that our kids were actually having a pretty normal year, other than masks. Then you came in with this rhetoric about how we are just heartless assholes, just for saying our kids actually like being back in class and doing things like cross country or in-person student government.

Why is it so triggering to you that some kids are having a pretty normal educational experience this year?

I am trying to figure this out. My kids did fine distance learning, but are much happier and more engaged in person. Essentially, from their perspective it does feel back to normal. I have noticed that there are some people who are projecting their anxiety onto their kids (I am not talking about folks on this board) and its resulting in anxious kids who do not want to be in person. This essentially creates an echo chamber and parents only see an anxious child and not their unwitting role in creating the situation. I typically see this in parents with older kids - late middle and high school.

There is also the very real element of bullying, cliques, and exclusion. For some kids, in-person is awful because of this reason. And maybe the kids have anxiety about returning to that environment.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

My kid's school has absences in the 25-50% range per class. I KNOW that is not the case at every school-- although at some schools, many more teachers are out than at hers. Even schools that feel normal-ish now, who never go over 20% absences, will be at least somewhat behind as teachers catch up kids who were out with COVID or exposed, quarantined and in a different class, etc. That's at a minimum.

As of this moment, kids have been in school for ~3.6 days since break. Surely conditions will only improve, right?

Like I said, none of this matters, because maybe (really!) you'll never have to deal with any of this! Good for you, you've earned it, by making the right choices!

You are engaged in some extreme projection here. I'm sorry your child's school is so badly impacted, but the discussion you are responding to is about how every school is different and how treated them as such is the correct policy decision.

A PP described in-person schooling using hyperbolic and flat-out untrue language that basically described prison. In response, some of us chimed in to explain that our kids were actually having a pretty normal year, other than masks. Then you came in with this rhetoric about how we are just heartless assholes, just for saying our kids actually like being back in class and doing things like cross country or in-person student government.

Why is it so triggering to you that some kids are having a pretty normal educational experience this year?

I am trying to figure this out. My kids did fine distance learning, but are much happier and more engaged in person. Essentially, from their perspective it does feel back to normal. I have noticed that there are some people who are projecting their anxiety onto their kids (I am not talking about folks on this board) and its resulting in anxious kids who do not want to be in person. This essentially creates an echo chamber and parents only see an anxious child and not their unwitting role in creating the situation. I typically see this in parents with older kids - late middle and high school.

There is also the very real element of bullying, cliques, and exclusion. For some kids, in-person is awful because of this reason. And maybe the kids have anxiety about returning to that environment.

PP here. I do not disagree, I am sure that is the case for a number of kids. Those kids are excellent candidates for the virtual academy and I am glad that’s an option. But parents should not utilize those reasons to support the case of distance learning across the board and claim it’s due to Covid spread.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

This!!!!!!!

Last year when we debated going back at the end of the year, my son said he only wanted to go back for social reasons. When I said he'd have to mask, distance, have lunch in classrooms or facing in one direction in the cafeteria, he said forget it. That didn't sound like fun.

The social interaction that the "never closers" want is simply non existent right now. So is the learning.

Like it or not, lots of kids and teachers aren't coming to school (for Covid or fear of Covid). That really slows down learning so staying in person is not a win for anyone.

That’s simply not true. You’ve taken the exaggeration too far in order to push your policy of choice.

It's funny that they think we're unable to talk to our kids about what it's actually like at school. I talk to my daughter every day about who's there, who's missing, and what she did at school. She's getting all the socialization and education she always does. Her teachers are there. Her friends are there. Then I come here and people tell me that's not true. Crazy.

Yes! This is an alternate universe. My child has reported normal school days. They are happy, learning and emotionally stable. As are their friends.


PP upthread is the definition of gaslighting. It's also not clear if poster/similar actually has kids in school now or if they're keeping them home while creating this false narrative online.

+3 (or whatever). I'm neither a "never closer" nor a "DL forever" parent, but the description that PP paints of in-person school this year is entirely off the mark. Even this week, the MS and HS school days are pretty normal. Kids arrive by bus, go to classes, eat lunch either outside or in the cafeteria, go to more classes, socialize between bells, and take part in extracurricular activities. Until last week, after-school activities were entirely normal, with buses running them home after they finished band or ceramics club or play rehearsal.

If PP's child is happy and well-adjusted in VA, then I'm happy for them. However, if PP frightened their child into VA by describing some sort of hellscape where no one is allowed to speak and everyone eats lunch facing the wall, then eventually their child is going to learn they were lied to.

+4 (I guess). In the exact same boat. After reading all the "schools are hellscapes" posts Mon & Tues, I was embarrassed to find myself grilling my (ES) kids last night at dinner about how many absences there were in their classes. (Only one kid? Are you sure? What about your teachers? All of them there - what about specials?) Basically, school's unchanged in their eyes from last year. So thanks DCUM-catastrophizers! Now my kids (correctly?) think I'm crazy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

This!!!!!!!

Last year when we debated going back at the end of the year, my son said he only wanted to go back for social reasons. When I said he'd have to mask, distance, have lunch in classrooms or facing in one direction in the cafeteria, he said forget it. That didn't sound like fun.

The social interaction that the "never closers" want is simply non existent right now. So is the learning.

Like it or not, lots of kids and teachers aren't coming to school (for Covid or fear of Covid). That really slows down learning so staying in person is not a win for anyone.

That’s simply not true. You’ve taken the exaggeration too far in order to push your policy of choice.

It's funny that they think we're unable to talk to our kids about what it's actually like at school. I talk to my daughter every day about who's there, who's missing, and what she did at school. She's getting all the socialization and education she always does. Her teachers are there. Her friends are there. Then I come here and people tell me that's not true. Crazy.

Yes! This is an alternate universe. My child has reported normal school days. They are happy, learning and emotionally stable. As are their friends.


PP upthread is the definition of gaslighting. It's also not clear if poster/similar actually has kids in school now or if they're keeping them home while creating this false narrative online.

+3 (or whatever). I'm neither a "never closer" nor a "DL forever" parent, but the description that PP paints of in-person school this year is entirely off the mark. Even this week, the MS and HS school days are pretty normal. Kids arrive by bus, go to classes, eat lunch either outside or in the cafeteria, go to more classes, socialize between bells, and take part in extracurricular activities. Until last week, after-school activities were entirely normal, with buses running them home after they finished band or ceramics club or play rehearsal.

If PP's child is happy and well-adjusted in VA, then I'm happy for them. However, if PP frightened their child into VA by describing some sort of hellscape where no one is allowed to speak and everyone eats lunch facing the wall, then eventually their child is going to learn they were lied to.

+4 (I guess). In the exact same boat. After reading all the "schools are hellscapes" posts Mon & Tues, I was embarrassed to find myself grilling my (ES) kids last night at dinner about how many absences there were in their classes. (Only one kid? Are you sure? What about your teachers? All of them there - what about specials?) Basically, school's unchanged in their eyes from last year. So thanks DCUM-catastrophizers! Now my kids (correctly?) think I'm crazy.

+5

My three elementary schoolers have plenty of classmates there. Their teachers are there (DD’s 4th grade teacher had COVID in early December). The social interaction and learning are there, at least based on reports of quizzes and assignments, so…?

That was all true when schools opened in March 2021, by the way. My kids were SO happy to be back for real school. Heck, even though my then third grader had to deal with a revolving cast of subs and Zoom in the room (maternity leave related, less COVID), she was glad to be there.

By the way, when people talk about kids being adaptable, these are the kinds of adaptations that are reasonable to expect of them: wearing masks, some limitations on physical distance, etc. They can deal with that. Indefinite remote instruction and minimal peer interaction? Not so much.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:All of you with healthy, thriving kids... you do realize there's a whole county out there, right? Many kids are not having the experience you describe. You're also not describing the experience of those-- even at your pristine, unnamed schools (please name them in that thread!)-- who are at home, quarantined, etc.

And, of course, your own kids might be in either of the same buckets soon.

Of course, they may never be!

Sure. Of course.



Note that I am not the/a PP who would make any broad pronouncements-- except to say things like "many" or "on average."

But this is DCUM, where every day, I see comments that are completely out of touch with the reality of anyone not in their situation.

"I don't understand why virtual would be better for working class POC? It seems to me that the only way in which they differ from me is that they have to work more and can't afford stuff?"

"Poor schools probably don't have much COVID."

CTFO

My kid's school has absences in the 25-50% range per class. I KNOW that is not the case at every school-- although at some schools, many more teachers are out than at hers. Even schools that feel normal-ish now, who never go over 20% absences, will be at least somewhat behind as teachers catch up kids who were out with COVID or exposed, quarantined and in a different class, etc. That's at a minimum.

As of this moment, kids have been in school for ~3.6 days since break. Surely conditions will only improve, right?

Like I said, none of this matters, because maybe (really!) you'll never have to deal with any of this! Good for you, you've earned it, by making the right choices!

What is actually wrong with you.
Those of us with functional schools don’t have some crazed belief that it will always be so. We’re just saying it’s working fine right now and we don’t want to go to virtual for the whole county. If YOUR SCHOOL is in a mess, then it should probably go virtual. Advocate for that. I have one kid in a school that is doing ok, although cases are rising. But classes are normal and staff is there and why on earth should it be virtual right away because another school is struggling? How does that help anything? How does that mean we don’t care about the rest of the county? I have another kid in virtual. It is depressing but fine, although it does seem that his school could easily be in person right now. But whatever. That’s what had to happen to keep things rolling. We’re dealing best we can.

You are the selfish one, who can’t bear to believe that some kids will have normal school experiences while others will have to struggle or adapt. It just sounds like you won’t be happy until everyone is equally miserable.

Its a bit ironic you are ranting about someone being selfish when we are in a surge in a serious health pandemic. You don't care about making others miserable when your child brings covid to school and spreads it to others. You don't care about the impact on those kids and their families. You don't care about the school staff. All you care about is yourself.

Have you ever thought about the kids whose parents have had to keep them isolated for two years because of people like you who refuse to curb their behavior to stop the spread? Have you thought about their mental health and socialization?

You aren't dealing with it the best you can and you are living your life as normal without any care to anyone else.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:“My (neurotypical, gifted, straight A) kid is basically having PTSD in front of our eyes right now with virtual and its a challenge to comfort them.”

PP, could you talk a little bit more about this? Does your dc miss the socializing? Worry about instruction or grades? Have flashbacks to a year of distance learning? Worry that they won’t get to go back in person? Freak out about covid? Something else?

She doesn't worry about grades - she's able to keep up, and I work from home; if she needs help I'm available. But she doesn't need much help. Also, our teachers have been prepared and present.
She does not freak out about covid. Parent is a physician and DD knows a fair amount. She is careful (wears an kn95, only hangs out with friends outside) but not obsessively so.
It is the socialization that is impacting her (impacting us all, really). She doesn't even want to logon most mornings - she just finds it mind-numbingly boring. I coax her with pep-talks and snacks. It's hard to see someone's love of learning just be slowly destroyed. And if it's this bad for us (educated with the ability to help her academically and emotionally), you have to wonder how hard it is for many others.
And yes, she's worried that there will be no end in sight with this. That her whole adolescence will be marked by periods of quarantine and VL.

DP -- I don't mean to be snarky, but describing this as PTSD seems inaccurate.

Sorry, you are right. I was being hyperbolic. Let's just say she is very unhappy with VL and I have concerns about her mental health.

Your child isn't "NT" by your definition if they are having mental health issues. Stop complaining about her mental health here, find a way to make VL work if she needs to transition to it and get her mental health treatment. Maybe it isn't VL but your family life. School is boring. Many things in life are boring. She has to learn to deal with it.

I don't get people like you who are bitterly complaining about how hard the pandemic is when very little has changed in your home.

You have no idea how hard its been on others who have had to go in isolation, especially right now but this is going on two years, because of people like you are are living life as normal and have no consideration to others.

Kids at this age struggle. Jumping to the mental health blame is absurd to justify unperson school in a health pandemic.

[Anonymous]

Its a bit ironic you are ranting about someone being selfish when we are in a surge in a serious health pandemic. You don't care about making others miserable when your child brings covid to school and spreads it to others. You don't care about the impact on those kids and their families. You don't care about the school staff. All you care about is yourself.

Have you ever thought about the kids whose parents have had to keep them isolated for two years because of people like you who refuse to curb their behavior to stop the spread? Have you thought about their mental health and socialization?

You aren't dealing with it the best you can and you are living your life as normal without any care to anyone else.

I'm not the PP you are responding to, but there is zero evidence from that person's post that they are refusing to "curb their behavior."

I am one of the above posters, though, and I have not traveled, or eaten in a restaurant, or been inside another family's home since March 2020.

What I have done is send my kids to school, because schools have been open. I've been lucky, but I've also been careful, so please go spew your allegations someone else.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

My kid's school has absences in the 25-50% range per class. I KNOW that is not the case at every school-- although at some schools, many more teachers are out than at hers. Even schools that feel normal-ish now, who never go over 20% absences, will be at least somewhat behind as teachers catch up kids who were out with COVID or exposed, quarantined and in a different class, etc. That's at a minimum.

As of this moment, kids have been in school for ~3.6 days since break. Surely conditions will only improve, right?

Like I said, none of this matters, because maybe (really!) you'll never have to deal with any of this! Good for you, you've earned it, by making the right choices!

You are engaged in some extreme projection here. I'm sorry your child's school is so badly impacted, but the discussion you are responding to is about how every school is different and how treated them as such is the correct policy decision.

A PP described in-person schooling using hyperbolic and flat-out untrue language that basically described prison. In response, some of us chimed in to explain that our kids were actually having a pretty normal year, other than masks. Then you came in with this rhetoric about how we are just heartless assholes, just for saying our kids actually like being back in class and doing things like cross country or in-person student government.

Why is it so triggering to you that some kids are having a pretty normal educational experience this year?

I am trying to figure this out. My kids did fine distance learning, but are much happier and more engaged in person. Essentially, from their perspective it does feel back to normal. I have noticed that there are some people who are projecting their anxiety onto their kids (I am not talking about folks on this board) and its resulting in anxious kids who do not want to be in person. This essentially creates an echo chamber and parents only see an anxious child and not their unwitting role in creating the situation. I typically see this in parents with older kids - late middle and high school.

People with older kids can read the news and look at numbers and understand how serious it is. You may not be taking covid seriously, but then you have no right to complain.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Its a bit ironic you are ranting about someone being selfish when we are in a surge in a serious health pandemic. You don't care about making others miserable when your child brings covid to school and spreads it to others. You don't care about the impact on those kids and their families. You don't care about the school staff. All you care about is yourself.

Have you ever thought about the kids whose parents have had to keep them isolated for two years because of people like you who refuse to curb their behavior to stop the spread? Have you thought about their mental health and socialization?

You aren't dealing with it the best you can and you are living your life as normal without any care to anyone else.

I'm not the PP you are responding to, but there is zero evidence from that person's post that they are refusing to "curb their behavior."

I am one of the above posters, though, and I have not traveled, or eaten in a restaurant, or been inside another family's home since March 2020.

What I have done is send my kids to school, because schools have been open. I've been lucky, but I've also been careful, so please go spew your allegations someone else. [/quote

That doesn't mean much when there are so many other things you might be doing. Kids in activities, seeing relatives/friends, shopping...

And, sending kids in person right now is risky.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Its a bit ironic you are ranting about someone being selfish when we are in a surge in a serious health pandemic. You don't care about making others miserable when your child brings covid to school and spreads it to others. You don't care about the impact on those kids and their families. You don't care about the school staff. All you care about is yourself.

Have you ever thought about the kids whose parents have had to keep them isolated for two years because of people like you who refuse to curb their behavior to stop the spread? Have you thought about their mental health and socialization?

You aren't dealing with it the best you can and you are living your life as normal without any care to anyone else.

I'm not the PP you are responding to, but there is zero evidence from that person's post that they are refusing to "curb their behavior."

I am one of the above posters, though, and I have not traveled, or eaten in a restaurant, or been inside another family's home since March 2020.

What I have done is send my kids to school, because schools have been open. I've been lucky, but I've also been careful, so please go spew your allegations someone else.

That doesn't mean much when there are so many other things you might be doing. Kids in activities, seeing relatives/friends, shopping...

And, sending kids in person right now is risky.

Woza. So you're complaining that people haven't been in absolute complete lockdown? No, we haven't. But zero activities, zero school, and zero family visits is an unreasonable expectation for most people. If that's your metric, then good luck to you friend.

[Anonymous]

When covid first appeared someone used an image of water lilies in a pond multiplying to visualize exponential growth. I am a visual person. That image worked to me. A few cases here and there, no big deal. But as they beget more, suddenly the lake is full. The point here is, things are normal *now.* They may not stay that way.

Or, they may, for your child and your family.

But the real cost of that lies beneath the water, in places you can't see. It lies with people you don't know, will never know. The price of your child's normalcy is surging case rates, hospitals being overwhelmed, and thousands saddled with long-term suffering. I can't make you believe those people are real. That is something perhaps your own parents, or religion, or conscience should have done long ago.

We all weigh acceptable risk for ourselves and others every day we get in a car, so don't use that old chestnut as a comparison. Covid isn't driving, and omicron isn't delta. When infection rates were much lower our county was doing a good job, even with a lot of people resuming "normal" life. Now, we seem firmly committed to winnowing out the weak, the infirm, the old... Those who should take on the "responsibility" for saving themselves, apparently, even when we don't have the tools for them to do that. And all so Larla's mental health isn't impacted by not being able to run for student body president.

Despite all the purple prose above, I'm not actually a virtual forever person. I am a person who weighs risk to my family and others and makes choices accordingly. At the moment, cases are climbing exponentially at our schools. Based on the examples of other cities (namely New York) we will be where they are soon enough. I don't see the point in putting my kid into that infection chain. It's mostly a matter of conscience, not risk. And I know that seems nuts. Perhaps it is. But I was raised to follow my conscience, even when it tells me what the majority are doing isn't right, and I've tried to live that way through this virus. Do no harm, is, I think, sometimes the best we can do.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:When covid first appeared someone used an image of water lilies in a pond multiplying to visualize exponential growth. I am a visual person. That image worked to me. A few cases here and there, no big deal. But as they beget more, suddenly the lake is full. The point here is, things are normal *now.* They may not stay that way.

Or, they may, for your child and your family.

But the real cost of that lies beneath the water, in places you can't see. It lies with people you don't know, will never know. The price of your child's normalcy is surging case rates, hospitals being overwhelmed, and thousands saddled with long-term suffering. I can't make you believe those people are real. That is something perhaps your own parents, or religion, or conscience should have done long ago.

We all weigh acceptable risk for ourselves and others every day we get in a car, so don't use that old chestnut as a comparison. Covid isn't driving, and omicron isn't delta. When infection rates were much lower our county was doing a good job, even with a lot of people resuming "normal" life. Now, we seem firmly committed to winnowing out the weak, the infirm, the old... Those who should take on the "responsibility" for saving themselves, apparently, even when we don't have the tools for them to do that. And all so Larla's mental health isn't impacted by not being able to run for student body president.

Despite all the purple prose above, I'm not actually a virtual forever person. I am a person who weighs risk to my family and others and makes choices accordingly. At the moment, cases are climbing exponentially at our schools. Based on the examples of other cities (namely New York) we will be where they are soon enough. I don't see the point in putting my kid into that infection chain. It's mostly a matter of conscience, not risk. And I know that seems nuts. Perhaps it is. But I was raised to follow my conscience, even when it tells me what the majority are doing isn't right, and I've tried to live that way through this virus. Do no harm, is, I think, sometimes the best we can do.

Were your knees okay after climbing down from that soapbox? It's all about being able to run for student body president after all. That's why kids need in-person.