Surreal... Zoom capacity email in Regional Quarantine Program

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If this is not an equity-related reason to switch to virtual, I don't know what its.

MY BRAIN IS EXPLODING.

Um. What?

Yes, let's switch to virtual, so half of the kids in virtual "school" don't even log on because, wait for it, they have little support at home. Your post makes zero sense.

Those kids who won't log on are the kids not going to school now at all. We can't make perfect the enemy of the good.

Except that the only “good” thing about virtual is appeasing anxious parents. And that, I will absolutely be the enemy of.

Please STOP gaslighting parents who are considering their family's health and safety of the schools and call them "anxious" - there are equally "anxious" parents who want to keep the schools open for the well-being of their own children for different reasons. They may not do as well virtually and that's understandable. We are all some degrees anxious for different reasons or we probably wouldn't be on this list.

K-12 kids have the opportunity for vaccines. Full stop. There's no vaccine for the myriad of ills caused by prolonged remote education. When expert after expert after expert, and their associated professional groups, ALL say in-person >>>>>> virtual, taking into account risks from COVID, it's pretty startling how many otherwise scientifically-minded folks ignore them. Truly.

[Anonymous]

MCPS should send some YouTube links covering the topics they want to teach while they figure out their issues. At this stage, just staying out of the way is preferable than trying to come up with “innovative” ideas that have not been tested. I feel for the staff at the actual schools who are subject to poorly conceived solutions from management and are also facing with no lead time in announcements.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I thought kids didn’t need to quarantine if they are fully vaccinated following an exposure. So all these kids are unvaxxed?

My Kindergartener has both shots but they said it had to be 2 WEEKS after her last shot. We feel shirt by 4 days.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:MCPS should send some YouTube links covering the topics they want to teach while they figure out their issues. At this stage, just staying out of the way is preferable than trying to come up with “innovative” ideas that have not been tested. I feel for the staff at the actual schools who are subject to poorly conceived solutions from management and are also facing with no lead time in announcements.

I agree. Haven't some tried and true people already taught these courses online? Especially thinking with math/science.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I thought kids didn’t need to quarantine if they are fully vaccinated following an exposure. So all these kids are unvaxxed?

My Kindergartener has both shots but they said it had to be 2 WEEKS after her last shot. We feel shirt by 4 days.

DP and I'm so sorry. That happened to my fourth grader in December, when she was exposed at school 10 days post-second vaccine (i.e., four days before MCPS would have deemed her "fully" vaccinated). I get that there has to be a cutoff, but it sucks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I thought kids didn’t need to quarantine if they are fully vaccinated following an exposure. So all these kids are unvaxxed?

My Kindergartener has both shots but they said it had to be 2 WEEKS after her last shot. We feel shirt by 4 days.

This happened to one of my kids last month as well. It was truly frustrating - but the bright side is that it won't happen to you again. You probably know that you can also test on day 5 to shorten this to 7 days. My understanding is that the County test sites are back to a 2 day turn around on pcr.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If this is not an equity-related reason to switch to virtual, I don't know what its.

MY BRAIN IS EXPLODING.

Um. What?

Yes, let's switch to virtual, so half of the kids in virtual "school" don't even log on because, wait for it, they have little support at home. Your post makes zero sense.

Those kids who won't log on are the kids not going to school now at all. We can't make perfect the enemy of the good.

Except that the only “good” thing about virtual is appeasing anxious parents. And that, I will absolutely be the enemy of.

Please STOP gaslighting parents who are considering their family's health and safety of the schools and call them "anxious" - there are equally "anxious" parents who want to keep the schools open for the well-being of their own children for different reasons. They may not do as well virtually and that's understandable. We are all some degrees anxious for different reasons or we probably wouldn't be on this list.

K-12 kids have the opportunity for vaccines. Full stop. There's no vaccine for the myriad of ills caused by prolonged remote education. When expert after expert after expert, and their associated professional groups, ALL say in-person >>>>>> virtual, taking into account risks from COVID, it's pretty startling how many otherwise scientifically-minded folks ignore them. Truly.

I'll say it again - this isn't just a bunch of unvaccinated kids who belong to irresponsible, unscientific, over-anxious, etc. kids. It seems like you really want to pwn them. Kids who get COVID and are in isolation get their instruction via this model too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:MCPS should send some YouTube links covering the topics they want to teach while they figure out their issues. At this stage, just staying out of the way is preferable than trying to come up with “innovative” ideas that have not been tested. I feel for the staff at the actual schools who are subject to poorly conceived solutions from management and are also facing with no lead time in announcements.

I agree. Haven't some tried and true people already taught these courses online? Especially thinking with math/science.

Based on the BOE meeting going on right now, sounds like this is what they're going to start doing for elementary school starting Monday. No more "interactive" instruction with a teacher for those in quarantine or isolation - it'll be all pre-recorded videos that students can view on-demand for math and reading.

[Anonymous]

Over 30 kids at our elementary school found out TODAY that they tested positive w CIAN on Monday….they’ve all been at school the past two days. MCPS is a disaster and those people keep and continue to claim school is some magical island of safety where COVID can’t spread are absolutely delusional.

[Anonymous]

What I can't wrap my head around is the fact that they did not anticipate or plan for any of this. They could have recorded a few weeks of lessons prior to break. The zoom license thing is inexcusable. The lack of masks. No tests ready after break. No bus drivers. Lunches in large groups indoors. The list goes on and on.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What I can't wrap my head around is the fact that they did not anticipate or plan for any of this. They could have recorded a few weeks of lessons prior to break. The zoom license thing is inexcusable. The lack of masks. No tests ready after break. No bus drivers. Lunches in large groups indoors. The list goes on and on.

And we still have open-at-all-costs people insisting this is all fine. "They'll work it out!" Sometimes they blame Dr. Knight, because they want to blame someone, but mostly they just keep saying this is all fine

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am not even going to say anything... I will just post the MCPS email I received from my kid's elementary school yesterday at 9:00PM!

"We apologize for the late email, but we just received some important information about the regional quarantine instructional program. The zoom capacity has been reached for each grade level and the program is making changes for the remainder of the week. Please see below.

If you have a student accessing regional quarantine instruction for tomorrow, please note that the anticipated enrollment exceeds the current capacity of our Zooms. We will be adjusting the model to accommodate an unlimited number of students starting next week, but for tomorrow and Friday, please note the following changes.

Math: Instructors will break the 9:45-10:45 session into two parts. If you try to log in at 9:45 and cannot access the Zoom, the limit has been reached. Please try to log in to the 2nd session at 10:20 am.

Literacy: Instructors will break the 11:00-12:15 session into two parts. If you try and log in at 11:00 am and cannot access the Zoom, please try again at 11:35 am.

We do apologize for the disruption this will create for your families, as we look for flexible ways to support all of the families who want to access quarantine instruction while unable to attend school due to COVID safety protocols.

Why are some schools doing a centralized Virtual Program and others are doing virtual school just within the school? My first-grade son is home on quarantine since testing positive with the take-home tests on Monday and his first-grade teacher sent him a link for him to join for virtual reading and math instruction along with the schedule of times of the classes. He joined yesterday and today and it is only a few other kids from the first grade with a first-grade teacher who said they take turns each day teaching math and reading virtual class. He is working on the same exact things he would be in class and since it was only 5 other kids in the zoom class he had a lot of direct teacher interaction. He would prefer to be in person with his friends but at least he is still able to keep up with the same curriculum he would be in class.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:MCPS should send some YouTube links covering the topics they want to teach while they figure out their issues. At this stage, just staying out of the way is preferable than trying to come up with “innovative” ideas that have not been tested. I feel for the staff at the actual schools who are subject to poorly conceived solutions from management and are also facing with no lead time in announcements.

I agree. Haven't some tried and true people already taught these courses online? Especially thinking with math/science.

Based on the BOE meeting going on right now, sounds like this is what they're going to start doing for elementary school starting Monday. No more "interactive" instruction with a teacher for those in quarantine or isolation - it'll be all pre-recorded videos that students can view on-demand for math and reading.

+1. Back to videos like spring 2020. Because that worked (not!). No more zoom.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:MCPS should send some YouTube links covering the topics they want to teach while they figure out their issues. At this stage, just staying out of the way is preferable than trying to come up with “innovative” ideas that have not been tested. I feel for the staff at the actual schools who are subject to poorly conceived solutions from management and are also facing with no lead time in announcements.

I agree. Haven't some tried and true people already taught these courses online? Especially thinking with math/science.

Based on the BOE meeting going on right now, sounds like this is what they're going to start doing for elementary school starting Monday. No more "interactive" instruction with a teacher for those in quarantine or isolation - it'll be all pre-recorded videos that students can view on-demand for math and reading.

+1. Back to videos like spring 2020. Because that worked (not!). No more zoom.

DP, but for truly short-term virtual, as people here keep claiming is all they want, or that is only for kids briefly quarantined or isolated, asynchronous is fine. It's when you want virtual for long periods of time that it becomes untenable. I mean, I don't think Zoom long-term is tenable, either, but in theory it offers more substance.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Honestly, the workaround they came up with on short notice seems pretty good to me.

I deal with Zoom capacity at my workplace though (everyone's licenses have capacity up to 1,000, but we have a special shared license up to 3,000 for the 6 - 10 meetings a year we need it for - and the licensing is quite complex so it isn't just "go click a button online and add more capacity"), so I'm sympathetic to this.

This is not a "workaround they came up with on short notice". The regional quarantine instructional program has been in place since September. Once cases and quarantine numbers started to skyrocket, no one bothered to figure out whether the program's Zoom licenses would be sufficient to handle the uptick. How can you be sympathetic to elementary school kids who are in quarantine having access to only 30 minutes of reading instruction and 30 minutes of math per day? That's it. 1 hour of school. Sympathetic? It's inexcusable, embarrassing and sad.

They wouldn’t have to quarantine if they were vaccinated.

Not true - at our elementary school, our principal continued sending letters to the community instructing ALL kids to quarantine regardless of vaccine status if they were a close contact. It wasn't until parents called, complained, asked for the process to be updated for the new guidance did the practice change. Also, if you're vaccinated but have the sniffles, you need to quarantine. Also, if a vaccinated kid is deemed a close contact during an unmasked, high risk activity (i.e. lunch), s/he has to quarantine. Stop blaming parents and kids for the utter failure of MCPS to get even the most basic things right.

I’m sorry, this is incorrect. Vaccinated students absolutely do not need to quarantine even after a high risk activity exposure (lunch). Consult the mcps flowchart. You also do not need to quarantine if you are vaccinated and have “the sniffles.” You stay home if you are sick. If you had strep in the before times you would stay home, no zoom, and you’d catch up on your work when you return. This quarantine zoom is literally for kids who are exposed and remain unvaxxed.

LOL. Schools aren't following "the flow chart". It's a complete mess. Some are, some aren't. Wake up and check your privilege - have some empathy for those who are being screwed by MCPS incompetence. You have no idea how bad it is. Check the flow chart. Unreal.

I was told by my twin's school that one twin who is fully vaccinated did not have to quarantine since they tested negative (At home test and PCR) and they could return to school even though the twin tested positive with the at-home test. They are in the same class and would have had the same exposure so I kept the twin who tested negative home on Tuesday so I could take them to the doctor and get PCR and the school won't excuse it because they did not test positive and only excused the one that tested positive since I choose to keep them home and they told instructed me that they can return to school since they were vaccinated. They said there is a code in the attendance system for which absences are excused and which are not so it is not true that if you choose to keep a child home due to caution it will be excused.