Any chance DCPS reopens in person for Term 2 or Term 3?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No way they will reopen this year. There's a high probability of widespread social unrest due to the elections between now and January which will offer yet another reason why schools should remain closed.

What does that have to do with school?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No way they will reopen this year. There's a high probability of widespread social unrest due to the elections between now and January which will offer yet another reason why schools should remain closed.

What does that have to do with school?

So now we can't go to school during periods of social unrest? What?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No way they will reopen this year. There's a high probability of widespread social unrest due to the elections between now and January which will offer yet another reason why schools should remain closed.

What does that have to do with school?

So now we can't go to school during periods of social unrest? What?

As the number of coronavirus cases shrinks, the reasons to keep schools closed get more and more bizarre.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Public schools in New England have started reopening as normal — kids going to school in person, five days a week. These are states with similar coronavirus caseloads as DC.

I don’t understand these people who think schools can never reopen.

We know people in NE whose kids are back in school like normal. They don’t have all the drama and hyperventilating around it like we do here (thanks to the DC teachers union).

Please don't try to convince us that we live in New England. They have entire states with 7-day average daily case counts in the low teens. We have single cities like DC and single counties like Montgomery, PG, and Arlington that have 60-90 cases per day, and in the 500s for the entire state of Maryland or even approaching 1,000 a day for the entire state of Virginia.

Well first off, this is the DC schools thread so the case loads in MD and VA are relevant (obviously higher caseloads there affect us in the city) but not definitive. DC is not seeing daily new cases of 60-70. The current daily positivity rate is just 3.3% and has been at or below 5% for a while. It does seem to be plateauing there, which is concerning— we probably want to see a rate of 1-2% before we open schools. But people are correct that DC’s numbers are quite low and have been staying low. Dismissing this by lumping DC in with MD and VA is not an honest rebuttal. Especially since DC has stricter policies regarding business closures, public gatherings, and mask requirements. DC’s policies are working. The goal of those policies is to make it safe enough to go back to school. So maybe stop dismissing school reopening as a crazy pipe dream? It looks like a realistic possibility sooner rather than later.

The three adjacent DC area municipalities are collectively reporting nearly 80 average daily cases, including DC (45), Alexandria (19), and Arlington (12). Their adjacent counties are each reporting close to 100 cases a day, including Fairfax (90), Montgomery County (95), and PG County (107).

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/us/coronavirus-us-cases.html

[Anonymous]

Any discussion of cases needs to be per capita (or, generally, per 100,000). Comparing absolute cases without regard to population is fairly pointless.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Any discussion of cases needs to be per capita (or, generally, per 100,000). Comparing absolute cases without regard to population is fairly pointless.

Infection rate and positivity rate too

https://covidactnow.org/?s=999207

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Public schools in New England have started reopening as normal — kids going to school in person, five days a week. These are states with similar coronavirus caseloads as DC.

I don’t understand these people who think schools can never reopen.

Which schools/districts in New England? Boston and Cambridge opened virtually with plans to move to hybrid later in the fall.

[Anonymous]

We are going hybrid after this initial distance learning period. The charters are proving that some in-person can be done. I've heard that DCPS principals also have the option if they can staff it so we'll probably start to see some DCPS in person learning for small groups soon.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We are going hybrid after this initial distance learning period. The charters are proving that some in-person can be done. I've heard that DCPS principals also have the option if they can staff it so we'll probably start to see some DCPS in person learning for small groups soon.

Can I ask what charters are proving in-person learning in safe? KIPP is opening to 263 students ONE DAY a week. It is only open to the most high needs/vulnerable students. Truth has a total of 86 kids in their entire school.

I think DCPS needs to get self-contained classrooms in person as fast as possible. Everyone else can wait.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Public schools in New England have started reopening as normal — kids going to school in person, five days a week. These are states with similar coronavirus caseloads as DC.

I don’t understand these people who think schools can never reopen.

Which schools/districts in New England? Boston and Cambridge opened virtually with plans to move to hybrid later in the fall.

I don’t have a comprehensive list but I know schools are open in Maine, Vermont and New Hampshire. They’re open in person in more places than people probably realize. Schools in Long Island started in person this week. They’re open in some midwestern states and also obviously the south. Schools in Alabama have been open for almost a month.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Public schools in New England have started reopening as normal — kids going to school in person, five days a week. These are states with similar coronavirus caseloads as DC.

I don’t understand these people who think schools can never reopen.

Which schools/districts in New England? Boston and Cambridge opened virtually with plans to move to hybrid later in the fall.

I don’t have a comprehensive list but I know schools are open in Maine, Vermont and New Hampshire. They’re open in person in more places than people probably realize. Schools in Long Island started in person this week. They’re open in some midwestern states and also obviously the south. Schools in Alabama have been open for almost a month.

Thanks. Just looking online, it seems like the districts in these states are all over the place. Some are all-remote, some are in a hybrid model and only a couple opened as normal. Hopefully, DC and other states will learn from those in hybrid and opening normally so that we can all get back to school.

[Anonymous]

Friends in Arkansas and Alabama in school full time. Also friends in catholic schools in various cities full time.

[Anonymous]

NYC will be the big test... Starting Sept. 21.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Friends in Arkansas and Alabama in school full time. Also friends in catholic schools in various cities full time.

Ummmmm. I don’t think that’s a good comparison. I’m not sure anyone on this board wants to follow Arkansas and Alabama for much of anything.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Friends in Arkansas and Alabama in school full time. Also friends in catholic schools in various cities full time.

Ummmmm. I don’t think that’s a good comparison. I’m not sure anyone on this board wants to follow Arkansas and Alabama for much of anything.

Well, if they’re doing it with minimal problems, doesn’t that seem like important information? Alabama schools have been in session for three weeks and counting