Why are schools open in other parts of the country?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I know someone who teaches in one of these states. They have been told no matter what, they are staying open. This person had to cover for 2 other teachers (so essentially teaching 3 classes at once) while the other two were recovering from Covid. Is that what you want to send your kids to?
I want schools opened like the next person but I want it to be reasonable, not like how it's running in their state.

1. What’s wrong with recovering from covid?
2. Hire more substitute teachers.
Done! Yes, we DO want our kids in school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know someone who teaches in one of these states. They have been told no matter what, they are staying open. This person had to cover for 2 other teachers (so essentially teaching 3 classes at once) while the other two were recovering from Covid. Is that what you want to send your kids to?
I want schools opened like the next person but I want it to be reasonable, not like how it's running in their state.

1. What’s wrong with recovering from covid?
2. Hire more substitute teachers.
Done! Yes, we DO want our kids in school.

Crickets.....?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know someone who teaches in one of these states. They have been told no matter what, they are staying open. This person had to cover for 2 other teachers (so essentially teaching 3 classes at once) while the other two were recovering from Covid. Is that what you want to send your kids to?
I want schools opened like the next person but I want it to be reasonable, not like how it's running in their state.

1. What’s wrong with recovering from covid?
2. Hire more substitute teachers.
Done! Yes, we DO want our kids in school.

Crickets.....?

Except that you can't find substitutes on a good day in fcps.

[Anonymous]

Do you think that schools have not been trying to hire more substitutes for YEARS? this is a major ongoing issue and it is getting worse. School districts are not agile. They can’t just decide on Monday to pay subs more, hire more on Tuesday, train then on Wednesday, and deploy them Thursday. This was a problem pre-Covid and it’s a crisis with Covid both virtually and in-person.
The quality of subs as a general population is not great. It’s not easy to find a job that pays by the day, with no guarantees of a work assignment, no benefits, low pay, and possible long commutes depending on where the openings are that you won’t know until a few days before or even the day of. Plus you are treated like crap.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Do you think that schools have not been trying to hire more substitutes for YEARS? this is a major ongoing issue and it is getting worse. School districts are not agile. They can’t just decide on Monday to pay subs more, hire more on Tuesday, train then on Wednesday, and deploy them Thursday. This was a problem pre-Covid and it’s a crisis with Covid both virtually and in-person.
The quality of subs as a general population is not great. It’s not easy to find a job that pays by the day, with no guarantees of a work assignment, no benefits, low pay, and possible long commutes depending on where the openings are that you won’t know until a few days before or even the day of. Plus you are treated like crap.

Spot on. I’d be curious to know how many school districts have even increased sub pay for in person subs this year, though. Very few, I’ll bet. Most districts complain about not having enough subs and act like there’s some mysterious reason people aren’t clamoring to sign up. If you’re good at the job, you’ll have work every single day that you want it, guaranteed. The job uncertainty isn’t what keeps people from signing up. The terrible pay and often terrible working conditions are what keeps people from signing up. Also in our district, the people who work at the sub office are awful and I’m sure that doesn’t help either.

[Anonymous]

https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2775875

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In APS, it’s because of politics. On AEM, there are people who blatantly say only Trump supporters want schools open, only conservatives want in person education because conservatives are stupid. Those AEM posters are disgusting.

What is inaccurate about this? Conservatives DO want it open with no mitigation measures. Hell they will take 5 days!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Only about half of US schools are in person right now. Also research shows that schools are more likely to be in person where there is higher COVID community spread and lower COVID restrictions on mask wearing and group gathering. In other words, areas with more republicans.

I wish all the open FCPS would follow their republican brethren to their states. Go! Move! Be in person!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Only about half of US schools are in person right now. Also research shows that schools are more likely to be in person where there is higher COVID community spread and lower COVID restrictions on mask wearing and group gathering. In other words, areas with more republicans.

Yup, back in October the closest correlation to schools being in-person was the percentage of people who voted for Donald Trump in an area in 2016 (this was pre-2020 election). More votes for Clinton = more likely to be remote.

Yet there are Democrats who are starting to acknowledge that maybe having things open is safer. See this from Mayor Lightfoot of Chicago:

“People are engaging in risky behavior that is not only putting themselves at risk, but putting their families, their co-workers, and other ones at risk. Let’s bring it out of the shadows. Let’s allow them to have some recreation in restaurants, in bars, where we can actually work with responsible owners and managers to regulate and protect people from COVID-19.”

https://chicago.cbslocal.com/2021/01/14/mayor-lori-lightfoot-wants-to-reopen-restaurants-and-bars-as-quickly-as-possible-to-reduce-risk-of-underground-parties/

CDC studied a school in rural Wisconsin that had a nearly 40% lower COVID spread than the surrounding community.

The authors pointed in part to a new CDC study of rural Wisconsin schools, where student mask wearing was high. COVID-19 incidence in the 17 elementary through high schools was 37% lower than in the wider community, with no infections acquired at school among staff members.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/health/medical/low-covid-19-spread-found-in-schools-taking-safety-precautions-us-study/ar-BB1d7iNp
https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/70/wr/mm7004e3.htm

The group of APS parents who advocate for open schools use the hashtag #saferatschool. As long as mitigation measures are in place, this might not be just true from a mental health, food security, and report of child abuse standpoint, but even when it comes to COVID-19. Imagine that!

But mitigation measures are not in place.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:As I suspected in previous post, the school where these teachers died were not following CDC guidance. Don't claim schools can't be made safe during COVID. Schools that don't follow all of the safety precautions are not safe.

https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2021/01/23/alab-j23.html

FCPS and APS won't follow safety guidelines either. MS and HS should be in cohorts. Neither district is doing that,

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do you think that schools have not been trying to hire more substitutes for YEARS? this is a major ongoing issue and it is getting worse. School districts are not agile. They can’t just decide on Monday to pay subs more, hire more on Tuesday, train then on Wednesday, and deploy them Thursday. This was a problem pre-Covid and it’s a crisis with Covid both virtually and in-person.
The quality of subs as a general population is not great. It’s not easy to find a job that pays by the day, with no guarantees of a work assignment, no benefits, low pay, and possible long commutes depending on where the openings are that you won’t know until a few days before or even the day of. Plus you are treated like crap.

Spot on. I’d be curious to know how many school districts have even increased sub pay for in person subs this year, though. Very few, I’ll bet. Most districts complain about not having enough subs and act like there’s some mysterious reason people aren’t clamoring to sign up. If you’re good at the job, you’ll have work every single day that you want it, guaranteed. The job uncertainty isn’t what keeps people from signing up. The terrible pay and often terrible working conditions are what keeps people from signing up. Also in our district, the people who work at the sub office are awful and I’m sure that doesn’t help either.

Yes, as a SAHP I would consider subbing, but the pay is not worth it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m not trying to get into the open school debate, but am more genuinely curious why schools in say suburban Chicago or suburban NYC/CT are open. These are also heavily democratic areas. I at first thought it was a red state/blue state thing. Just trying to understand what’s so different about our schools.

I am from NY. The districts are small. So less kids to deal with. Secondly, all of K-12 is not back fully. My home district they prioritized K-5. They saw only way they could make this happen was if enough people drove kids to school. Parents agreed. Middle and High School have been hybrid and DL. Very few middle and high school are back full time in those states. My cousins kids are middle and ES in upstate NY and both are in person 2 days a week.

When you have a smaller population, it is easier to problem solve.

That's doesn't explain why large urban districts like St. Louis, Dallas and Houston have all been operating in person for nearly 4 months. They take the kids' temperature, have them wear masks, the desks are separated by plexiglass, etc etc. All the normal precautions. Hence, no widespread illness and deaths. The same thing could be happening in DC, MD and VA if administrators weren't being held hostage to teachers unions' crazy demands.

The number of Covid deaths in Texas is 5x that of Virginia. You want to open up and live in 2021 like its 2019 - move.

Okay, now compare the population of Texas v Virginia. Hint: Virginia is 7x smaller. So — based on your your states, Texas is doing better than Virginia. But, hey, why look at facts on a relative basis when it doesn’t support your argument?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Schools in Montgomery, Alabama just had to close because SIX teachers have died. Three of them from the same school.

How many of the six had pre-existing COVID high risk factors (obesity, diabetes, etc.)?

[Anonymous]

You could just as easily ask, why are schools closed in other parts of the country.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Only about half of US schools are in person right now. Also research shows that schools are more likely to be in person where there is higher COVID community spread and lower COVID restrictions on mask wearing and group gathering. In other words, areas with more republicans.

I wish all the open FCPS would follow their republican brethren to their states. Go! Move! Be in person!

I wish I could. My job doesn't exist elsewhere.